Childs fights — and wins — four times
Lori Haugen — Staff WriterArticle Photos
Editor's note: Last in a series of stories on people and their cancer battles leading up to the Martin County Relay for Life on Saturday.
FAIRMONT - One battle with cancer is difficult. Two would test most anyone's stamina. Three, a great challenge for any mortal. But Kathleen Childs is still standing, gloves on and fists up, after winning four battles with cancer - tumors in her uterus and lymph nodes, on her spine and in her lungs - all in two years.
Childs, now 57, wasn't one to run to the doctor on a whim. Most of the time, "I had to be half-dead before I'd go," she said.
But perhaps because she had a lot of cancer in her family - her father, siblings and several aunts and uncles had it - as soon as she suspected something was wrong in the spring of 2006, she called the doctor.
"Something told me it was not minor," she said.
Within days, she was in surgery to remove her uterus and the rare tumor growing in it - rare because it contained two types of cancer cells, and it had grown in just a few days from the size of a walnut to the size of a baseball.
Her uterus was removed and, as a precaution, 51 lymph nodes.
The next fall, she began feeling pain in her kidneys. At first, she thought her back was out or she had a kidney infection. But it went on for more than a week. She went back to the doctor and they found cancerous lymph nodes choking off her kidney, which was causing the pain. On Oct. 1, 2006, she underwent another surgery to remove the tumor, and doctors took nine more lymph nodes while they were there.
She felt great for a time, but about a year later, in mid-September 2007, she felt pain in her lower back.
"I didn't want to think it could be possible," she said. "I was terrified. I dreaded going in because I knew what it was."
Unfortunately, her hunch was right. This time, she had a tumor close to her spine, in a precarious spot that made surgery extremely risky. She was in so much agony, she was taking the powerful painkillers OxyContin, Vicodin and morphine at the same time and it wasn't even touching the pain.
Doctors decided that, since it was in such a tricky spot, they'd try to shrink it with radiation. They wanted to do the treatment in Rochester, since they had a more sophisticated radiation machine that could pinpoint her tumor more accurately.
A friend drove her to her first radiation treatment, and before she even got into the car to come back home, she threw up in the parking garage. She had to ask the friend to pull over several more times on the way to Fairmont.
The next day, she was told she could stay at Hope Lodge. Hope Lodges, which are built and funded by the American Cancer Society, provide free housing to adults undergoing outpatient cancer treatments. There are 26 of them around the country. Money raised at the Martin County Relay for Life, which begins this Saturday evening at the Martin County fairgrounds, goes to fund the Rochester Hope Lodge.
Hope Lodge was a godsend for Childs, whose husband, Tom, had already taken lots of time off during her previous illnesses and couldn't drive her to her many appointments.
Hope Lodge isn't just a free place to lay your head - it's a home-like environment where patients and their family members can go to escape to their own private room, or to connect with others going through the same experience. There are private rooms and bathrooms, but shared community rooms, laundry rooms, kitchens and eating areas. The Rochester Hope Lodge has room for 60 patients, plus one friend or family member each.
"All you have to bring is your clothes and your personal items," Childs said.
They have movies and books you can check out of libraries on site, a piano and a fireplace. It's a block and a half from the Mayo Clinic, and free shuttles are provided to bring patients back and forth. It's staffed mostly by volunteer cancer survivors, Childs said, but there is no medical staff on site.
Childs said it truly is incredible - here are 60 people whose lives are in total turmoil, "but you walk in, and you see it in the staff and the guests, there's so much peace. It's like everyone grew up together."
When people there ask, "How are you doing today," they really want to know, she said.
Childs was there over Thanksgiving of 2007, and gets choked up talking about it.
The Lodge provided the turkey and some extras, and those staying there brought more, enough to fill five big banquet tables.
Childs' daughter, Krysty, 26, came down from her home in the Twin Cities to visit for the holiday. When she first learned her mom was staying there, she was nervous about having her sick mother all alone, away from home.
"Once I walked in, I felt so much peace and love," she told her mom. "Now I can go home and know you're OK."
After five weeks, Childs' treatments were done and she had to go home, but it took awhile to adjust.
"I wanted to go back. There was so much comfort and compassion and caring. I missed it so bad."
While there, she'd gotten stronger-than-normal doses of radiation. "We wanted to hit it hard," she said.
She received her last radiation treatment Dec. 12., and she was supposed to go home, recuperate and go back for surgery on Jan. 8.
When she went in Jan. 4 for her pre-screening, she learned the good news - her tumor was still there, but it was dead and harmless and surgery wasn't necessary.
But then the gynecologist who guided her through her hysterectomy and the previous cancers, sat down with her and showed her the scan of her lungs. They were full of tumors.
"I was thinking I was going to die," she said. "I had beaten it before, but this time ..."
Next, she had an appointment with an oncologist in Rochester who met with her very briefly and said, "Sometimes, you have to consider the quality of your life, not the quantity. Go home, make the best of your time."
Childs let loose. "Lady, if you think I'm going to go home and sit on my hands and wait to die, you're wrong."
The doctor explained that the cancer was inoperable, that chemotherapy would be unpleasant and difficult, but Childs pushed and got set up for the treatment.
"I knew I'd be sick, but it's my life we're talking about," she said. The doctor in Fairmont set up six rounds of chemo, and after four, they ran a scan to see if it was effective.
After the scan, just a couple of months ago, the sober-faced doctor came into the room with the results, sat down and reached for her hand. Childs braced herself for bad news.
Then he grinned. "Your lungs are clear," he told her. It took a minute to absorb the news. Then she asked if the oncologist in Rochester knew. He said yes, she did.
She'd beaten the cancer. Again. Four times in two years.
"I have a strong faith," she said. "I give credit for divine intervention."
She's also grateful to her husband, Tom, her children Krysty and Matthew, and family and friends, who gave her strength on the difficult days of treatments and setbacks and complications and nasty side effects, when she didn't have much left in herself.
"It's been an incredible journey," she said. "I found out the hard way you are responsible for your own health."
Today, she wears a wig covering the little bit of hair coming back, and a tattoo on her right leg - a big ribbon with the words "Never give up hope" in her own handwriting over the top, and her name on the ribbon. Her daughter had first gotten the tattoo on her arm, which she proudly shows off and tells everyone about her mom, "who rocks," Childs said.
"I have no doubt the cancer will come back," said Childs. She said the cancer spread because they didn't get all the right lymph nodes during the first surgery.
"It could be five years from now, could be next week. But this old lady is a cat with nine lives, and I have five left!
"If it comes back, I'll deal with it then. When I die, I'll know - everybody will know - I fought as hard as I could."
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muffwillchar
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07-18-08 7:58 AM
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Kathie is truly a survivor. She is alive because of prayer and her love for Jesus. I love and admire this woman of faith. Together we stand my sister in live, Sue
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