Baldies' Blog began originally in the UK by a 26 year old journalist with a blood cancer on a mission to inform the world about bone marrow donation.

He has since died, and I took on the cause of making cancer care more transparent for everybody.

Cancer is a disease that will touch everybody through diagnosis or affiliation: 1 in 2 men will be diagnosed and 1 in 3 woman will hear those words, "You Have Cancer."

I invite you to read how I feel along my journey and
how I am continuing to live a full life alongside my Hodgkin's lymphoma, with me controlling my cancer, not my cancer controlling me.

I hope that "Baldies' Blog" will prepare you to handle whatever life sends you, but especially if it's the message, "You Have Cancer."

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Saturday, December 6, 2008

True Beauty Never Hurries

I had a bad ass Baldie get a hold of me.
I’m so excited she can share her perspective. Our situation is the same, our feelings are very similar, but we’ve chosen different routes of therapy.
I’m an in-it-to-win-it, all or nothing kind of girl. I’ve always been like this. It’s who I am and I like it.
For me, I want to be cured and to move on, I’ve dived head first into the harshest chemotherapy regimens that could be found with the best odds of a cure.
I have received every traditional therapy and treatment. They’ve given me more than a little bit of a beating.
An auto transplant, for me, was an obvious next step.
Bekah, check her out at http://truebeautyneverhurries.blogspot.com/ or click the link in my suggested blogs, has chosen to postpone a transplant despite exhausting her traditional options.
She has opted to use trial combinations of medications in hope of a cure. She is currently undergoing LDH therapy in the same clinical trial I was enrolled in from July through September.
She says they’ve narrowed down the dosages. She receives 15 whatever it’s measured in. I received 60 and then was reduced to 45. She says it’s not so bad. I’m glad they’ve made improvements.
After the LDH, she will be placed on a trial with Doxil. DF has stated they have a few “Hodgers” in remission from this combo.
Let’s hear it from Bekah. Here she reminisces about the loss of a cancer friend (she likes to collect friends too!).
“It hit me that even, the really good, the really beautiful-spirited and kind hearted, the most wonderful people in the world. They die. They die, unfairly. They die, in pain.”
I’ve received questions, and accusations, that I have to be seen as attractive, or intelligent, or perfect, etc.,etc.,etc.
YES I DO. I want you all to understand what Bekah is saying. I want you to see this fact in me.
Good people. Strong people. Smart, successful, beautiful people with their whole lives ahead of them DIE. It is unfair, but it is reality. Time to face it.
Cancer is an equal opportunity invader. These cells do not discriminate by redeeming qualities. A Kennedy can contract the same cancer as the hermit down the block that has hid in his trailer for thirty years and threatened everybody with his shot gun.
Be scared. Be very scared by this, because, by default, we all risk a diagnosis with cancer sometime in our lives. It’s time to decide how to face this fact and prepare for the future.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Hill,
I commented to Bekah - you two are both amazingly introspective and willing to educate all of us to this horrible situation. Thanks for your candor.
Laura Z.

Anonymous said...

Hillary, you are right, Cancer doesn't discriminate...but understand this. The world needs the likes of Hillary St. Pierre and Bekah.... Not judgements on the course of action either one of you has taken....but the very selfish side to me wants both of you to live and liv a long, long time. I know I don't always get what I want because I lost an extremely dear friend to leukemia. But, know there are tons of people pulling for, praying for and thinking about you every day... I hope Bekah has the same... keep being the amazing woman you are.
Ellie

Frank said...

I think Ellie said it best ... as she always does ... keep being the amazing woman you are ... you are a gift to us all ... & I shall also go look at Bekah's site.