In the News Archive

A Family Makes a Generous Choice When Help is Needed More than Ever

*Editor’s note: The donors featured in this article have requested anonymity.

They were a typical family, enjoying the fruits of life and their love for each other, when cancer struck.  

Six years ago at age 32, Becky Lorts found a lump in her left breast. She opted to fight her cancer with chemotherapy, radiation and surgery to remove both breasts, and she came out clear.

When it comes to improving care for patients facing kidney, prostate or testicular cancer, Washington University and Siteman Cancer Center urologic surgeon R. Sherburne Figenshau, MD, thinks small — smaller incisions, smaller cuts and smaller amounts of time inside the body.

Because cancer runs in her family, 54-year-old Lisa Facer had always been diligent about getting annual mammograms. But in 2006, she missed her mammogram as she and her sister cared for her dying mother in Hawaii. In 2007, the company where she was a corporate bond trader was in turmoil — so she missed her mammogram again. In May 2008, Facer lost her job. So with time on her hands, she finally went for a mammogram. On D-Day – June 6 – she got the news she dreaded: breast cancer.

Oncology nurses often care for the sickest of the sick, which can be stressful and emotionally difficult. But every nurse who works with cancer patients shares the common denominator of passionate care for patients, says Christine Rimkus, RN, an oncology clinical nurse specialist at the Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine.

Illumination10 co-chairs Jim and Stacey Weddle

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