We Are Truly Speechless

I am taking the liberty to post an email that I received Friday. It is times like this when I realize what our web site means to others, that makes all of our efforts seem worthwhile.

May the Good Lord bless and comfort Sheila and the wonderful family that she left behind. family.

Hugs to all,
Christine




Hello, I am from Eau Claire, WI. One of my closest friends, Sheila Benedict (not the Sheila who posts on the website) died this week from Her2+ breast cancer. I have been with her through her journey through this disease. About 1 1/2 years ago, I discovered your website and have monitered it several times a week since. Though I have never posted, I have often printed emails and brought them to her. We learned a lot about treatment and side .Last year, I was in Seattle, went to the UW campus, foung Andrea York and got information on the vaccine program. Unfortunately, she was not eligible for the trial, as well as not being well enough to do the travel involved..
When her family asked for ideas for memorials, I mentioned your site to them. They posted it in the paper as a possible area to donate, so don't be surprised if you begin getting a number of donations from here in Sheilas name.
I know that you may be interested in her history. She was diagnosed June 2000, I think there was 1 or 2 lymph nodes involved. She got 8 cycles of chemo, 3 weeks apart ( I think 4 cycles Taxol and 4 cycles A??), then got radiation. She went into a clinical trial, but got into the arm that did not get herceptin. She was NED from March 2001 until July 2002. During this time, she and her husband went camping with my husband and me and to Paris with her daughter and continued working as a nurse practitioner.
When the cancer recurred in 2002, she had mets to the liver, the lungs and the spine. Since that time she has been on a variety of regimes, including herceptin, navelbine, xeloda, gemzaar, and others. She had radiation to the spine in September 2002, November 2003 and April 2004. She had Gamma Knife for brain mets March 2003, October 2003 and February 2004.
She was not a good responder to Herceptin. Every treatment seemed to work for awhile and then not work. She tried nutritional supplements of various types. We also had a group doing Chi Gong for about 6 months. She found healing touch very helpful and used it to the end, as we have a friend who is a practitioner.
On May 3rd, I took her to an appt for the end of spinal radiation, an MRI. We stayed around so she could get fluids. Her onc brought the devastating results from the MRI that she had "at least" 8 new brain mets and that was preliminary. She was basically offered WBR or hospice. She start WBR on May 5th and then broke her femur in the evening May 7th. This turned out to be the injury that hastened the process. They put a rod in the leg, but she couldn't do either the WBR or any other treatment at least for awhile. She came home on hospice on May 24th. I helped organize friends to help the family with meals and to "sit" as needed. She was spiritually not afraid of dying and was comforted daily with scripture, our pastor and Christian Education Director and friend. However, she would have chosen life at least for awhile. Death arrived as a "thief in the night" very early Tuesday morning. Her children, Matt and Chrissie, husband Bill and sisters, Jo and Sue, were with her. A memorial service will be tomorrow.
Sheila was a close friend of mine for over 27 years. I will send you a copy of her obituary and picture for the website. God bless you for all your help, Joe for his and all the people who posted helpful information to the website. Tell everyone to keep fighting. I believe a cure is around the corner. Thank you. Ginny Jordan

May God be with Shiela's family during this time. She sounds like someone we would have all been proud to know.

Thank you for sharing this with us, Christine. And thank you, Ginny, for being there for your friend in her time of need. We will fight on, for Sheila and all the dear ones gone before her, and will carry the memory of their struggle with us.
Blessings to all,
Lolly

Hi, This is Ginny, who wrote the initial message. I wanted to provide a bit more information. I also noted that there was discussion on the word "journey". I probably chose that word, but am not sure if it was the word she would have chosen. Sheila never liked the word "battle". I'm not sure why, as it certainly seemed like a battle at times. Sheila also wanted to make sure that people did not think of her as a "cancer statistic", but as a person who happened to have cancer. I also wanted everyone to know that Sheila never gave up and if she would not have broken her leg, would still be fighting this disease. Sheila was a nurse practitioner and also had an interest in complementary medicine and drew from each. Her closest friend from nursing school was a nurse practitioner in Oncology, who was an instant second opinion and went with her to appointments whenever she could travel here. Sheila went to Dana Farber, Mayo, and a California cancer specialist for second opinions. Her onc here would communicate with them. She found healing touch very helpful especially with her chemo treatments. We had a neighborhood chi gong group that met for 6 months on a nightly basis. She started reading everything, but found too much negative "stuff" in her professional readings, so felt she might be reading too much. I monitered this website for her and printed many of the postings. We were all hopeful about the new drug for people not responding well to herceptin. My friendship with Sheila started over 27 years ago. We live two blocks apart. Our children are the same age and we shared babysitting, sports, Scouts, etc.,etc.,etc. We also went to the same church and work in the health care profession, eventually working at the same place. About 7 years ago, we formed an informal group called the OWLS (older, wiser ladies) who go for a walk every Sunday AM early and wind up in a local coffeeshop. The 6 of us discuss everything and our last OWLS gatherings were in the hospital and at Sheila's house. Sheila was in hospice at the time. We did find out that hospice is not what it used to be, it's not final. Sheila hoped to get strong enough,to come off hospice and back on WBR and chemo. However, stopping cancer treatment to heal the leg turned out to be too much and the cancer wouldn't wait. I think I have talked to Sheila every day since her cancer recurred two years ago. She will be missed by all of us. I know this message board is for those of you who are fighting this disease, but would be happy to answer any questions to anyone who wants to email me. Sheila's friend, Ginny

Ginny,

What a wonderful friend you must have been to Sheila...to constantly be at her side throughout these years supporting and cheering her on. We all feel honored to have such friends as you, as we go through each day with this disease. Thank you for sharing Sheila's life with us. You and Sheila's family will be in my thoughts and prayers.

P.S. Your post meant something extra special to me, since I grew up in Oshkosh, WI.