Last year when I trained with team in training one of my honorees was the daughter of a personal friend; her name is Laura Campbell. I met Laura about ten years ago. At that time their family was dealing with the fact that Laura had been diagnosed with cancer. Laura was only eighteen. She has been cancer free for nine years now.
I received an email the other day from her Dad, Gary, with an update of whats going on with them since we talked last. Gary's news was very upsetting. He told me that he received confirmation from the doctor that a tumor removed from his leg in August was Chondrosarcoma; short and sweet, Chondrosarcoma is the second most common primary bone cancer. The same type of cancer Laura had.
So, we went over to the hospital on Wednesday to see Gary. He had been admitted to receive his second round of chemotherapy. If you've never seen these types of tumors, I think you'd be taken back by the sight of what they do to your body. Gary also had mentioned in his email that Yule Brenner, Telly Sevalis, Bruce Willis, and he all shared the same haircut. I thought it looked pretty good. It's actually quite fashionable for men to shave their head.
Anyway, Gary will have one more round of chemotherapy then have the tumors removed surgically. Gary may face having his leg removed if this phase of treatment doesn't work.
I met Gary and his beautiful wife Carol through my husband Ken. Gary and Ken worked together for many years at the Sheriff's Office. They worked investigations together. Gary is quite an extraordinary person. He was a Marine, Navy Seal and an outstanding detective. His inner strength that he presents gives confidence that everything is going to go alright.
His wife Carol is beautiful. She's a wonderful wife and mom to their three children. Their only son Andrew is now a Marine himself and is presently in Camp Lejune for advanced training. He has recently been deployed to Iraq. I don't want to go without mentioning their other daughter Allison, who is very supportive of her Dad as well.
There's so many different challenges working with TNT. Being connected to the cause is the most difficult. Ken and I look forward to visiting Gary and Carol in the next couple of weeks.