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Meghan Craig looks forward to life back to normal in 2010 |
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Local Content -
Local News
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Written by Tom Chapin
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Thursday, 31 December 2009 |
Twenty-one-year-old Meghan Craig of Smicksburg is on the waiting list for a new liver, but she said she learned that livers are not one-size-fits-all. Thus, Craig — who is five feet tall — joked that she needs a “petite” liver. (Photo submitted)
SMICKSBURG — Three-quarters of Americans said in an Associated Press poll that 2009 was a bad year for the nation, citing job losses, home foreclosures and the poor economy.
Meghan Craig can relate, but perhaps not for those exact reasons.
2009 was a year during which health care “experts” coldly and with indifference told her she had terminal cancer, and there was nothing they could do for her.
But with a new year comes new hope. Craig and her family decided to seek a second opinion on her diagnosis, and now, she’s waiting for a liver transplant that can get her back on the road to what she hopes will be a normal life. Again.
“I want to do everything to live life to the fullest, and I can say I beat cancer,” said Craig, a 2007 PAHS graduate who celebrated her 21st birthday Dec. 12 and worked at The Punxsutawney Spirit as the classifieds manager and an ad representative in the Brookville territory until her illness — neuroendocrine cancer — caused her to take a long-term leave of absence. “If anything, I can stay positive for someone else that’s going through it.”
“It looks really promising with her getting a transplant soon,” said her mother, Ann Craig. “It’s gotta be better than the second half of this year has been.”
Her problems began to emerge like the flu. Craig said she was vomiting daily, which she attributed to migraine headaches. Things came to a head one evening when she was on the floor, her head pounding, and her boyfriend, Mike Pryzbrowski, literally dragged her to the car for a trip to Punxsutawney Area Hospital, where personnel said her problems were either related to her brain or liver.
Next was a trip to a Pittsburgh hospital, where Craig said she was met with indifference, especially when it came to telling her what was wrong.
“They told me I had terminal liver cancer, a brain tumor, and ‘See ya,’” she recalled about the diagnosis given to her Aug. 26. “They said there was nothing they could do for me.”
That explanation and the manner in which it was delivered was unacceptable to Craig and her family. In September, they sought a second opinion from the Philadelphia location of the Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA), where Craig said she was shown the care and compassion that was absent in Pittsburgh.
“The oncologist looked at me and said, ‘I can’t believe anyone would tell a 20-year-old girl like you that you have an expiration date,’” she recalled.
After a battery of tests, scans and chemotherapy, the doctors at CTCA identified Craig’s diagnosis: Neuroendocrine cancer, a rare type of cancer that originates in the neuroendocrine system, where the nervous and endocrine systems work together.
Doctors believe that the source of the cancer began in Craig’s intestine, and that it either disintegrated or became so small, it is invisible, she said, adding that doctors believe the cancer originated in her body about five years ago.
The slow-growing cancer can be fatal if untreated, and tumors now cover Craig’s liver, swelling it to double its size. And now, Craig and her family are awaiting the call that a liver has been found for her for a transplant.
A special Christmas gift for Craig arrived a bit early, when she learned that as of last Monday, she was on the transplant list.
Craig’s surgery will likely take place at the Methodist University Hospital Transplant Institute in Memphis, Tenn., the same location where Apple Inc. co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs underwent a liver transplant in April by the same doctor — Dr. James D. Eason — who may perform Craig’s surgery.
Currently, Craig is planning a trip to CTCA to determine if she needs more chemotherapy. Her family is also looking at places to stay for a period of time in Memphis when a liver becomes available.
Craig said her doctor is optimistic that a liver could become available very soon, but she learned that the liver should be a size appropriate for her body.
“I thought that a liver is a liver, that it comes in one size,” said Craig, who stands at five feet, zero inches. “I need a ‘petite’ liver.”
Since Craig learned about her cancer, her colleagues at The Spirit and friends in the community have held benefits and fund-raisers for her and her family. Several senior projects — including a boxing match, a golf tournament and a bike tour — are in the works, and donations continue into a fund at Marion Center Bank.
“Everybody pulled together so much for me, from people I don’t know,” Craig said. “It’s kind of nice to see there’s people that still care.”
Of course, her family’s life has been turned upside-down. Craig said her mother, Ann, has stayed up night after night researching her disorder, and her dad, Waldo, completely changed his own work schedule.
These days, Craig’s life is as normal as can be expected for someone in her situation.
Her 21st birthday was different, since she cannot consume alcohol, but she said she’s happy to be driving on her own again. Her love of snowboarding is out, because she risks internal bleeding if she gets injured. She said she loves going out, shopping and spending time with friends, but therapy makes her tired.
Craig acknowledged that at certain points in time, her hopes have been down.
“I got mad,” she said, when asked if she found herself asking, “Why me?” “But then I realized that there are people worse off than me, but I had the good end of a bad deal.”
More than anything, Craig said she looks forward to living her life as she knew it before her illness.
“I want to come back to work so bad,” she said. “I just want everything to go back to normal. I miss getting treated like everybody else.”
And her thoughts on the coming of 2010?
“I’m not going to have any trouble,” she said. “Obviously, I’ll have the operation, and the beginning of the year will be a downer, but other than that, I’ll go back to my normal life and put this behind me.”
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 02 January 2010 )
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