Volume 125 Issue 53
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
kansan.com
ISAN
.21.
FIGHTING FOR LIFE
BATTLING CANCER
CLAIRE HOWARD/KANSAN
Zach Graas, a sophomore from Olathe, and Rachel Forrest, a junior from Edmond, Okla., display some of the artwork that has been donated for the Zach Graas Benefit, a Final Fridays Silent Auction at Pachamama's Alton Ballroom on Friday, Nov. 30 from 5 to 9 p.m. Graas was diagnosed with brain cancer in October 2011. All proceeds from the art will go to his upcoming operation and his ongoing fight against cancer.
University student strives for freedom from medicine and machines
RACHEL SALYER
rsalery@kaansan.com
Like many who wage battle, Zach Graas fights for freedom and independence.
But his battlefield is empty hospital hallways and the hollow, piercing sound of an MRI machine. His enemy: the dozens of pills he swallows daily.
Zach has one word to describe the cancer that has invaded his 19-year-old brain: "frustrating."
"I just thought, 'Shit, this is not okay.' Zach said.
His fight started last September during his freshman year at the University. In the shower, his right hand went numb. The numbness persisted; Zach stumbled to his bed.
After an overnight trip to Lawrence Memorial Hospital, a CT scan and a MRI, Zach knew he had a partial simple seizure, but he would not learn he had fibrillary astrocytoma, a series of brain tumors, until a month later.
"My mom told me," Zach said. "She was crying, so I knew it was cancer. I felt disappointed. It was literally the worst possible
outcome."
From there, doctors wheeled him in for surgery; then a year full of chemotherapy and pills began. He took five chemo pills every 23 days for 12 months, in addition to nearly 12 seizure-prevention pills every day.
Zach said chemo wasn't so bad. Despite feeling tired and nauseated, it was the surgeries and MRI scans that got him at first.
"I remember being little and thinking the brain was just the scariest thing," Zach said. "We saw pictures of the MRI machines in school, and I was so freaked out."
Listening to Tupac during MRIs helped, but Zach said the best remedy is a change in mindset.
"I was really reckless before and carelessly free," Zach said, recalling a time he sped his Ford Mustang into a tree. "Now it's about wanting everyday, and wanting to make it better than the one before."
Eventually his right hand became worse, he writes and types with three fingers.
A recent MRI showed he needs a tumor resection surgery, in which surgeons will try and
remove the cancerous cells while restoring the movement back to his right hand, which he can't lie flat. To perform the surgery, doctors need Zach to be awake so he can move his right arm. That way, Zach says, they won't get any of the good cells.
When he found out the chemo did not completely destroy the tumors, his family accompanied him to the MRI, and so did Rachel Forrest, a friend and junior from Edmond, Okla.
"I don't like to think about the numbers," Zach said. "I know my prescriptions alone are in the thousands." In addition to the copays, and the flight, Zach and his family will have to make it to the University of California, San Francisco for his December surgery.
When the results showed the cancer was not gone, Rachel wanted to use her skills to help. A painting and art history major, Rachel began organizing an auction to raise money.
Zach helped Rachel move over the summer, despite the heat and not having complete use of his right hand.
"I couldn't have done that on my own," Rachel said. "He's helped for nothing, so I wanted to help."
The silent auction will be part of Final Fridays in the Alton Ballroom at Pachamama's, 800 New Hampshire St., from 5 to 9 p.m.
More than 30 pieces of art have been donated from University students, graduates, faculty and other artists in the community.
Rachel expects to be anxious the day of Zach's surgery as she awaits word from his mother.
"I know I'll be nervous," Rachel said. "It helps that Zach is so chill about it."
If the surgery goes well, Zach hopes his battle will be over, and he will eventually throw away the pill bottles that surround him, though the MRI machine will be a familiar former foe in the months following.
Edited by Whitney Bolden
"I want to be independent again," Zach said. "It's annoying to be so dependent on the medicine, the doctors and to need my brother around just in case."
EQUALITY
University LGBT group promotes awareness for gender-neutral bathrooms
NIKKI WENTLING
nwentling@kansan.com
Gender-neutral restrooms will be available on campus for the week to bring awareness to transgender issues.
For the last week of Transgender Awareness Month, the University's LGBT Resource Center switched the restrooms in the Sabatini Multicultural Resource Center to single-use, gender neutral. Only one person can use the restroom at a time, and either restroom can be used.
The purpose of the temporary switch is to promote the implementation of permanent gender-neutral restrooms on campus. Michael Detmer, coordinator for the LGBT Resource Center, said it could be uncomfortable for transgendered people to be in a bathroom that is designated for a specific gender.
"It's a safety issue," Detmer said. "They're forced to make that decision, and there are people who have had experiences with physical and verbal assault by being in a bathroom where others perceive them as being the opposite sex."
Detmer said that the center is trying to get the University's support for changing some of the single-use restrooms on campus to gender-neutral.
"It's just a matter of finding where those single-use bathrooms are located and changing the signage, which can be costly," Detmer said. "But we're willing to figure out
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
A sign promotes gender-neutral
bathrooms as a part of Transgender
Awareness Month.
how to make that happen."
Restrooms on the fourth floor of the Kansas Union were also switched to gender neutral last night from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. during The LGBT Resource Center's viewing of the movie "The Beautiful Boxer," which is based on the story of a Thai boxer who underwent a sex change operation to become a woman.
The same restrooms will be switched to gender-neutral again on Friday from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. during a discussion with Stephanie Mott, state chair for the Kansas Equality Coalition.
Edited by Luke Ranker
CAMPUS
Car hits student in crosswalk near Union
A car struck a University student who was crossing Oread Avenue in front of the Kansas Union around 6:00 p.m. Monday.
The student was using the crosswalk and received minor injuries, said Sgt. Gary Wieden, a KU Office of Public Safety spokesman.
At the time, it was unknown if speed was a factor in the accident; Wieden said the driver was cited for failing to yield at a crosswalk.
Wieden did not know if the driver is a student.
RACHFL SALYER/KANSAN
A car hit a student using the crosswalk in front on the of the Student Union on Monday night. The student had minor injuries and is expected to be OK.
— Rachel Salyer
SOCIAL MEDIA
Whisper provides students with outlet
HANNAH BARLING
hbarling@kansan.com
Danon Taylor, a freshman from Ottawa, first heard about Whisper from a Facebook advertisement and started using it at the beginning of the semester. Taylor lives off-campus and said Whisper is a way for her to connect with fellow students.
Whisper, a new mobile app, allows users to anonymously submit secrets as personal as exposing their sexuality or posts as thoughtless as what they're eating for dinner. Students on campus have begun to participate in the Whisper world.
The Whisper app, which launched in May, receives over one million views a day and currently has more than 100,000 users.
The first step to posting a whisper is downloading the app and exploring previously posted secrets. Users are automatically given an anonymous username, which can be changed later.
"It's an outlet for people to post emotional things," Taylor said. "It's reassuring that you're not alone."
To post a whisper, users must select a photo from their phone or download one from the Internet. They then have an
Sarah Attman, head of public relations for Whisper, said using the app can benefit students because so much goes unsaid in college, and it allows people to see what is going on within a five-mile radius.
Whispers can be sorted by popularity, latest and nearby. The nearby tab is the most unique feature of the app, allowing users to access whispers posted near their location.
option of choosing a filter for the photo. Four font choices are available for the text that users add to the photo, allowing for a customized post.
"It allows students to see
Schuyler Foulke, a sophomore from Ottawa, has been using the app for nearly a month. In an email, Foulke said he doesn't get too personal when using Whisper, but he does use it to communicate with people on campus.
people on campus and see them posting about authentic events." Attman said.
"People should use it because it allows you to connect with other students," Foulke said. "But if nothing else it can be pretty entertaining to see how others respond."
Edited by Emma McElhaney
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Whisper is a mobile app that allows users to post thoughts anonymously. The nearby tab gives students an option to check out whispers posted within a five mile radius.
Index
CLASSIFIEDS 9
CROSSWORD 4
CRYPTOQUIPS 4
OPINION 5
SPORTS 10
SUDOKU 4
Don't forget
All contents, unless stated otherwise, © 2012 The University Daily Kansan
Go online to redeem men's basketball tickets before 5 p.m. tomorrow.
Today's Weather