About three and half years ago, my sister saw our local doctor about a cough. She had bad allergies. This wasn’t odd or unusual. The meds our doctor prescribed didn’t seem to help and the cough continued to get worse. It drove my sister nuts. She coughed and attempted to clear her throat constantly. She described it as a tickle in her throat. After several attempts of trying to control it with meds that didn’t work, her doctor referred her to a pulmonologist. She went through several tests and biopsies that all came back inconclusive. After about three months from her first doctor appointment she was told what we were all fearing. She had cancer.
Holly was diagnosed
with Hodgkins Lymphoma on August 13th, 2010. It was Friday the 13th. I’ll never forget it. I was on North Padre
Island with Jeff’s side of the family. Cell service is very poor there. I had missed phone calls from Darren and I
couldn’t get back in touch with him.
After spending several hours at the beach we started to head back to
Port Aransas. As we moved closer inland
I impatiently watched my phone waiting for cell service to return. I called him and he reluctantly told me the
dreaded news. I was a mess. How could this happen? She was only 31! She just had a baby six months ago!
Holly’s initial
treatment consisted of chemo and then radiation. We were rookies and had no idea what to
expect. Our only knowledge of the side
effects of chemo came from movies or tv.
I took Holly and our mom nervously waited for her at home. We had trash bags in the car fearing she
wouldn’t be able to stomach the hour long drive home. Mom created a space for her at home to rest
and was fully stocked on ginger ale and mints.
Things we were told would help.
To our surprise, Holly didn’t need any of this. We laughed so hard on the way home. We discussed her hair falling out and
wondered if her eyebrows would fall out as well. I told her if they did, I would help draw
them back on but she would need to let me know her mood so I could draw them
appropriately. Happy, mad, shocked,
confused, etc. We had tears from
laughing so hard.
Throughout her
first round of chemo, she handled it like a champ. Never really getting sick, always positive,
just a little tired. And, she never lost
her hair (or eyebrows!).
Radiation was a
little more intense, but she was still such a trooper. After several consecutive days of radiation,
we thought that was it. She had another
scan done and it showed one small spot on her lung. The doctors felt this was scar tissue and
were not worried.
Over the
next year we went on with life.
In April of
2012, Holly became ill again. She had
back pain and her cough had returned.
Easter weekend was rough. She
felt really bad. She didn’t want to
socialize. And she had the shakes.
The
following Monday, April 9th, she was hospitalized and we were
informed the cancer had returned. The
shakes were “B symptoms.” I can remember thinking how unfair this was… She was supposed to be “cured.” She was
admitted for a week and for the duration of her stay, she made it clear to the
doctors that her upcoming treatment needed to allow for her to be gone April 21st-29th. We were going on a Disney Cruise and then to
Disney World and she wasn’t going to miss it.
She traveled with her syringes so she (or with the help of someone) could
give herself medicine throughout the trip. You can see our trip to Disney here and here.
Many more
months of chemo followed and in June 2012 Holly & Darren moved to Houston to prepare for
her stem cell transplant. After a few
bumps in the road, Holly received her transplant on November 8th,2012.
The days
following her transplant were scary. She
contracted an infection in her intestines and had absolutely no immune system
to fight it. As Darren put it, all the
things that they warn you about prior to the transplant were happening. At one point, my Mom, Dad, and myself left
work to pack up and head to Houston . We thought we might need to say our
good-byes.
After a few
weeks of recovering, Holly was discharged to come home. And in typical Holly fashion, she didn’t
understand what all the fuss was about.
We were able
to celebrate Christmas 2012 together.
A few weeks
later a scan revealed that the stem cell transplant was not a success. We began preparing for a second. This time with a donor’s cells. In theory, I would be her best bet for a
match. I wasn’t. We had a stem cell donor drive and our small
town showed up in a big way. The Be the
Match organization only sent one representative to run the drive. Poor thing…
we really should have warned them.
They ran out of swab kits.
Many more
months of chemo and clinical trials followed.
Darren and I took turns taking her to Houston 1-2 times a week. Her body and immune system became
weaker. Getting blood transfusions and
platelets became routine. Her doctors
would prescribe one treatment plan until tests proved it wasn’t working or
until her body couldn’t handle it anymore and then they would move on onto the
next.
Holly was
hospitalized twice over the summer. Both
as a result from infections due to her weakened immune system. After each stay she came home a little weaker
than the last.
By
September, Holly had become a small shadow of the woman she use to be. The chemo had taken a toll on her body and
she needed a wheelchair in order to be mobile.
It seemed as
though the new med was working. We
thought her cough was improving and her weekly checkups were yielding good
reports. The new med was prescribed for
three weeks on and then one week off.
She flew through the first three weeks no problem. We thought we were finally getting somewhere…
Then, in the
early hours of October 6th, she started complaining about shortness
of breath. Darren took her to Houston where they
admitted her. The new medicine was not
working. The cancer was continuing to
spread. It was now time to “keep her
comfortable.”
The
following two weeks are mostly a blur.
The majority of our days were spent at Holly’s bedside. Darren never left her side.
Many of the
talks that you never want to have were had.
Holly was able to type out her final wishes. She discussed her funeral arrangements. It all seemed so surreal.
We told
stories and laughed. We cried thinking
about our future with out her. And we
prayed hard that she would pass peacefully.
Holly passed
away peacefully on October 19th.
It was
estimated that over 550 were in attendance at her funeral. A few hundred more paid their respects at the
funeral home in the days prior.
In an effort
to fulfill Holly’s wish of keeping her funeral simple, we asked that a donation
be made to a fund for her daughters in lieu of flowers. In 24 hrs the fund reached almost $20,000. Again, our small town showed up in a big
way. Currently it is at $38,000. The front of our church was also filled with
beautiful flowers.
My sister
touched people. She changed them. I’ve heard that from so many. She definitely changed me for the better. I want to be more like her. Holly never judged people. She saw the good in people when all I could
see were the flaws. She was
selfless. Even in her final days she
worried about us. She was so so
strong. Much stronger than I could ever
be. She went through so much and her
faith never waivered. She never once
questioned “why me?” She knew God had a
plan for her.
In her final
days I told my sister “thank you.” I
thanked her for the beautiful gift she has given me. She has taught me so much and my faith has
never been stronger.
For months I
asked for prayers for Holly. Today I’m
asking for prayers for the people that Holly has touched. I want the seed that Holly has planted in
them to grow. I pray that they never
lose sight of the lessons learned from her.
That they, just like Holly, use their trials to grow closer to Him.
I want
to quickly state that if this post comes off as a story about me, I’m
sorry. That is not what I intended. It is just my recollection of the events of
Holly’s journey that I was blessed enough to be a part of.
