Reaganrattler07
04-12-2007, 08:49 PM
Thought some of you all may be interested...
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/hssports/stories/MYSA041207.01A.HS.JonesDuffey.3b752d8.html
Reagan girl battling illness with a winning attitude
Web Posted: 04/12/2007 12:16 AM CDT
Lorne Chan
Express-News
Janet Jones-Duffey still can imagine herself at the starting line. She pictures her perfect legs blasting out of the blocks as she faces a row of hurdles.
But the race stops there.
Before she can see the finish line, she returns to reality on the eighth floor of Christus Santa Rosa Children's Hospital.
Last year, bone cancer took away her ability to run.
"I only picture my starts now," says Jones-Duffey, a senior at Reagan High School. "That's probably a metaphor for something, isn't it?"
Sporting a green wig, Jones-Duffey points to a teammate during a soccer game against MacArthur High School at Blossom Athletic Stadium.
Jones-Duffey always has been a runner — since she was 2 years old and her 5-year-old brother Alex couldn't catch her.
She has long legs, even for her 5-foot-11 frame, and used them to star in track and soccer at Reagan.
Jones-Duffey holds two school records in the hurdles and was hoping for a track scholarship. And nothing athletically could compare to what she's doing in the classroom; although only 16 years old and a senior, she's at the top of her class at Reagan.
Last July, her right knee began to hurt. She went in for X-rays thinking it was a regular sports injury. Instead, a tumor was found in her tibia.
Jones-Duffey eventually was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a rare form of cancer that afflicts about 400 children in the United States every year. Her doctors have said osteosarcoma patients have a 65 percent survival rate.
"With those odds, I should be playing the lottery," Jones-Duffey says.
Her chemotherapy began in July and will go until June. Osteosarcoma often results in an amputation, but Jones-Duffey was able to undergo a limb salvage operation. The surgery included a knee replacement and a titanium rod in her tibia.
It means she won't run again on her leg.
When her doctor, Anne-Marie Langevin, first explained the chemotherapy schedule and treatment that would save her life, she noticed Jones-Duffey wasn't paying attention.
"All she said was, 'Just take the leg off, I want to run,'" Langevin said.
Eventually, Jones-Duffey realized keeping her leg would be for the best. But running always has meant so much. Her mother, Julia Jones, can't drive past a track stadium anymore without tearing up.
Although she can participate in such low-impact sports as cycling and swimming, it won't be the same.
Treatment/recovery
With an IV drip in her arm, Jones-Duffey is pushing back against her hospital room door, doing a wall-sit. She was given a round of chemotherapy the night before, but she's already trying to work out her knee.
This is the same Janet who started on the soccer team despite an unrelated right ankle injury throughout her sophomore and junior seasons. It forced her to wear a hard cast on her ankle before the start of her junior season. The cast lasted less than a week until Jones-Duffey cut it off by herself.
Cancer has become just another challenge for Jones-Duffey.
She's finishing her remaining classes at home, although heartbroken that she couldn't take advanced calculus.
She even shortened her rest time between chemotherapy sessions by a day so she could finish it two weeks sooner.
When the chemotherapy made her bald, Jones-Duffey went all out buying wigs. She ended up with a lime-green one and a purple one.
"Janet set the tone," said her father, Al Duffey. "There were a lot of tears between all of us, but she let us know she was going to stand up to this thing and make the best of it."
Jones-Duffey was so optimistic, Reagan soccer coach Frankie Whitlock even thought at one point that she might be back for the soccer season. She'd seen Jones-Duffey play through pain before.
Whitlock later realized Jones-Duffey wouldn't be back, but refused to take her off the roster this season. Track coach Nancy Almaraz keeps a set of Jones-Duffey's spikes on her desk.
Jones-Duffey hasn't competed since June, but when they think of her, they still see No. 12 on the field, or they still see her ponytail bounce around when she runs over a hurdle.
And they remember those legs.
"Everybody hated going against her in practice," soccer teammate Lauren Evans said. "Her legs could just wrap around you and she'd steal the ball. It wasn't fair."
Jones-Duffey isn't afraid to show her right leg — a foot-long scar runs from her calf past her knee.
While many patients wait to finish chemotherapy before they begin physical therapy, Jones-Duffey is getting going on hers in the hospital hallway.
She couldn't walk up the stairs of her house in November. Now she's taking them two at a time.
The support
Jones-Duffey credits the strength of her mother, Julia, a single parent. The fold-out couch Julia sleeps on in the hospital has wrenched her back, but Julia has been at her side every night of the chemotherapy and almost every hour in the hospital.
Jones said one of the biggest helps has been the way the Reagan community has rallied around her daughter. There have been walkathons, scholarships and fundraisers. Friends and strangers stop buy to bring dinner on the days Jones-Duffey is out of the hospital.
And Jones-Duffey won't forget the standing ovations she received at the four soccer games she attended.
Her family didn't have time to buy Christmas decorations this year. So Jones-Duffey's aunt sent a plea for help to an online message board, adding her niece liked angel ornaments. They received more than 200 angels in the mail.
Reagan also has sold wristbands as a fundraiser for Jones-Duffey with the Latin phrase, vulneratus non victus —"wounded, not conquered."
New starting line
She may not be able to run, but cancer hasn't slowed Jones-Duffey. On May 26, she plans to walk across the stage at graduation as one of Reagan's valedictorians.
Reagan Principal Bill Boyd said he imagines the entire senior class jumping up and down when her name is called.
"I don't think she realizes how incredible she is," Julia said. "I don't think she gets how much she's changed so many people."
Jones-Duffey is at a different starting line now. She plans to attend the University of Texas in August and even might get a burnt-orange wig for the occasion. There are plenty of hills on campus, and she'll be ready for them thanks to the hospital hallway workouts.
At UT, she's looking to major in biomedical engineering. When the time comes for her next knee replacement, she says she wants to be able to make her own knee.
Today, Jones-Duffey is content learning to live with her new knee — although it's not exactly how a once talented athlete envisioned her senior year would be spent.
But she is making peace with the fact she's not striding across the track or the soccer field anymore.
Janet Jones-Duffey is leaping bigger hurdles now.
Keep up the fight, Janet.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/hssports/stories/MYSA041207.01A.HS.JonesDuffey.3b752d8.html
Reagan girl battling illness with a winning attitude
Web Posted: 04/12/2007 12:16 AM CDT
Lorne Chan
Express-News
Janet Jones-Duffey still can imagine herself at the starting line. She pictures her perfect legs blasting out of the blocks as she faces a row of hurdles.
But the race stops there.
Before she can see the finish line, she returns to reality on the eighth floor of Christus Santa Rosa Children's Hospital.
Last year, bone cancer took away her ability to run.
"I only picture my starts now," says Jones-Duffey, a senior at Reagan High School. "That's probably a metaphor for something, isn't it?"
Sporting a green wig, Jones-Duffey points to a teammate during a soccer game against MacArthur High School at Blossom Athletic Stadium.
Jones-Duffey always has been a runner — since she was 2 years old and her 5-year-old brother Alex couldn't catch her.
She has long legs, even for her 5-foot-11 frame, and used them to star in track and soccer at Reagan.
Jones-Duffey holds two school records in the hurdles and was hoping for a track scholarship. And nothing athletically could compare to what she's doing in the classroom; although only 16 years old and a senior, she's at the top of her class at Reagan.
Last July, her right knee began to hurt. She went in for X-rays thinking it was a regular sports injury. Instead, a tumor was found in her tibia.
Jones-Duffey eventually was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a rare form of cancer that afflicts about 400 children in the United States every year. Her doctors have said osteosarcoma patients have a 65 percent survival rate.
"With those odds, I should be playing the lottery," Jones-Duffey says.
Her chemotherapy began in July and will go until June. Osteosarcoma often results in an amputation, but Jones-Duffey was able to undergo a limb salvage operation. The surgery included a knee replacement and a titanium rod in her tibia.
It means she won't run again on her leg.
When her doctor, Anne-Marie Langevin, first explained the chemotherapy schedule and treatment that would save her life, she noticed Jones-Duffey wasn't paying attention.
"All she said was, 'Just take the leg off, I want to run,'" Langevin said.
Eventually, Jones-Duffey realized keeping her leg would be for the best. But running always has meant so much. Her mother, Julia Jones, can't drive past a track stadium anymore without tearing up.
Although she can participate in such low-impact sports as cycling and swimming, it won't be the same.
Treatment/recovery
With an IV drip in her arm, Jones-Duffey is pushing back against her hospital room door, doing a wall-sit. She was given a round of chemotherapy the night before, but she's already trying to work out her knee.
This is the same Janet who started on the soccer team despite an unrelated right ankle injury throughout her sophomore and junior seasons. It forced her to wear a hard cast on her ankle before the start of her junior season. The cast lasted less than a week until Jones-Duffey cut it off by herself.
Cancer has become just another challenge for Jones-Duffey.
She's finishing her remaining classes at home, although heartbroken that she couldn't take advanced calculus.
She even shortened her rest time between chemotherapy sessions by a day so she could finish it two weeks sooner.
When the chemotherapy made her bald, Jones-Duffey went all out buying wigs. She ended up with a lime-green one and a purple one.
"Janet set the tone," said her father, Al Duffey. "There were a lot of tears between all of us, but she let us know she was going to stand up to this thing and make the best of it."
Jones-Duffey was so optimistic, Reagan soccer coach Frankie Whitlock even thought at one point that she might be back for the soccer season. She'd seen Jones-Duffey play through pain before.
Whitlock later realized Jones-Duffey wouldn't be back, but refused to take her off the roster this season. Track coach Nancy Almaraz keeps a set of Jones-Duffey's spikes on her desk.
Jones-Duffey hasn't competed since June, but when they think of her, they still see No. 12 on the field, or they still see her ponytail bounce around when she runs over a hurdle.
And they remember those legs.
"Everybody hated going against her in practice," soccer teammate Lauren Evans said. "Her legs could just wrap around you and she'd steal the ball. It wasn't fair."
Jones-Duffey isn't afraid to show her right leg — a foot-long scar runs from her calf past her knee.
While many patients wait to finish chemotherapy before they begin physical therapy, Jones-Duffey is getting going on hers in the hospital hallway.
She couldn't walk up the stairs of her house in November. Now she's taking them two at a time.
The support
Jones-Duffey credits the strength of her mother, Julia, a single parent. The fold-out couch Julia sleeps on in the hospital has wrenched her back, but Julia has been at her side every night of the chemotherapy and almost every hour in the hospital.
Jones said one of the biggest helps has been the way the Reagan community has rallied around her daughter. There have been walkathons, scholarships and fundraisers. Friends and strangers stop buy to bring dinner on the days Jones-Duffey is out of the hospital.
And Jones-Duffey won't forget the standing ovations she received at the four soccer games she attended.
Her family didn't have time to buy Christmas decorations this year. So Jones-Duffey's aunt sent a plea for help to an online message board, adding her niece liked angel ornaments. They received more than 200 angels in the mail.
Reagan also has sold wristbands as a fundraiser for Jones-Duffey with the Latin phrase, vulneratus non victus —"wounded, not conquered."
New starting line
She may not be able to run, but cancer hasn't slowed Jones-Duffey. On May 26, she plans to walk across the stage at graduation as one of Reagan's valedictorians.
Reagan Principal Bill Boyd said he imagines the entire senior class jumping up and down when her name is called.
"I don't think she realizes how incredible she is," Julia said. "I don't think she gets how much she's changed so many people."
Jones-Duffey is at a different starting line now. She plans to attend the University of Texas in August and even might get a burnt-orange wig for the occasion. There are plenty of hills on campus, and she'll be ready for them thanks to the hospital hallway workouts.
At UT, she's looking to major in biomedical engineering. When the time comes for her next knee replacement, she says she wants to be able to make her own knee.
Today, Jones-Duffey is content learning to live with her new knee — although it's not exactly how a once talented athlete envisioned her senior year would be spent.
But she is making peace with the fact she's not striding across the track or the soccer field anymore.
Janet Jones-Duffey is leaping bigger hurdles now.
Keep up the fight, Janet.