THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, MAY 8, 2008
NEWS
5A
ERICA RED CORN
Above: Contributed Photo
Far Above: Mindy Ricketts/KANSAN
Erica Red Corn's cancer came back when she was a freshman at KU. She has since begun Medical School at the KU Medical Center and believes her experience will make her a better doctor.
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"As a parent, you feel like your main job is to protect your child from harm," she said. "You get into that situation and realize you're helpless. I remember just feeling like the bottom had fallen out of my world."
the second diagnosis was even more difficult than the first.
Having already gone through treatment once, Erica knew what was coming. She started chemotherapy right away, but convinced her doctors to let her stay in school until after finals.
"I wanted to finish the semester because, in the back of my mind, I thought this could be my last chance to go to college," she said.
In December, Erica left school to get inpatient chemotherapy through May. A stem cell transplant in May and another round of chemotherapy followed.
Though the hair loss, nausea and fatigue were easier to deal with the second time around, she knew the relapse reduced her chances of survival.
However, many of the lasting effects of her treatment have been difficult to shake.
Alex, whom Erica married in 2006, said the experience brought them closer together.
"It's over to a lot of people, but for Erica, a lot of it will never be over," Alex said.
Because of her weakened immune system, Erica has had pneumonia four times. Now, any symptom of illness and it's back to the doctor's office.
"Just the thought that there might not be anything left to do could start up these panic attack feelings," she said. "I wasn't ready to go. I didn't feel like I was 95 and had led this long life and could be at peace with it."
Now, six years after her last treatment, her experience has served her well as a student at the KU School of Medicine. She said her own experience in hospitals would make her a more sympathetic doctor and a better listener.
"It's pretty miserable because,
TRACIE REVIS
Left: Contributed Photo Above: Jon Goering/KANSAN
Tracie Revis has returned to law school after being diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma three weeks before she was to complete her first semester of exams.
optimistic and thick nothing bad will happen. But my personality doesn't jive with that and I feel like I just don't have that luxury any more," she said
She and Alex started the adoption process in the fall. In the meantime, Erica is focused on medical school. It can be difficult, she said, because she's almost always tired and often struggles with her long-term memory. At times, she wonders if she can chalk it up to the cancer.
Most days she does fine with her limp and the brace she's had to wear since her surgery 10 years ago. But having to wear tennis shoes on her wedding day was another reminder of the grip that cancer still has on other parts of her life.
Though she has reconciled herself with most of the long-term effects of her treatment, she continues to struggle with ovarian failure and infertility caused by months of chemotherapy.
"I just always assume I'm going to get cancer again."
"Sometimes I think life would be easier if I didn't have to go through that, but you can't discount an entire experience like that," she said. "I did learn a lot from it and I honestly feel like I'm a better person because of it. I have had a lot of life in my 25 years."
Though Erica and other young cancer survivors seek to put their cancer behind them, they still struggle with the knowledge that it could return at any time. The question lingering in the back of their minds is when.
"Doctors appointments, getting sick, not being able to wear the shoes I want to wear - those are the things you get over," she said. "But not being able to have kids is the one thing that I feel truly
study, school doesn't stop just because I'm having tests done," she said. "It's just little stuff like that that's always popping up."
ously, school
Erica also has a high risk of developing secondary cancer because of the duration of her chemotherapy and radiation treatments.
robbed of."
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Edited by Elizabeth Cattell
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