Ruiz Battles Lung Cancer
by A.J. Perez, Long Beach Press-Telegram
January 10, 2005
It was the rare occasion when Brandii Ruiz didn't want a second wind.
Hair was just poking through her scalp weeks after what was supposed to be her final chemotherapy treatment, a trying experience that still paled in comparison to the news the Long Beach State track athlete was about to receive.
A tumor in her right lung that accompanied non-Hodgkin's lymphoma was back, a discovery that was made just a couple of days before her 21st birthday in August.
"I thought I was done with it," said Ruiz, her eyes filled with tears as she talked about a subject few of college age confront. "I had already registered for classes, and I was excited about starting school again. Everything was going so well."
That path of her life over the next several days mimicked the initial diagnosis of cancer a year prior. Ruiz quit training with the LBSU track team, quit school and endured another round of chemo.
The only difference was that her hair didn't go anywhere.
"That's how the doctors knew that it hadn't worked," Ruiz said.
Now, it may be up to others if Ruiz is to survive because a bone marrow or stem cell transplant is likely the next course of action.
It wasn't but 16 months ago that Ruiz lived the typical life of a student athlete.
The Whittier La Serna High graduate was preparing for her junior year academically and second year on the LBSU track team, where she ran the 400-meter hurdles. She redshirted her freshman year.
Then she noticed during weight training that her right upper torso was getting a bit sore, an ailment that both Ruiz and LBSU trainers attributed to a strained muscle.
"I was told to take some Advil," she said.
But the pain persisted and was accompanied by some breathing difficulties, which her family doctor in her native Alhambra diagnosed as asthma.
"As the weeks went on, it just kept getting worse," Ruiz said. "Now I was getting pain when I ran. I couldn't breathe."
Ruiz's health deteriorated further. On her second visit to the doctor, Ruiz was prescribed more asthma drugs.
"I was only able to do abs (exercises)," Ruiz said. "My teammates thought I was lying. I would never fake an injury."
It wasn't until her third visit and with Ruiz's parents, George and Rose, pushing for more tests that it was determined that she had a collapsed lung and pneumonia. She was immediately hospitalized when the root cause of all her problems the tumor was discovered via a biopsy on Nov. 19.
Ruiz was hospitalized for two weeks and a couple days after her release she called a team meeting where she revealed that she had had diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, a common form of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
"Three or four of her teammates started crying," said Kevin Galbraith, a former sprints and hurdles coach at LBSU who worked closely with Ruiz. "The rest of the team was silent."
Ruiz underwent six chemo treatments over a six-month period. Her dark hair that was once down to her waist dropped away, and it looked as if the tumor died with it.
In celebration of Ruiz's apparent conquering of cancer, the whole family including her 19-year-old sister Monica vacationed in Maui during the first week of June.
She wore a swimming cap on the beach to protect her bald head, but other than that, it seemed the healthy Ruiz had returned.
"The initial shock of Brandii having cancer was over," said George Ruiz, whose company, Yellow Roadway Corporation, is hosting two bone marrow registration drives. "She had gone through so much, and we all thought she had beaten it. We were going to start all over. Life had become so much more meaningful. We weren't going to take it for granted."
But paradise was lost when tests showed the cancer recurred.
When more chemo failed, she was treated at USC/Norris Cancer Center with radiation, which appears to have reduced the size of the tumor. Tests in the upcoming days will show by just how much.
"If we didn't cure it through radiation, it's going to get worse," said Dr. Richard Shapiro, Ruiz's oncologist. "It will be fatal."
A bone marrow or stem cell transplant became more complicated because none of her family members were 100 percent matches and there were no true matches on the National Marrow Donor Program Registry.
"If we can't find a good donor, we are going to have to go with the closest match," Shapiro said. "The closer the match the more successful it's going to be and the less likely the stem cells or bone marrow … will be rejected (by the body)."
The bone marrow or stem cells transplant will allow her body to accept very intensive chemotherapy.
"There are a number of things going in her favor," Shapiro said. "She's in good shape, and she has a fantastic family who supports her. She's been a wonderful young lady through this entire process."
A process that has thrust the reserved Ruiz into the role of an activist. Ruiz has helped organize and publicize three bone marrow drives in the area, including one today in Gardena. An American Red Cross mobile unit will be at the Yellow Roadway trucking terminal at 15400 South Main St. from 2-8 p.m.
Ruiz remains optimistic that finding a donor will be the last hurdle before she returns to school, where she can confront the ones she had become more accustomed to leaping.
The ones on the track.
For more information in the National Marrow Donor Program Registry, call (800) MARROW2 or visit www.marrow.org |
