Ashleigh Lowery is a college student with a goal born of personal hardship. She wants to be a child life specialist.
That’s someone who works at a hospital helping children and families cope with the fears and stresses of serious illnesses and injuries. At 25, the Snohomish woman knows plenty about those things, even without the education she’s getting at Seattle Pacific University, where she’s an individual and family development major.
“I feel like my life now is totally defined by cancer,” Lowery said Wednesday.
In November of 2008, after months of lower back pain, other symptoms and many tests, she was diagnosed with two types of cancer, plasmacytoma and non-Hodgkins MALT (mucosa-associated lymphatic tissue) lymphoma. Together, Lowery said, her rare disease is called plasmacytoid MALT-lymphoma.
She is being treated by Dr. Pamela Becker of Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. On Feb. 18, 2009, she had surgery at the University of Washington Medical Center to remove two tumors and part of her colon.
Lowery said doctors have told her that although her cancer is a low-grade lymphoma, it has a high rate of reoccurrence. After oral medications and weekly intraveneous infusions of a drug called Rituximab, she is now undergoing chemotherapy. She goes twice a week to the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. Last week, she had a port implanted in her chest to aid delivery of the medication.
As if all those challenges weren’t enough, she faced economic disaster with the approach of her 25th birthday in September. She would no longer be covered by her parents’ health insurance. As the health care debate hits fever-pitch in Congress, losing coverage is a problem faced by many young adults. It’s especially acute when a person such as Lowery has a pre-existing condition, making affordable health insurance nearly impossible to get.
“If you have a pre- existing illness, you’re penalized,” said Lowery, who not only takes university classes, but works part-time at the Purple Cafe in Woodinville.
In Lowery’s case, help has come from the Rick Pankow Foundation, an Issaquah-based nonprofit organization. The foundation was started in 2001 in memory of Rick Pankow, a 43-year-old who died of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Dave Brasher, a foundation spokesman, said the group’s board learned of Lowery’s predicament and approved paying for her COBRA health insurance and other medical expenses.
Although more expensive than other coverage and only temporary, COBRA lets Lowery continue her treatments. It can’t cover it all. Medical bills just keep coming.
That’s where friends come in. On Friday evening, at Hidden Meadows in Snohomish, a “Hope in the Face of Cancer Gala” is being held to help with Lowery’s medical expenses. It’s a dinner-dance and auction at the wedding venue owned by the Stocker family, with food donated by Mardini’s Restaurant and other businesses. Organized by Shannon Frediani and Lisa Kihm, whose children attended school with Lowery, the gala is sold out.
“She’s so grateful for any help,” said Frediani, who owns Salon Ambience in Snohomish and whose daughter played soccer with Lowery. “She’s not feeling real good right now. She’s excited for this. So many people in this community came together, it’s just amazing,” Frediani said.
Lowery’s hopes for the future go beyond career. Someday, she wants to become a mother.
On Aug. 4, before having the harsh chemotherapy that could affect fertility, Lowery had surgery through Seattle Reproductive Medicine to have her eggs removed and preserved. None of that was covered by insurance. Lowery calls Dr. Amy Criniti of Seattle Reproductive Medicine “my angel” for giving her a $1,000 “scholarship” and allowing her to make payments. She had to take hormones, and those medicines were covered by a program of the Lance Armstrong Foundation called Fertile Hope.
Hope and help are getting her through.
Lowery said she trusts in God. “And I have been very fortunate over the past year to have the support of so many people,” she said.
Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460, muhlstein@heraldnet.com.
Benefit planned
Ashleigh Lowery, a 2003 Snohomish High School graduate, has been battling a rare type of lymphoma since 2003. A sold-out dinner-dance and auction to help with her medical expenses will be held Friday night at Hidden Meadows in Snohomish. To learn more or make a donation: www.ashleighlowery.com
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