Type of Sarcoma: Liposarcoma
Date of Diagnosis: 2012
Kathy (Mom) was adventurous and always looking for a new goal.
One of the challenges she was most proud of was riding a bike 494 miles across Iowa in the 1994 RAGBRAI ride, from the Missouri River to the Mississippi River with her husband, Stan. She participated at some level of RAGBRAI for over 12 years.
After that, why not run a 20k, mini marathon, just to see if she could do it. Of course she did.
When Mom put her mind to something, she also put her entire heart into it as well. With this in mind, she was also adventurous in her approach to Liposarcoma.
She was diagnosed with Liposarcoma in August 2012, shortly after returning from zip-lining on vacation.
She was involved in multiple Mayo Clinic trials from late 2012 until approximately one month before her death. She figured, since there apparently isn’t a cure, she would help others.
She was basically on multiple forms of chemotherapy almost the entire three and a half years. During her treatments, the physicians were impressed with the strength of her heart, as in many cases the chemo is tough on the cardiovascular system, her heart remained strong until the end.
In the eyes of me and my sister, Elisa, and most everyone who knew her, she WAS BELIEVABLY strong because we never knew anything different.
