In My Own Words...

touching stories from TNT participants

about who they walk for.

Lori Courtney was kind enough to take
time to share a touching story about who she walks for:
 
Personal Hero:  Jenna Lee
 
"I have been wanting to do this charity event for a few years now, but
something has always "come up" and stopped me. This year, my husband
wanted to get involved and I went with him as his support. But I am the
one that ended up signing up. I thought it strange that after all this
time of failing to be able to do this for myself, now here I was doing
it because my husband was so insistent about coming and he was not even
going thru with it.   Jenna is a two year old little girl that was
diagnosed two days after I signed up to do this walk. God works in
mysterious ways sometimes. I live in a small town so I heard the news
quickly and I am just getting to know them.  Jenna had an accident
during the Christmas holidays and her neck swelled up really bad. The
doctor didn't know what was wrong with her and after a period of time
with little or no improvement, sent her to Children's hospital where she
was diagnosed with ALL. She has been taking chemo (I think it is chemo)
twice a week and I was told today that she has gone into remission!  

 I am looking forward to getting to know Jenna better and expect to have a

long and lasting friendship with her and her family.

Thank you, Courtney.  We all share your story and will add Jenna to our
prayers. 

Terry Farley took some time earlier in the season to share a story
about who she walks in memory of.  Here is what she had to tell us:
 
Steve was a close family friend and leader in our church.  He and his
wife were parents to 5 children, four of whom they had adopted,  one
with autism.  They were  the  leadership couple for the Marriage
Encounter  programs in Dallas-Ft Worth and taught parenting classes for
our church.  Steve worked in downtown Dallas.  He often  spent his lunch
hour taking homeless men  to a downtown coffee shop and encouraged them
to turn their lives around.  He always had a minute to help anyone who
needed him. 
 
 Imagine our grief when he was diagnosed with leukemia. After several
months' wait, we thought our prayers were answered when a bone marrow
donor match was found for him.  But sadly, he developed pneumonia after
the transplant and passed away at age 45.
 
I once heard it suggested, that maybe God takes wonderful people to
Heaven early, because they've already accomplished the tasks he's given
them to do on Earth.  That would surely be true of Steve.  He gave so
much to so many people.  And now it is our turn to carry on the work.
So I walk for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and say prayers of
thanksgiving for the wonderful example Steve left us of how to live a
worthwhile life.
 
Thank you, Terry, for sharing your story.
 
From our Honored Hero & TNT Alumni, Kylene Karsonis:
 

First of all, I must say that having cancer has definitely given me a completely
different outlook on life for not only me, but for my entire family. I believe it has only made me and the people around me stronger! (Once you fight cancer, or watch a loved one fight it, you feel like you can face anything).  When I was 23 years old, I noticed a small place on the side of my thigh, which to me simply looked like a pimple (boy was I wrong). The place on my leg started to grow in size and seemed to not be going away, so I decided to go to my Family Practice doctor. He was puzzled by this place on my leg, so he decided to take a biopsy. The biopsy came back as a simple infection. The normal treatment for this was simple...Antibiotics. So I began the antibiotics and there was no response. The place on leg was still getting bigger and now becoming a source of irritation. My doctor decided that he needed to send me to another doctor who he thought would be able to determine what this thing on my leg was. So my journey began. After three different dermatologist an infectious disease doctor a plastic surgeon and eleven biopsies, I
still had no answers. At this point you can imagine I was really irritated. However, I can say one thing, I was loosing allot of weight and was thinner than I had ever been, so I guess I can't complain! =)  Anyway, I decided that it was time for me to find my own doctor, so I went to the Tom Landry Center at Baylor Medical Center in Dallas and went to a well known plastic surgeon. I told him that I didn't care what this thing on my leg (now the size of an orange) was, but to just remove and cover it up. Three days later after the surgery, I went in for a follow up and was told
the unthinkable. I had Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma and needed to see an Oncologist immediately. You can't believe the things that were going on in my mind. I was scared, but determined that this
was not going to affect me. I had two young kids, a home and a job to take care of and I needed to be strong!

I went through six months of aggressive chemo, lost all my hair, and fought one
of the hardest battles of my entire life. I had my family by my side and a
positive attitude. I knew that remission was just around the corner and that I
must stay strong to get there. In March of 1998 I finished my chemo treatments
and was so grateful for everything I had learned from this experience. I formed a bond with soon to be husband, my parents and children that left me feeling like I was the luckiest person in the
world!

For three years I remained in remission and was living life to it's fullest. I
got married, bought my first home, advanced in my career, and started my own
business!  I never imagined that in August of 2001, I would be facing the unthinkable, again. It was like it happened over night. I woke up one morning and thought I had pulled a muscle in my groin. I soon realized I had not pulled a muscle, but I had a lump. I couldn't believe it. Me and my family had just planned a vacation to beautiful Mexico for one week and I was determined to go
no matter what. Me and my husband had went there for our honeymoon and we
couldn't wait to take the kids! I decided at that point, I was going to live
life as it were my last days here on earth and I was going to go to Mexico and be with my family and I would face the unthinkable once we got back. We went on our vacation and cherished every moment we were there. We had know idea what the road ahead of us would hold, so enjoying this vacation with my family was very important to me.  When we returned I made the appointment with my Oncologist. Immediately I went into surgery to have the lump removed. Me and my family tried to stay optimistic and pray that the cancer had not returned.  Unfortunately, the biopsy came back positive, but luckily the cancer was localized and treatable.

I was angry at first, but still determined. I wasn't sure what type of treatment
they were going to do this time, but I knew it would not be the same as before.
I found out that I was going to have chemo for five months and then undergo a
stem cell transplant. I had never heard of a stem cell transplant and had no
idea what to expect. The doctor told me that in the past that stem cell
transplants were usually only for patients with Leukemia, but because of
research and study that they had found that it is actually an effective way to
treat other types of cancer including the type I had.  Me and my husband
researched on our own the process of having a stem cell tranplant. We were
amazed how far the treatment had come. It used to be that you were completely is
olated from everything once the transplant process began. There was a glass barrier between you and your visitors, and the hospital stay was three to four months. Wow....was my transplant far from that. I was able to have my family by my side and I was able to leave from the hospital after two weeks. I did have to be admitted back into the hospital several times for complications, but the time I was able to be at home in my own bed was wonderful. I have now been in
remission for two years and consider January 5th, 2001 to be my second birthday
(the date of the transplant). I am truly grateful for the second chance that I have been given, and look forward to growing old with my husband and watching my  children grow up to be successful young men.
 
I found out about Team In Training last year. I received a brochure in the mail
and thought to my self what better way to give back to the research that I
believe has given me my second chance and get in shape all at the same time. I
called my mom up and said you've got to join this program with me! Last year in SanDiego, California I walked my first marathon with my mom by my side. I had a
few complications because of my health, but I still made it!  I can't even begin
to explain the feeling that you will get inside the day of the marathon! I am so
proud to be a part of such a great organization like Team In Training that makes
the research of finding a cure for cancer much a reality.

Walk strong and proud.....people like you make all the difference!!
 
Kylene Kartsonis

Christie Guess took some time to share who inspires her.  I pass it on to you:
 
Sidney Coker was my uncle who passed away in 1986 from a very long battle with throat cancer, which resulted in two radical neck dissections the second one of which he never recovered fully recovered from.  Sid was my mothers younger brother and very close to our family.  He loved to hunt, fish and basically do anything to help other people.  He was always doing favors like helping people install a new air conditioning system in their house.  Major favors.  He was one of those people who would literally give you the shirt off his back.  He also loved to eat!  He was a big guy and enjoyed all kinds of good food.  Once he got sick, and after his first surgery in 1982, he lost a lot of weight, lost strength in one side due to the removal of all the muscle tissue and could not swallow or breath easily.  He was in constant pain after that surgery, but he was always positive, always focused on his faith and loved his wife and new baby daughter.  He was a really amazing person as he dealt with his diminished physical vigor and moved on with living his life to the fullest.  Four years later when his cancer reappeared in the other side of his neck, he had to undergo the same surgery again and this time, he never did recover.  He underwent torturous chemo and was eventually moved home to live with hospice care for the last months of his life.  He lost the ability to speak, see and could barely hear.  He lost all of his hair and his face was swollen to the point where he was unrecognizable.  The way my uncles illness and death touched our family cannot be conveyed in words.  His death leaves a hole that simply cannot be filled even all these years later.  Watching him suffer was burned into my skull as a young child and young adult.  Because of that, I fear cancer almost more than I fear anything else and being a part of TNT gives me a chance to help in some small way to find a cure and to comfort other families going through what our family went through with Uncle Sid. 
 
Thank you, Christie for sharing your thoughts.