Susie began her battle with grade-three ovarian cancer in the beginning of June 2011. After surgery, doctors put her on a radical and aggressive chemotherapy regimen to kill all cancer cells. The procedure did its job, nine years later Susie is still in remission. However, it also adversely caused long lasting damage giving her a cognitive brain disorder called “chemo brain.”

Susie's “chemo brain” was more severe than most, eventually forcing her to quit both of her long standing jobs at Town Hall and the UW Bookstore in 2012. Since then, she has been living in peaceful coexistence with her disability. It didn't show big improvements or declines for many years.

Unfortunately, in late 2019, Susie’s cognitive ability began rapidly declining, resulting in Susie having trouble executing day to day tasks (driving, cooking, feeding herself, etc.) to the point of these actions being unsafe for her to do at all. After further testing, Susie was diagnosed with a “major neurocognitive disorder,” displaying symptoms of early onset Alzheimer's and dementia.

Over the course of 2020, Susie’s condition has gotten significantly and exponentially worse. She now needs supervisory care 24/7.

We are re-establishing our "Lotsa Helping Hands" portal for you all to schedule visits and share moments with her. Daughter Ella, son Eli, and husband Chris are beyond grateful for any help you are interested and able to offer. The Lotsa site will have schedules for meals, zoom meetings, and doctors visits / rides (when it is safe to do so).

This is very hard for us, as we are sure it is as well for you. Susie is no longer the strong, independent, and fierce person we all know. We look forward to seeing you via zoom, and eventually having you over to hang out and say hi once pandemic restrictions lift.

For background on Susie’s surgery and treatment, please read below:

In May of 2011, Susie was diagnosed with stage three ovarian cancer. Susie underwent surgery on June 2nd, successfully removing all visible signs of the cancer. At her post-op doctor appointment, we got the unbelievable news that Susie's ovarian cancer was thankfully caught in the early stages.

Cancer is found in 4 stages (1=earliest, 4=latest) and 3 grades (A=lowest, C=highest). The earlier the stage the better, the lower the grade the better. Susie's stage/grade was 1C. Susie began undergoing six months of aggressive chemotherapy in hopes of eradicating remaining cancer cells in her body.

Because it is so often detected late, ovarian cancer is widely called "the silent killer." Ovarian cancer is especially deadly and aggressive and the survival odds are truly abhorrent. Less than half who are diagnosed with ovarian cancer are expected to survive past the five year mark and Only 1 out of 5 are early detections, but when detected early, 94% of women are expected to live a full life. Susie was lucky. Her cancer was diagnosed early. She is the 1 of 5. (1)

More amazing still is that it was our pug, Neoki, who was responsible for alerting Susie that something was wrong. Neoki had attached herself emotionally (and physically) to our 11-year-old Ella, but she suddenly began spending more and more time on Susie's lap. Not only spending time, but out of the blue, Neoki began sitting / lying on a consistent area of Susie’s lap. She would stare up at Susie, putting pressure on her in odd and uncommon positions. As weeks wore on and Susie began experiencing the vague pain that we later discovered accompanied ovarian cancer. Neoki continuously jumped on her with such force that the pain motivated Susie to go to the doctor before she would have otherwise. (2)

Susie and Neoki’s story is part of this animated short, (Susie’s part starts at the 2:00 mark): https://vimeo.com/58307563?fbclid=IwAR0IDH0lkXa0NvNmvEFwUO3XduI3GhrOR_44EpqA7ZaqYDyKNw1BLmxzyNA

When someone has cancer, their family and everybody who loves them feels it too. Susie’s biggest takeaway from this experience is that every woman and/or everyone who loves a woman, should look into their family history because the symptoms of cancer are so vague and late detection is so deadly. Get looked at by a doctor when you feel off. You are your own biggest advocate.

This page will be used for updates on Susie, events related to Susie, friends also fighting cancer, and organizations we love.

Links

A recent series on ovarian cancer from the LA Times:
http://www.latimes.com/topic/health/diseases-illnesses/ovarian-cancer-HEDAI0000058.topic

Several interesting stories about dogs sniffing out cancer:
https://www.npr.org/2011/02/04/133498144/can-dogs-smell-cancer
https://www.baltimoresun.com/features/pets/bal-more-evidence-that-dogs-sniff-out-cancer-20110818-story.html?track=rss