School staff members LaRay Thetford, Dawnitta Henson, Jeannie Marlow and Debbie Klotz share a common story although each individual story is very different. Each survived cancer.
Thetford beat leukemia
Thetford, 48, is the nurse at Pea Ridge High School. "It's been so long ago, I kind of forget," she said, explaining that in the spring of 2008, she had gone to the doctor for her yearly checkup and her blood work came back "bad."
"They immediately sent me to oncology office. That's how it got started. I didn't even have time to think.... my iron count was so low, immediately I had to have iron."
Thetford was diagnosed with leukemia and went to the Tulsa Cancer Center. She had 14 treatments and went on Thursdays so she could recuperate on the weekends and return to work on Mondays.
"I was determined I wasn't going to let it get me down," she said. "It slowed me down, but didn't get me down."
She said was was extremely tired and had noticed she was bruising more. Her eldest son was a senior in high school and fellow football team members donated blood in her name. "It made me cry like a baby," she said.
"I'm so passionate about that. Being a nurse, I realize it can happen to anybody," she said. Thetford, a licensed practical nurse, has been at PRHS for 25 years. "I just didn't think it would happen to me... I was really fortunate. I didn't loose all my hair.
Henson's back saved her life
Dawnitta Henson, 43, is a teacher of first-grade students at Pea Ridge Primary School. In 2012, she had ruptured a disc in her back and was preparing for back surgery when an MRI revealed she had Stage 1 Renal Cell Cancer in her right kidney.
"It's a silent cancer and usually has no signs until Stage 4," Henson said, recalling that she was along in the hospital room when the urologist came in explaining to her that she had cancer. She thought he had the wrong room, the wrong patient.
"My back saved my life is what the doctor told me," she said. Because she had the entire kidney removed, she did not have chemotherapy or radiation. "I do not have cancer anymore."
The day Pink Heals arrived at Pea Ridge schools was the four year anniversary of Henson's surgery.
"This cancer has no signs. Most generally people are between 50 and 60 when they find this cancer," she said, realizing that hers could have grown undetected for years had it not been for her back problems. The night after diagnosing the cancer, Henson had back surgery. Then, 10 weeks later, she had her kidney removed.
"The kidney surgery was one hundred times worse than the back surgery," she said, recalling that she had the surgeries over the summer and returned to the classroom by Halloween.
Marlow beat thyroid cancer
Jeanie Marlow, 55, said normal blood work revealed elevated levels from her thyroid and prompted her doctor to order an ultrasound and then a biopsy.
"It was cancerous, they said," she recalled, adding that the thyroid was removed in 2014 and then she began treatments. She said she received two shots and a pill and had a body scan in June 2014 and radiation in 2015.
With the radiation pill, Marlow said she was given a lead cylinder in which the pill was encased and she had to take the pill while a medical person watched and then had to stay by herself for a week.
"I couldn't have contact with anybody," she said, remembering that her daughter was living with them at the time and she had to stay in her room and stay away from all family members. She could not have iodine so had a special diet and had to separate the trash.
"I was scared at first," she said. "I just had to make sure nobody touched my stuff."
The second round of treatments wasn't as strong and she had to remain isolated for three days.
"I'm cancer free so far," she said, adding that she goes in for blood work every six months and sees a thyroid doctor.
She is a teacher's aide in kindergarten.
Klotz
Debbie Klotz was unavailable for comment.
Community on 09/07/2016