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ANCHORAGE WOMAN CONQUERS CANCER WITH HELP OF BLOOD
DONORS
Sharen had a nagging feeling something was wrong. It started with
a ski trip in Montana where she could not catch her breath.
"I thought it was the altitude," said Sharen. But after
returning home to Anchorage, her symptoms increased.
When her abdomen started hardening, she went to the doctor.
After tests, Sharen received a call. Her doctor wanted to see her
again right away.
She had a 7 centimeter tumor on her ovary.
"Your life changes just like that," said Sharen Walsh-Webster,
a plan review engineer, wife, mother and grandmother.
In the week before surgery to remove the tumor, her abdomen continued
swelling. "I looked like I was four or five months pregnant."
In surgery they found two more. It was diagnosed as aggressive Burkitt’s
lymphoma.
The good news was the cancer was extremely susceptible to chemotherapy.
The bad news, it was spreading so rapidly her largest tumor had
already doubled in size to 15 centimeters.
People advised her to seek care out of state, but Sharen remained
in Alaska.
"It was so nice to be able to do all that treatment here at
home," said Sharen. "I had my kids around to help. If
you have to go through it, it’s nice to be close to home."
She started a chemo regimen.
"They tell you that your platelets are going to be low,"
said Sharen. "You have to be careful about not cutting yourself."
About a week after her first treatment, while recovering at home,
she woke in the middle of the night.
Disoriented from medication, she was soaked with what she assumed
was sweat.
But one look in the bathroom mirror destroyed that assumption.
"I looked like something from ‘Carrie,’" she
said.
Blood poured from her nose, covering her face, neck and chest. As
delirium set in, her husband Doug drove her to the hospital where
she received four units of blood and two units of platelets.
"That was the night I almost died," said Sharen. "I
would have died without the Blood Bank of Alaska."
Sharen’s treatment was successful; she’s been in remission
over a year.
Sharen illustrates what blood donation has meant to her.
"My little grandson’s four years old. I just taught him
how to ski this year. We’re all over that mountain. I’m
still here. I’m going to be able to watch my grandkids grow
up."
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