{"id":245,"date":"2015-03-03T16:02:34","date_gmt":"2015-03-03T16:02:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stories.kera.org\/after-cancer\/?p=245"},"modified":"2015-04-09T04:19:33","modified_gmt":"2015-04-09T04:19:33","slug":"stories-of-survivors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stories.kera.org\/after-cancer\/2015\/03\/03\/stories-of-survivors\/","title":{"rendered":"Stories Of Survivors Of Childhood Cancer"},"content":{"rendered":"

KERA talked with North Texans who were diagnosed with childhood cancer years, even decades, ago. They survived. Here are their stories.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Cynthia Sekerke<\/h3>\n

\u2018I really can\u2019t say I\u2019m sorry it happened.\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Cynthia

Cynthia Sekerke was a teen when she was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Years later came breast cancer.\u00a0 Photo\/Stephanie Kuo<\/p><\/div>\n

In 1973, Cynthia Sekerke was 16 when she was diagnosed with Hodgkin\u2019s lymphoma, a cancer that attacks the immune system. There were few treatment options\u00a0at the time — and even fewer support groups. Sekerke, 58, not only beat Hodgkin\u2019s; she also survived breast cancer three decades later.<\/em>
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The one time I remember being very aware of my mortality — the doctor called my parents and I into an office after diagnosing the Hodgkin\u2019s and gave me a 50-50 chance of surviving this.<\/p>\n

Four days a week, my mom would drive me across the Bay Bridge to San Francisco. \u2026 We would wait in a waiting room with all of these elderly people. That was an odd feeling, being the only child there. I hadn\u2019t known anyone with any kid of cancer, except for elderly people. I was in uncharted water. It was a big question mark in a lot of ways in my life.<\/p>\n

The radiation I received I\u2019ve been told now was way too much for a human body. I remember the radiation was so strong that under my arms the skin literally turned black \u2013 it looked like charred meat.<\/p>\n

I had follow-ups. Initially [they were] just a few months apart. And then they stretched to half a year, a year, then every couple of years.<\/p>\n

I was totally cancer-free until, at age 49, breast cancer showed up.<\/p>\n

When you get it the second time around and so much time has elapsed in between, I think my take was \u2018I\u2019ve beaten this before; I\u2019ve got this one.\u2019<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think I would wish childhood cancer on anyone and I certainly wouldn\u2019t wish the follow-ups that I\u2019ve had. I really can\u2019t say I\u2019m sorry that it happened. Because the things that happened in my life were most definitely for a reason. And I may not know all of those reasons today.<\/p>\n

Nothing happens accidentally. I have seen the fact that I\u2019ve been able to come alongside people and I think be a benefit to them because I know what they\u2019re feeling.<\/p>\n

In Her Own Words: Cynthia Sekerke<\/h3>\n\n