A Prayer For Jill

I have previously written about my friend and former co-worker, Jill, who has been fighting a raging battle with breast cancer for more than three and a half years. She was first diagnosed in January 2005 with stage III cancer. Time after time, she has endured intense chemotherapy treatments, radiation, and surgery, which drove the cancer away. Despite seeing no traces of cancer on a PET scan, it had not completely disappeared. It had merely retreated, cowering in some deep, dark recess of her body, only to once again return in her bones and lymph nodes.

Jill has chronicled her experience on a CaringBridge website. Because of an upgrade to the site last year, it is only a record of her battle since June 2007. (The beginning of her story can be found here.) She shared her life and her emotions; the good news and the not so good news; the technical details of her treatment and the simple words from her heart. On September 18, 2007, Jill reported with great joy that her latest PET scan was clear – no traces of cancer anywhere!!!Unfortunately, her condition wasn't permanent. Her next scan in December showed that the cancer was back. Not the kind of Christmas present one normally enjoys receiving.

Since the beginning of the year, Jill has struggled to search for new treatments and new therapies…She was forced to take a leave of absence from her job (twice, actually). Still, she continued to live her life – enjoying time with her husband Keith and her daughters Anna and Isabella, taking trips, and generally doing all the things the rest of us healthy people do.

Jill has faced cancer – this ignominious, relentless predator – with strength and grace, often with a smile on her face, while continuing to share the warmth of spirit with her family and friends.

Over the past few months, a dedicated friend of Jill’s named DeAnna provided the latest news on Jill’s website, as Jill wasn’t up to doing it herself, but still wanting to keep everyone informed about her condition. In July, her battle with breast cancer entered a new and far more challenging phase. Even though the cancer still had not invaded her organs or soft tissue, her blood counts – both read and white cells – and hemoglobin were dangerously low. She received blood transfusions and platelets, which initially helped, but only temporarily. By the end of July, DeAnna reported that Jill’s body no longer processed the transfusions at all.

Jill’s fight with breast cancer is visceral reminder – a kick in the stomach, a punch to the head – of why I’m walking in the 3-Day; why all of us who walk do so…to raise money and awareness – money for treatment programs and research that will find a cure; awareness to encourage regular checkups and early detection. I walk so that one day, there won’t be a need for an event such as the 3-Day and no one will have to endure Jill’s pain and suffering.

Last night, as I was preparing this entry, I wrote to ask, for those of you that are comfortable (and even for those that aren’t), that you please join me in offering healing prayers for Jill and her family. “God, continue to be with Jill, guide her and her family and her doctors through this difficult time, and lift her up with your grace.”

Early this morning, however, as much of Minnesota remembered the one-year anniversary of the tragic 35W Mississippi River bridge collapse, Jill quietly passed away at her home, with her family at her side. She is finally at peace; there is no more cancer, no more pain. She was 38 years old.

I only worked with Jill for a short time, ten years ago, and I wasn’t what you would call a close friend. But today, I remembered a minor event that gave me a glimpse of the kind of person her longtime friends have always known her to be. One day, she came to my desk at work to discuss a project we were working on and she noticed the Minnesota Twins Homer Hankies from 1987 and 1991 that I had on the walls of my cubicle. She said something to the effect of, “Are you a big Twins fan?” I said something to the effect of, “Yup, sure am.” Soon after, I came into work one Monday morning during the NFL football season and found a Minnesota Vikings Purple Pride towel on my desk, a gift from Jill. I hung that towel next to the Homer Hankies, where it stayed until I left the company seven years later. I still have that towel in a box somewhere and I know it will always remind me of her.

"When I get where I'm going, there'll be only happy tears. I will shed these sins and struggles I have carried all these years." - Brad Paisley

Scott’s Official 3-Day Countdown: 49 days until Day 1 (only seven weeks to go – wow!)