Make a wish: 4-year-old cancer patient gets dream treehouse

by KELLI FONTENOT

Published December 1 in The Heights Observer

A custom-built treehouse, completed this fall by Make-A-Wish Foundation volunteers, is a dream come true for 4-year-old Austin Gallagher, who has cancer of the kidneys.
Even before entering kindergarten, Austin has already lived through more hospital visits, CT scans and surgeries than many people do in a lifetime. In 2007, when a visit to the doctor showed something unusual in his X-ray, one pediatrician recommended a trip to see a pediatric cardiologist. After thorough investigation, parents Mark and Krissy Gallagher received Austin’s diagnosis: bilateral Wilms tumor, which affects both kidneys and usually requires partial or complete kidney removal.
Three years, six abdominal surgeries, and 130 days in the hospital later, Austin became one of about 200,000 children Make-A-Wish has reached out to during the past 30 years.

Walk aims to conquer childhood cancer

by KELLI FONTENOT
Published April 6 in The Heights Observer
The first CureSearch walk in Cleveland, planned for May 8 at Wade Oval from 9 to 11:30 a.m., will raise awareness and funding for childhood cancer research.
Cancer is the leading cause of death by disease for children, according to CureSearch. The organization, which works with the Children’s Oncology Group and National Childhood Cancer Foundation to fund research, will play a major role in the Northeast Ohio CureSearch Walk to Conquer Childhood Cancer, according to cochair Stephen Crowley.
Crowley and his wife, Cynthia Van Lenten, are organizing the walk. Posters advertising the event feature photographs of their daughter, Olivia, who was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma in 2002. She was 7 years old. For the next three years, she underwent treatment, including chemotherapy in hospitals from Memphis to New York. Described by her father as a vibrant child who loved soccer and wanted to be a comedian, she died in 2005.
"She was full of life, and it made it really hard to see that something like this could happen to somebody like that," Crowley said. "My wife and I did everything we could to try to save her. We spent a lot of energy and resources trying to find a cure for her, so we decided to put the same energy and work into trying to help other children and other families."

Taking Heart

by KELLI FONTENOT
Published in the July 2008 edition of Women In Business, a publication of The Dalles Chronicle

Taking Heart
Nina van Es, Celilo nurse practitioner

On weekends, Nina van Es retires to her house and 40 acres outside Lyle, Wash. A recording of soft Hawaiian guitar fills her living room as she binds a new memory to a page in her journal. She concentrates hard, layering pieces of tissue paper in her notebook, sometimes adding magazine clippings and pressed flowers from her yard. The fragile shapes and vibrant hues in Nina's collages reflect events she can't describe with words.

These tranquil moments help take the focus off the difficult experiences she sometimes deals with as the nurse practitioner of the Celilo Cancer Care Center.

"I do it if I want quiet time," Nina says. "I do it as something to keep my hands busy when I am processing stuff. Sometimes days here are hard."

The path of a cancer patient is a difficult one, but often, so is the path of the caregiver. When a patient has incurable cancer, doctors can only try to manage symptoms and make the patient as comfortable as possible.

"People pass on after you've treated them for years, or you've gone to funerals, and you have to have something that you can do to help yourself through that, because caregivers grieve. If you know somebody close for seven or eight years, you grieve when they're gone."

Still, Nina insists cancer is not a death sentence.

She argues instead that life is a death sentence.

Cancer survivor makes time for others

By KELLI FONTENOT
Published June 23, 2008 by The Dalles Chronicle

When Luanna Odom waves at her husband, Dan, the bright smile on her face could convince anyone that she has led a life without suffering. Odom’s strength is evident, and few would guess from her positive attitude that 12 years ago she faced a life-altering diagnosis.

Odom is a 12-year survivor of breast cancer and an 11-year survivor of lung cancer. When she entered the hospital for treatment, Dan was by her side all along.

“My husband was my biggest support. I’d have exercises to do, and he’d come home from work and say, ‘Well, have you done them?’”

Odom is a member of the Cancer Crushers, one of the 22 teams that registered for the eighth annual Relay For Life this year. At Wahtonka High School on Saturday, supporters from the tri-city area walked the track and donated money to cancer treatment organizations in the hopes of coming closer to a cure. Odom stood in the shade of her team’s tent and waved at her husband as he passed by on his motorcycle.