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Strength during
trying times
Recent student's battle with cancer
is inspiring
By Cheryl Heitzman
Collegian Reporter
For recent Hillsdale
college student Lauren Hemming, 20, what seemed like a simple
case of pneumonia turned into a nightmare.
After feeling short of breath for about a
week, Lauren's boyfriend finally convinced her to go to the
doctor on April 2. After a CT scan and some X-rays, Lauren was
told she had a tumor on her right lung.
In disbelief and confusion, Lauren called
her father, Jed, at home, eight hours away in Traverse City.
She was in Houghton, Mich., attending Michigan Tech as a civil
engineering major.
"I was in total disbelief until I got
home," Lauren said. "Denial."
Jed called the family doctor without delay,
who set up a team of physicians immediately on the preliminary
diagnosis. Jed sped to pick up his daughter, and they arrived
home together at about 1 a.m. on April 3.
Lauren underwent two surgeries to drain the
fluid from around her lungs and heart to relieve the pressure,
and was finally stabilized by Sunday night. A biopsy revealed
that she had non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
"Its very treatable because I'm so young,"
Lauren said. "When people are older, they can't blast you
with drugs like they are with me."
Jed said the phone call from his daughter
was a parent's worst nightmare.
"I was kind of in shock," he said.
"We weren't really sure what was going on yet. I was just
shocked and concerned."
Even worse, Jed faced the problem alone. Lauren's
sister, Lisa, and mother, Dawn, were in Hawaii. Through a stroke
of luck, or as Dawn said, divine intervention, Jed decided to
forego the trip at the last minute.
"I just wanted to stay home because I'm
not a beach person," he said.
He called his wife in Hawaii to break the
news.
"I was driving when my husband told me,"
Dawn said. "I pulled over because I couldn't breathe, and
it felt like I had been punched in the stomach. I mean, it's
your worst nightmare as a parent. She was sick, and I wasn't
there."
Dawn finally made it back to Traverse City
after two and a half days of battling Spring Breakers for tickets
home.
"I sobbed from Hawaii to Los Angeles,"
she said.
The whole family was finally together by Monday,
and Lauren's course of treatment had to be discussed. With the
advice of a medical team consisting of a cardiologist, pulmonary
specialist, surgeon, oncologist and radiologist, they determined
that chemotherapy was Lauren's best option.
The news hit hard with the friends she left
behind in Hillsdale. She left after her sophomore year (Spring
'03) to pursue an engineering degree. Lauren was a member of
the Chi Omega sorority, and on April 5, Dawn broke the news
to junior Julia Parsons during their all-chapter meeting.
Junior Kira Bonnice, a member of Lauren's
pledge class, said Julia waited to break the news until after
the meeting was finished.
"We just took a moment to think as a
house," Bonnice said upon hearing the news. "After
AC, we just took some time to pray together for her and her
family."
Lauren's first experience with chemotherapy
was last Thursday. She said that she felt nauseated for the
remainder of the day, but that was it.
"I was A-OK the next day," she said.
"I haven't felt the wrath of the chemo yet."
But her hair will fall out. As a testament
to her positive attitude, Lauren cropped her shoulder-length
hair Friday. She donated her ponytail to Locks of Love, an organization
that makes wigs out of donated human hair.
Lauren said she will undergo six more chemotherapy
sessions, consisting of a series of injections. She said one
injection kills all fast-growing body cells, which is why her
hair will fall out. Another will stimulate her bone marrow to
produce platelets and white blood cells, and another will control
her nausea.
In a perky tone uncharacteristic of a cancer
patient, Lauren explained that she will get a port under her
skin in two weeks.
"All those needles will tear up my veins,"
she said cheerfully. "Plus I'm more susceptible to infection
now, so I have to watch myself around crowds and things. I'm
not sure how else it will affect me, but I guess I'll just see."
"We just have a child with a great attitude,"
Jed said. "Some of her friends came to visit and they were
very worried, but then they saw how upbeat and happy she was."
Lauren came home from the hospital Sunday,
and despite her diagnosis, she is determined to finish most
of her classes.
"I can't finish my labs and cooperative
learning classes, but I'm trying to finish three classes,"
she said. "I want to go back this fall."
Dawn said she attributes the family's good
attitude to generous family and friends and "world-class"
health care.
"Now that she's stabilizing, we're figuring
out our path," she said. "If you have faith and fabulous
family and friends, it lightens the burden significantly."
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