By Mia Salvador
Viking Longboat
Haslett HS
1st Place
Division 3, News Writing
Environmental, Health or Science
Ashia Wroblak sat patiently in the doctor’s office on Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2013 waiting for the surgeon to return with her lab results. Her heart thumped in her chest as she waited.
After what seemed like an eternity, the surgeon came in and delivered the news. Ashia was told 2 lymph nodes out of 27 were malignant and that she needed four cycles of chemotherapy as soon as possible if she wanted to live.
“I laid in bed and cried for weeks,” Ashia said. The reality of her condition really hit her when she lost all of her hair. “It was the worst experience,” Ashia said. “I felt like I had no control over my body.”
She was diagnosed with ovarian dysgerminoma. This is a type of cancer found in the ovaries and most commonly affects 15 to 30-year-old women.
“The recovery process was never ending,” Ashia said. “I was sick for weeks and couldn’t even move.”
The journey she went through was unexpected, but not uncommon. Approximately 5,000 teens are diagnosed with cancer in the United States every year. According to the Pediatric Cancer Center, 9,100 kids were diagnosed with cancer from 2005 to 2009.
“I don’t think anyone should have to go through what I went through,” Ashia said. “It’s a scary, scary thing. But thank God for modern drugs, technology and hope.”
According to Ashia, the Haslett community, family and friends got her through the endless surgeries, excruciating pain and emotional breakdowns. Every day, she received dozens of encouraging messages from friends and family asking about her condition and wanting to visit her in the hospital.
Ashia’s mom, Holly Wroblak, was with her every step of the way. “Right when my mom had to leave to go do something, I called her right away asking for her to come back,” Ashia said. “She was with me all the time.”
Ashia’s younger brother, senior Darek Wroblak also tried his hardest to show support and love for his sister. “There was not a lot I could do, but whatever she asked for I would get it, like if she wanted a popsicle I would get her a popsicle or something,” Darek said. “I’d mostly just chill with her and play video games.”
While the family was there, the community was also supportive and had her in their thoughts and prayers. Darek says he was amazed by the support and love.
“It was super cool —everyone made food for my family when my mom wasn’t home and she (Ashia) wasn’t home,” Darek said. “Everybody was always asking me how she was and stuff.”
Ashia is grateful to be a part of a loving community like Haslett.“The love and support I was getting was making me feel positive even when I did not want to be,” she said.
A SIMILAR FATE
Shelby Durbin was running her hands through her hair, feeling a huge scar on the side of her head and neck. As she got to the bottom, she felt a huge lump, like one of those gumballs from a machine. She ran downstairs to tell her mom and they immediately called her oncologist. She then was scheduled for surgery three days later.
“Do you ever have that moment of realization when you’re thinking about life and it really hits home that you’re going to die one day? I woke up with that feeling every day for three years,” Shelby said. “At any moment, I could have been no more.” It was the day of her first surgery when it hit her. “I felt defeated, hopeless and a whole world of sadness inside of me,” Shelby said.
She found her tumor two months from finishing a 12 month regimen of chemotherapy.
“It was horrible, I went through things no teenager should go through,” Shelby said.
She was looking everywhere for treatment because doctors told her that the only option U of M could offer was radiation. After searching for other options, she settled with Biochemothereapy in Houston, Texas. This treatment is used for select patients with metastatic cancer and requires intensive treatment with five different drugs.
At the time, Shelby was the youngest person in the U.S. to receive this treatment. Only six hospitals in the entire country utilized that combination of three chemos and two immunotherapies. Shelby had two weeks to recover, and all she did was puke and sleep.
“There’s no happiness when you can’t stop puking and can’t keep any food down,” Shelby said. “When all your friends are moving on to their senior year you’re having chemotherapy treatments.”
While enduring this challenge, Shelby was not alone. Her mother, Denise Durbin, is herself a cancer survivor and was going through her own rounds of chemotherapy at the
time.
“Cancer has the ability to strip you and humble you in ways that are unimaginable,” Denise said.
Denise lost both her parents to cancer. She was only 20 when her father passed, and Shelby feared her mother would suffer a similar fate.
“I used to have the scariest dreams through those three years where she would die, or we both would,” Shelby said. “She is literally my best friend. I would not be able to go on without her.”
After three years of treatment things started to look better for Shelby. “I have never been so happy in my life when they told me my scans were clear and I was guaranteed five years of remission,” she said. “Sometimes I still wake up and can’t believe that I really went through it all.”
Eventually, Ashia and Shelby returned to school to finish their senior year, and were greeted by smiling faces of the students and staff. The community even put together a fundraiser called “The Pancake Breakfast”, that was held at the Haslett Community Church to support the two girls.
“The love and support that Shelby and I felt was indescribable and we were so thankful that the community did that for us,” Ashia said.
COMMUNITY COMES TOGETHER
A nonprofit organization called Listen and Believe is all about community and support. Originally created in honor of former Haslett student Micah Magnuson, this organization serves children and their families in the community who suffer from dire medical conditions.
“The non profit group that my husband and I started was inspired by the life of Micah Magnuson,” Millie Heinz, a founder of Listen and Believe, said.
Micah was a former student at Haslett High School and a close friend of the Heinz family. In May 2007, Micah suffered a sudden brain bleed on the day of his high school graduation open house. The family later learned the brain bleed was caused by an arteriovenous malformation, which is an abnormal collection of blood cells on the brain. This left him paralyzed and unable to speak.
An army of volunteers throughout the community came to Micah’s aid. Trinity Church in Lansing, New Hope Church in Haslett as well as Haslett families helped the family with laundry, cooking, carpooling and more.
In August of 2012, Micah Magnuson passed away.
After watching the community come together, the Magnuson and Heinz families were inspired to start an organization to help families in the community in desperate situations. The Magnuson family named the nonprofit Listen and Believe after a Bible verse. John 5:24 says, “I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.”
The organization has a website in which families of the Haslett, Okemos, East Lansing, Holt and Mason communities can apply for assistance. The website also allows people from the community to donate, sponsor, or volunteer.
“It is our hearts’ desire that this organization will be an encouragement to others in our community as they travel through similar challenging times,” Dale Magnuson said.
The organization’s first applicant was a Ralya fifth grader, Will Goodale, who passed Nov. 4. To support the family and cover medical bills, Listen and Believe will be hosting a “Cut-athon” at Shear Reflections in Okemos Dec. 6 from noon to 4 p.m.
Heinz said the organization will continue to host different fundraisers to help raise money for other children in the community. “Micah was an inspiration to the community, an inspiration to never give up,” Heinz said.