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Friday, July 21, 2006
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Therese's birthdays Surviving cancer was a life-changing as well as life-saving experience for turtle walk organizer Erickson Staff Writer Therese Erickson of Garrison now celebrates three birthdays each year.
The first - her own birthday - is Feb. 20.
The second - Sept. 2, 2004 - is the date she received a cord blood transplant in her fight against acute lymphocytic leukemia, for which she was diagnosed on May 19, 2004.
The third - Jan. 18 - is the birthdate of the infant whose umbilical cord blood saved Erickson's life.
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Therese Erickson, Garrison, shown in a recent family photograph with her husband, Paul, their sons, Beau (left), 12, and Cole, 9, and their dog, Lucky, is now doing well after battling acute lymphocytic leukemia in which she underwent a cord blood transplant on Sept. 2, 2004. Erickson is spearheading the first Garrison Turtle Walk on July 30 to raise funds for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
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Erickson, 36, a mother of two boys, is now free of cancer and doing well. Surviving leukemia has changed her life. She has organized the first Garrison Turtle Walk for Leukemia and Lymphoma on July 30, a fundraising event to raise money for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
"It changes your life," Erickson said of her personal battle with leukemia. "It took everyone, family and friends, to get through all of this."
Erickson's doctor discovered she had leukemia through a blood test during a routine physical in May 2004. Immediately after her diagnosis, she was hospitalized and underwent two 30-day rounds of chemotherapy. She then had to have additional chemotherapy and radiation to destroy her own immune system so she could undergo the lifesaving cord blood transplant.
Since none of her relatives were a match, Erickson's doctors at the University of Minnesota used a cord blood bank that provided her with umbilical cord blood from two donor infants during her transplant on Sept. 2. The cord blood stem cells of the infant born Jan 18 - Erickson doesn't know what year - are what took over, providing her body with the ability to make new healthy marrow and blood.
Erickson has never organized a fundraising walk like this before and has never participated in one either. She does plan to walk during Relay For Life in Brainerd July 28. She felt it was important to not only raise awareness about the importance of cord blood and cord blood donation but to raise funds to support leukemia research and programs.
According to the University of Minnesota Cancer Center Web site, collecting umbilical cord blood is simple. With the parents' consent, technicians collect the blood left in the umbilical cord that has been cut from the baby after birth. While there isn't a cord blood bank in Minnesota, parents may send for kits that allow their own hospitals to collect the cord blood and send it to a cord blood bank for donation or to be stored at a private bank for possible future use by the family.
St. Joseph's Medical Center in Brainerd is among other hospitals that will assist parents who wish to save their infant's cord blood.
If you go
The Garrison Turtle Walk for Leukemia and Lymphoma will begin at 10 a.m. July 30 at the Garrison Fire Hall. Registration begins at 8 a.m.
For a pledge form or for more information, call Therese Erickson at (218) 678-2495, Polly Williams at (218) 851-2349, Ann Erickson at (218) 330-7529 or visit the Web site, www.garrisonturtlewalk.com.
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Erickson was hospitalized for nearly six months and her husband, Paul, spent most of that time with her. In the meantime, her sister, Kim Erickson, and parents, Harvey and Ann Erickson, managed their resort, Camp Holiday Resort and Campground, on Turtle Lake in Garrison. They also cared for the couple's sons, Beau, 12, who will be a seventh-grader at Forestview Middle School in Baxter, and Cole, 9, who will be a fourth-grader at Riverside Elementary School in Brainerd.
Erickson hopes people will come to Garrison for the Turtle Walk, which she hopes will become an annual event held in conjunction with Garrison Play Days, and help raise funds to support leukemia research and programs.
"Don't take life for granted," said Erickson. "Your life can change in a minute."
JODIE TWEED can be reached at jodie.tweed@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5858.
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