Last month we told you about an incredible woman, Heather Von St. James, a Mom who learned 3 months after giving birth to her baby daughter that she was dying off a rare form of cancer… and managed to survive. Here’s her inspiring story, a story of having faith and connecting with community:
I’m sure you have heard the saying “It takes a village”.
People throw that saying around a lot when you have a baby and it’s a saying I truly came to believe in and live. My daughter was born on August 4th, 2005 after a mostly uneventful pregnancy. No complication, hardly any morning (or afternoon or evening) sickness. Up until the delivery when we found out she was trying to come out “butt first” we did not have anything to worry about. We made a quick decision to have a C- section, and our healthy baby girl was born a few minutes later. We were at once surrounded by our “village”. My parents, my husband’s family, the many, many friends coming by to meet our Lily and wish us well. Things were going great. Nothing could have prepared us for the storm that was about to come.
When a new baby enters your life, so many things change.
I was part owner in a large successful salon company and ran one of the 3 salons. I had over 20 employees and worked behind the chair myself. I did this up until the day I had Lily. After being home with her a couple of weeks, I found out I was changing salons and helping take over management of another location. Although the work load was going to be lighter, I was not thrilled about the move, and most of all, hated being away from my little girl.
Within a month of returning to work full time, things started to go downhill. I started feeling tired, breathless, no energy… all things that could be attributed to being a new Mom. I started losing weight… a lot of weight, 5-7 pounds a week. Certainly this was not normal. I went to my doctor in November, explained to him my symptoms, and after some blood work, and a chest x-ray, they found the culprit: Fluid buildup around my left lung. More tests were run, scans taken, biopsies done…
I finally got the diagnosis on November 21, 2005, just 3 1/2 short months after Lily came into our lives.
I had malignant pleural mesothelioma, a cancer in the lining of the lung, caused primarily by asbestos exposure. I had been exposed to asbestos as a child, and here some 30 years later, I had mesothelioma.
My first thought was not about me, but about my baby.
I was not given great news at that appointment; I would have 15 months to live if I did nothing. I thought of Lily, looked at my husband, thought of them alone, without me, and knew we had to do whatever it took to save my life. Since the mesothelioma prognosis is grim, we did the most drastic thing we were offered. My husband and I flew to Boston in January, and on February 2nd, I underwent treatment called extrapleural pneumenectomy. This surgery required the removal of my left lung, all the surrounding tissue, lymph nodes, diaphragm on the left side, the lining of my heart and one of my ribs. My diaphragm and lining of my heart were replaced with surgical Gore-Tex. During the surgery I also had a heated chemo wash to Continue reading »
Many of us make up stories with and for our children, especially when they young, don’t we? Our son Dylan Henry – he’s 3.5 now – has a turtle toy that projects stars onto the ceiling. For many nights we have looked at these stars and made up stories. One of the stories that evolved from this is called “Henry and Roger’s Wild Ride to the Broccoli Star”.
