Jacqueline's story 

See Jacqueline's 2009 Miracle Kid video (WYOU)

Jacqueline is not your typical teenager.  At 19 years old, she is singing and dancing her way across the country with a performing group called Re-Creation.  Her favorite TV show isn’t a sitcom or reality show, but “Forensic Files.”  She’s planning for her summer, when she’ll head to school to study surgical technology. 

And, while you’d never guess it by the vibrant, energetic young woman she is today, Jacqueline is a cancer survivor.

The diagnosis came when Jacqueline was a junior in high school – a time when most kids are focused on learners’ permits and proms.

“I started to be really tired all the time, and I had this huge growth on the side of my neck,” Jacqueline says.  “Everybody thought I had mono.  I was actually tested three or four times for it.”

“The lymph node started small, then grew to the size of a golf ball,” remembers Jagadeesh Ramdas, MD, a pediatric hematologist/oncologist at Geisinger’s Janet Weis Children’s Hospital.

Dr. Ramdas diagnosed Jacqueline’s cancer after a biopsy.  It was Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and it was aggressive.

“It’s an extensive disease, and Jacqueline was considered in Stage 4, meaning it was throughout her body,” Dr. Ramdas says.  “As a physician, it’s always challenging to give bad news, but I explained the diagnosis and the treatment, and she decided she was going to fight it.”

Her family and friends – including her parents, Tracie and Jack; her brothers, Dan and Andy; and her boyfriend, Ron – were by her side.  Despite the fear they all felt, they were committed to helping her through the battle one step at a time.

“I think that everyone, when they hear the word ‘cancer,’ you just don’t know what to expect,” Tracie says.

“The first sound of the word terrified me,” Jack adds.

Fighting the cancer required thorough treatment – including chemotherapy, radiation, surgeries and all the side effects that came along with them – but Jacqueline stayed strong.

“We all have our moments, but my family and friends were always really supportive, so it was pretty easy to keep positive,” she says.

One of the tougher moments came when she suffered hair loss from the chemotherapy.

“She would get a shower, and I would go in the bathroom and cry as I pulled the hair out of the drain,” Tracie remembers.

“It was too hard to watch my hair fall out,” Jacqueline says.  “I talked to a couple of people, and most say it’s easier if you just take charge and do it yourself.  My gram took me to her hairdresser, and she shaved my head.  I put on a wig, and my gram and I went out to lunch, and that was that.”

She stayed positive by continuing to participate in theatre, dance and sports throughout the treatments as well.  And when it was time for a school trip to France, she packed her bags, determined to not let cancer claim her life in any way.

“I never wanted to be pitied, and I never wanted to miss out on anything.  If there was something I wanted to do, I was going to do it no matter how sick I felt,” Jacqueline says.

The same determination was evident when Jacqueline took part in Camp Dost, a Ronald McDonald House of Danville program that is partially funded by Children’s Miracle Network at Geisinger.  The specialized summer camp is designed specifically for children battling cancer, and lasts a week – a week that she needed treatment.

“The critical thing with cancer treatment is timing,” explains Becky Sneidman, CRNP, in the pediatric hematology/oncology department at Janet Weis Children’s Hospital.  “During Camp Dost, I would bring her to the hospital in the morning for radiation treatment, then she’d go back to camp and participate fully in all the activities.”

“No matter what she was put through, she was still able to come up with a smile,” Dr. Ramdas says.

Oddly enough, many of the Children’s Miracle Network-funded items that helped Jacqueline, from high-tech operating-room equipment to the recliners found in each inpatient room, were the items Jacqueline helped to bring to the children’s hospital.  For years, she performed during the annual Children’s Miracle Network Celebration Weekend and even made a CD of her songs, with a portion of the proceeds going to Children’s Miracle Network at Geisinger.

“She was so courageous, and wanted to do something to give back,” Dr. Ramdas says.

“She has never thought of herself as a victim,” adds Sneidman.  “She continued to use her experience as a tool to help others.”

Jacqueline still doesn’t see herself as a victim, and she doesn’t regret any moment during her battle with cancer.

“I’m proud of that time in my life,” Jacqueline says.  “I learned a lot about myself and I learned who the truly important people in my life are.”