On Sunday, June 3rd, was the Lake Tahoe Century Ride (America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride - Lake Tahoe) and at the pasta party prior to the event there was a guest speaker who openly shared her story. The staff members who were out for the event came back and told us how moved they were by her words and the way she spoke, and they passed it along to us, and now I'm passing it onto all of you. Her name is Leanne Weinshenker and she is a TEAM Hero for the Rocky Mountain Chapter, and here is her story:
I was diagnosed with stage IV DLBCL non-Hodgkin's lymphoma when I was 34 years old. Lumps started appearing in my neck, but there were also large lumps in my abdomen, too. Some of them were tumors. One of them was my 20 week old fetus.
Things moved very fast. I was the first person in my health care system with lymphoma and a pregnancy in over 17 years. The doctors told me there was no one else in the state going through what I was going through. Is there ever?
In one day I had three procedures after they put me out. Bone marrow biopsies, port placements, and the pregnancy was lost.
Treatment began almost the next day.
Five weeks after being diagnosed and starting ER-CHOP, my PET scan showed that 95% of the cancer was gone.
My last chemo treatment was in May.
The R word (remission) ahs been thrown about lately.
It's not a cancer story you get to hear very often...or live.
As you are fundraising and training please continue to keep these stories of motivation close to all that you do. Many of you have seen first-hand just how important this fight against blood cancer really is and if you ever want to share, and feel comfortable enough to talk about your stories, please let me know. At some point over the next four to five months you will be sore and tired and you will wonder where that next donation is going to come from, but remember that you are making a difference and always REMEMBER THE REASON!
Amanda - Team In Training Campaign Coordinator
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment