Hi Bunny, it’s Lindsay Sauer. I have some good news and some not so good news. The good news is that I am in my last semester of college at Valley City State University for a bachelor’s degree in Business Management and 2 minors. I only have 2 classes to finish and I am currently finishing them online and will officially graduate in December of 2010. However, I was supposed to graduate in July, so I began to look for a “real” job. I was hired June 1, 2010 to work for a company called NorthStar Telcom – a Premium Verizon Wireless store in Bismarck, ND. I went and did a week of training at their main store in Grand Forks, ND and the next Monday I started in Bismarck, ND. This store opened just a few months prior to my start date. In the meantime, I have been going in for regular MRI checkups to maintain my remission for my 2007 diagnoses of cancer. More good news, I remain in remission for that cancer.

I guess this brings me to my bad news. After my MRI checkup in June 2010, I was rediagnosed with another tumor. Doctors were unsure what kind of tumor this was and if it was malignant or not, but what they knew was that it had to be removed. Surgery to remove this tumor was set for June 28, 2010. I was in the hospital for about 4 nights and went home to recover. After a few days back home I was ready to go back to work, but only on a part-time basis. The general manager of the company called me on my second day back at work and asked how I was doing, surprised that I was back at work so soon and to congratulate me on being the top seller that day in the entire company. The company consists of 6 stores throughout ND and MN so that was a huge accomplishment and recognition to me!

Within a weeks time, the pathologist at MeritCare in Fargo, ND informed me that this tumor was a rare, malignant sarcoma of the head and that I would need some type of treatment. Because I was treated with radiation in 2007, I was unable to have more radiation to the brain or I would develop brain damage. They did not have any other treatment back home that would produce a satisfactory outcome so my doctor referred me to the University of Minnesota Fairview in Minneapolis, MN or the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN.

After some research of both places, my family and I decided that we would go to the University of Minnesota Fairview. Mom, Dad, and I went for consultation appointments with oncology doctors that next week and finalized a plan to do Tomotherapy, a precise dose of radiation to only the infected area. They said there would be some overlap with the previous radiation therapy I had been given, but that it was the best bet as far as a cure for this newly developed tumor. We decided that Tomotherapy was the right choice. Oncologists developed a plan over a period of 5 days and I began treatment. After only 2 treatment sessions I began to feel another lump on my head. Treatment was stopped and another surgery was scheduled for August 26, 2010 as the tumor had come back already. This time I was in the hospital in Minneapolis for about 9 days. Everyone was so surprised at how much energy I had and that all I wanted to do was go for a walk down the hallway. After a few days and with some help, I was granted that walk. By the 6th day I was even walking by myself AND more than just the hallway on my floor. They allowed me to visit a friend I met at the hospital and she was on another floor, so that meant I even got to take the elevator alone!

I was discharged from the hospital and sent home to recover. This recovery was going to be a lot longer as they had done a more intense surgery. They had to take the scalp in the area where the tumor was and replace that scalp resection with skin from my leg. Not only was there a skin graph, but to make it work and be healthy skin on my head, they had to find some blood vessels from another area. This area was my flank on the left side.

All is going well now and I am about to begin chemotherapy. It will be a week out of every month for 6 months. I have many ongoing expenses, and now medical expenses that I hadn’t planned for which I am unable to provide finances.

Whether doctor appointments, consultations or in-patient operations, I ask myself, where did the summer go? It began just as fast as it ended. I sincerely ask that you review my story and are able to provide me with the needed expenses to get through this part of my life. Your gift would allow me to have some peace of mind financially so that I am able to focus on a full medical recovery.

After surviving cancer in 2007, I want you to know that foundations like yours have given people like me another chance at life and for that I thank you.

Love,

Lindsay Sauer