Andrea Jackson
“Everyone was sad when I was diagnosed with cancer at age 9. I didn’t know that people died from cancer. I just assumed that I would get well,” says childhood cancer survivor Andrea Jackson.
Today at age 24 and several years out of treatment, Andrea leads a full life. She is the mother of two little girls, works at a child development center, and is studying at the University of Delaware to be a social worker. She is also proof that there is life beyond cancer, the theme of six-session workshop at The Wellness Community beginning January 7, 2008, underwritten by The Lance Armstrong Foundation.
Most people, even some doctors, don’t associate cancer with children. At the age of 9, when Andrea developed back pains, she was told by three different doctors that she had a “stiff neck” and they prescribed a pain killer. When her symptoms became increasingly worse, her mother took her to Alfred I. duPont Children’s Hospital, where doctors discovered a cancerous lump the size of a grapefruit at the top of her spine. They removed most of the tumor but were unable to remove all of it.
Doctors told her family that Andrea had six months to live, so the family started planning a funeral. But Andrea, who didn’t realize the seriousness of her diagnosis, kept a positive attitude.
After the surgery, she spent a year in A.I. duPont Children’s Hospital where she underwent chemotherapy. She was bedridden for most of that time. Following chemotherapy, she received an experimental radiation treatment at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. She went into remission and has been in remission since then. During the entire time of her treatment and afterward, she always kept a positive attitude, even when she had to go back to school with no hair.
Doctors told her she would probably never have children because of the chemo and radiation. But today her healthy daughters Autumn, 2, and Aidyn, 1, keep her busy. She works at the Bank of America’s child development program in Wilmington and is in her third year at UD.
Andrea learned about The Wellness Community-Delaware at the People of Color Mental Health Conference at Del Tech. “I had been wanting to do something to encourage people with cancer. The Wellness Community seemed like a place to do that,” says Andrea. She hopes that people who have been recently diagnosed with cancer will be encouraged when they hear her inspiring story.
(“Living Well! Life Beyond Breast Cancer,” is presented by The Wellness Community-Delaware and the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Call the New Castle county TWCD, 995-2850, for details.)
|
About Us
