I might have started this piece on my warrior Lisa Pepe Fernandez by saying that she is cycling and surviving but that would be a vast understatement. I met Lisa back in 2014 when she was still in the throes of her cancer treatment but you’d never know it from the vantage point of me the passenger in her spin class. Oh yes I didn’t mention she’s a spin instructor for 24 Hour Fitness. I had met her Mom some weeks prior and as a brief aside she’s going on 77 and she’s a spin instructor also at 24 Hour but that’s another story. Actually I’ve written about her several times. But this episode is about her daughter Lisa Pepe Fernandez who is a cancer survivor from Hodgkin’s Lymphoma Cancer.
Lisa’s story is part denial, part miracle but mostly it’s about her belief system that is what’s the word? Unbreakable. Yes that’s the word is unbreakable. It is her faith in God and relationship with her savior Jesus Christ that she is healed and cancer free today!
When her doctor first gave her the news back in May of 2014 she refused to believe that this lump that hopped aboard her clavicle was the big C. She said I refuse to accept that and it had to be just an infection. Well willpower alone wasn’t a match by itself as her PET scan confirmed the enlarged lymph nodes. The diagnosis was Hodgkin’s Lymphoma Stage 2. And that meant 5-6 months of chemotherapy and radiation. Along with the treatment the doctor mandated or let’s say strongly suggested Lisa have a port inserted for the chemotherapy and another blow to her vanity was that she’d probably lose all her hair. All throughout it seemed Lisa stood steadfast but losing her hair broke the veritable camel’s back and the tears started to flow in earnest. After a short time of reconciliation that her fair locks would be departing Lisa started to devise a plan. She fit her treatments into her life not her life around her treatments.
Her instructor’s class was on Tuesday mornings so she decided to schedule her chemo on Wednesday’s figuring the next two days she’d be picking herself up off the canvas every two weeks. So her class was either one day before or 6 days after her chemo. She had her plan and only a select few knew of her plight (I certainly couldn’t tell) and her determination, drive and here’s that word again; unbreakable spirit kept her on her schedule as she continued to lift weights, go to her job and volunteer at the animal rescue league.
Oh and her nurses bless their hearts told her that she as a result of the treatments would have neuralgia experience early menopause and God knows what else. Uh yeah no here’s where Lisa’s willpower kicked in. There was none of that. Sure some flu like symptoms from the treatments and by the time radiation was queued up it was and I’m paraphrasing it was 'nothing' compared to the chemo. Long story short Lisa is cancer free and continues with her 6-month check up with her oncologist. Oh and her fair locks? They’re coming back albeit slower than she’d like but Cancer it’s in her rear view mirror now and her spin classes same as they ever were spectacular.
P.S.
Oh and her family and husband and Mom very much part of that belief system and a faith in God.
