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| The story of one student’s
fight |
Jusitn
Boulmay
Multicultural Beat |
Appalachian State
University junior Ivette Rubio enjoys spending time with her family
and friends. She is also a fan of just about any type of music
and likes to dance as well. After graduation, Rubio plans to be
a pediatrician.
Last year, however, instead of working towards her major, Rubio
was involved in the fight of her life.
In 1999, doctors diagnosed Rubio with leukemia. It went into remission
in 2000, she said, and it stayed that way for two years before
the cancer relapsed.
Chemotherapy was an option when the leukemia came back, but it
would have only put the cancer back into remission without curing
it entirely, she said. Rubio instead prepared to receive a bone-marrow
transplant.
“It was scary,” she said when recalling her reaction
to needing a transplant. “It was going to be hard on my parents
and financially and emotionally. I didn’t know what a bone-marrow
transplant actually involved.”
In order to receive a transplant, a donor, who can be either a
sibling or a non-relative with the exact type of bone marrow,
must be found. Rubio’s youngest sister, Monica, would turn
out to be the donor.
“They have to kill all your cells [by chemotherapy and radiation],”
Rubio said.
“They do the transplant two days after,” Rubio said,
and the worst part, she added, is after it’s done. Her immune
system was gone after going through the radiation.
“You have a high chance of getting sick,” she said.
Anyone who visited her had to wear a mask and couldn’t have
been sick or been around anyone who had been sick recently, she
said.
“Usually, the transplant lasts a month,” Rubio said,
and usually, the hospital keeps a transplant patient for three
months for observation. Rubio, however, had a complication.
“There’s a lot of viruses that we have that are dormant
in our body,” she said. “When our immune systems are
surpressed, that’s when they become active. One of the viruses
in my bladder activated,” causing her bladder to bleed.
“I was in the hospital for about four to five months for
that, and during that time, my kidneys failed,” Rubio said.
She was put into the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Later, she had
respiratory failure when liquids pumped into her body got into
her lungs.
Rubio’s struggle did not go unnoticed. The Hispanic Student
Association (HSA) raised money through fundraisers, senior HSA
president Gabriela Reyes said.
“Last year, they did the Cinco de Mayo celebration and all
the proceeds went to her benefit,” Reyes said. Local restaurants
donated food to the event. Also, people were encouraged to buy
tacos and the money raised was donated to Rubio.
Habitat for Humanity is making plans to build a house for the
Rubio family, although there have been problems, junior Seth W.
Wiseman said. Wiseman is also the president for Habitat for Humanity
at Appalachian.
“Things haven’t run as smoothly as we hoped,” he
said, citing examples such as finding a work site and other projects
already in progress.
Rubio had to take some time off from school, but said she plans
to return during the summer.
“I didn’t think I’d make it,” Rubio said,
“but I made it. With the help of God, I made it.” |
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