The Dexter Leader
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Cancer's long reach knows no age limit
PUBLISHED: May 22, 2008
Kendra Beeman remembers the day she heard the news. Because that was the day she had to stop being a kid. Most kids grow up and mature over time. It's a gradual process that is to be enjoyed and cherished.
Advertisement
Cancer though robs so many of so many things. It's the beginning of the rest of your life - and the end of the life you once knew.
Moms aren't supposed to get cancer. They are supposed to take you shopping and pick you up from soccer practice. They are supposed to help you make breakfast on Sunday mornings and go with you on bike rides. They are supposed to take you out for ice cream and help you with your homework.
Moms aren't supposed to get sick. Moms are supposed to be there for you when you get sick.
But for Kendra, she knew when her mom hung up the phone that she was going to be the one who needed to be there. It was time to grow up - ready or not.
"I'll never forget that day," says Kendra of the day her mom, Karen, learned she had cancer. "I was in seventh grade and I was actually home sick from school when she got the call."
Seventh graders aren't prepared to hear their mom has cancer. Their life is flying by fast enough as it is. Seventh graders are struggling just to keep up with all the changes in their lives. Life is forever stuck on fast-forward.
But that phone call slammed on the breaks for Kendra.
As she takes a break from walking the track during Saturday's Relay For Life, Kendra, now 16 and a junior at Chelsea High School, takes a break from the present and turns back the clock to when her world changed forever.
"When she was on the phone, she was very calm," Kendra said. "I remember she didn't get upset or anything. But when she got off the phone she broke down. And we cried together."
It's hard to believe that Kendra staying home from school that day was a coincidence. This was something mom and daughter would have to face together. They found out together and they cried together. And they began to fight together.
"I knew it wasn't good, but I didn't understand it to the extent I do now," says Kendra, who helped organize a team of 35 high school students for this past weekend's Relay For Life in Chelsea. "My mom and I have always been very close and we lean on each other and I think that's helped both of us. It's made use even closer and I think that's kind of helped me in the long run."
Kendra, her team's Relay For Life captain, says her friends have been supportive, but it's tough for them to understand what she's going through.
"It's hard to talk to my friends about it because they can't really relate to it," she said. "My teachers at school have been great, especially Marcy Ott. I don't like to use what's happened to my mom as an excuse, but my teachers understand what I'm going through and have been very supportive."
Kendra still finds time to be a teenager. She is on the varsity soccer team, plays the violin in orchestra and is in the school's interact club.†††
When asked if she's any good in soccer, she just laughs.
"I don't start, but I play some," she said.
Sort of like how she's grown up. She only gets to play "some."
"I'm so proud of my mom," says Kendra with pride in her voice and in her eyes. "She carried the banner today to start the Relay and I was so proud of her."
And you can bet that pride goes both ways. If we were starting a team of wonderful young ladies, Kendra would definitely be a starter. She has joined her mom in the fight of their life and together they are determined to win.
†
Chloe's cause
Relay For Life is personal. It's a way to raise money to fight cancer, but it's so much more than that.
On Friday night, Chloe Smith was out celebrating one of life's greatest evenings - junior prom. On Saturday, Chloe was out fighting one of life's greatest killers - cancer.
Smith helped organize a Relay For Life team from Ann Arbor Community High School. And just hours after slipping on her prom dress and high heels, Chloe was stomping around the Chelsea track in sneakers and sweat pants.
"This is our second year at Relay and we learned last year just how powerful and important Relay For Life is," said the 17-year-old from Ann Arbor. "We first joined after a friend of ours at Ann Arbor Pioneer was diagnosed with Leukemia. So we started a team in her honor called Shley Dawgs and walked in the Ann Arbor Relay For Life last year."
Anyone who knows Chloe knows she isn't the type to sit on the sidelines. She is both outgoing and easy going, but she also knows when it's time to get going. And when she learned that one of her teacher's daughter was diagnosed with Leukemia, she sprung into action - after a quick phone call, that is.
"I wanted to do something so bad, but I wanted to make sure it was OK with her," said Chloe, whose team for Saturday's Relay featured 60 kids from AA Community High School. "Cancer is very personal and some people like to keep it private and I wanted to respect her wishes if that's what she wanted. But she was so thrilled when I told her what we wanted to do."
And the team was thrilled when 12-year-old Emma showed up on Saturday.
"It was awesome to see her," Chloe said. "She's taking several different kinds of drugs, but isn't on chemo. So at least for now she's allowed to be a kid for a little while."
†††
Fighting - again
Manchester's Amanda Caldwell is only 18 years old. But even before she could drive, Amanda was walking in Relay For Life. While Saturday was her third walk around the track in the fight to beat cancer, she realizes the finish line is still in the distant future.
She also realizes that every step she takes brings that future a little closer.
"I was 9 years old when I first heard that my step mom had cancer," said Amanda, a captain for a team of students from Manchester High School. "I remember they didn't tell me until after they were sure she had it."
Amanda's step mom, with the help of Amanda, beat her cancer. But last November the cancer returned and the family again bound together with determination and love for another fight.
"I was scared," said Amanda, who at 18 better understood what her step mom was facing than she did when she was 9.† "It's the same kind of cancer that John Edwards' wife has so I knew all about it and how serious it was. And I knew that it wasn't good when the cancer returned."
Amanda's step mom is still undergoing treatments, but the cancer is currently in remission.
"She's just an amazing person," Amanda said. "This has certainly made me look at life a little differently and made me realize too that I can make some kind of difference. There are ways to help and things we can do."
One of those things was to bring a team to Chelsea for Relay For Life.
"Our first year we had only about 10 kids," Amanda said. "Last year we had 15 and this year we have 20. So the team is growing. And my step mom is here too. That's what really makes it special."
Not all stories are guaranteed to appear
online. The Web edition contains a reasonable
sampling of the print edition stories.
For the most complete news coverage, we invite you to
subscribe
to the print edition of the paper.
Expanded
Web
Coverage
TOP JOBS
