Family's faith winning fight over cancer
By QUALA MATOCHA lifestyle@leader-news.com

Contributed Photo Standing Strong Facing cancer together, the Rutherford family believes faith and prayer are important to helping one another while going through treatment and healing. Walter (Walt) and Terry Rutherford's two daughters, Shawna and Shannon, were both diagnosed with ovarian cancer at a very young age. Now they are cancer free. Walt was recently diagnosed with a form of cancer and is following up with check-ups on a regular basis. The Rutherford family includes: (l-r) Walt and Terry Rutherford, their daughters, Shannon Rutherford and Shawna Rutherford Wied and husband Kevin Wied. The family plans to participate in the Relay for Life event Oct. 20-21 at Ricebird Stadium.

One El Campo family can't escape cancer. They have had several loved ones stricken with disease. The Rutherford family refuses to lose hope. That's why they are actively participating in the upcoming Relay for Life.

Cancer comes in many forms and targets people of all backgrounds. Once a year, survivors and others striving for a cure gather to honor and remember those who have beat the disease or died trying to. This event will be held at the El Campo Ricebird Stadium Oct. 20-21 to raise money for cancer research.

As a daughter, wife, mother, granddaughter and nurse, Terry Rutherford knows too well the impact cancer can have on families. At early ages, both of her daughters were diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Her husband Walt, her father Winston Baker Sr., two of her grandparents and other family members have all had some form of cancer. But Terry believes prayer and faith have sustained her family through it all.

"We coped with the news by praying and asking for prayers from family and friends and keeping a positive attitude," she said.

Today, daughters Shawna and Shannon are doing well, but the road to recovery has not been easy.

"We have truly been blessed in that they were diagnosed early enough to have been treated and are cancer free. But without our faith in Christ our Lord, we would not have been able to get through having two children with cancer," Terry said.

Shawna and husband Kevin Wied have been married six years. She is a 7th grade science teacher and 8th grade girls coach for Wharton ISD. Shannon is collegiate minister for University Baptist Church in Baton Rouge, La.

Even though both girls had ovarian cancer, their symptoms were not the same.

"Shawna, her symptoms were very different from Shannon's," she said. "Shawna at the age of 12 began to have some physical and hormonal changes. Her voice became deep, her shoulders broadened and thickened, and she began to get facial hair. We first thought it was because she was athletic but by the time she was 13 going on 14 years I decided to take her to my OB-GYN in Waco, where we lived at the time."

After an ultrasound and blood work, "the results showed her right ovary was slightly enlarged and her testosterone level was elevated to 217. Females are normally around 15 and normal males are around 207."

Surgery was one option, but the family wanted another opinion.

"After speaking with family and doing a lot of praying, Walt and I decided to take her to Texas Children's for a second opinion. Texas Children's ran more tests and gave her medication to stop the production of the testosterone. Also, I had to give her estrogen injections for several days, but after a month and a half there was no change in the levels so the doctors from Texas Children's and Waco agreed that the only thing left to do was surgery, a salpingooophorectomy, removal of ovary and fallopian tube."

A couple of weeks later, the news was grim.

"We received a phone call saying that Shawna's surgery proved to be a malignancy and she needed to go to M.D. Anderson. Our initial reaction to Shawna's diagnosis was shock and disbelief, but we were confident that she would be fine and beat this because of our faith in Jesus Christ," she said.

The next step was M.D. Anderson where they met with a pediatric oncologist and Dr. Creighton Edwards, an OB-gyn oncologist.

"Dr. Edwards advised that since Shawna's cancer was slow-growing, testosteroneproducing ovarian cancer, and they removed all of the cancer because it was self contained, she wouldn't have to have any type of treatment like chemo or radiation."

Follow-up visits and routine check-ups however were needed.

All she had to do was follow up with M.D. Anderson for routine check ups. Since Shawna's experience, Terry made sure her sister Shannon has regular check-ups too.

"Because of Shawna's history, we made sure Shannon had yearly physicals with pap smears. Shannon had her yearly physical in May of 2000 with Dr. Bobby Ogdee and everything was fine."

A few months later, Shannon begins to show signs of trouble.

"During the Thanksgiving holidays, Shannon came home from Houston Baptist University were she was a sophomore, complaining of severe pain in her left pelvic area," she said.

Since statistics from M.D. Anderson stated that one in one million girls are diagnosed with ovarian cancer, it was hard for the Rutherfords to believe their other daughter had ovarian cancer, too.

"Well, I guess one million girls later Shannon was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2000," Terry said. "Shannon had very different symptoms."

Knowing Shawna's history, and since Terry had also had a benign ovarian mass in 1992, Dr. Ogdee did an ultrasound and some blood work on Shannon.

"The ultrasound showed an ovarian mass and Dr. Ogdee gave us a choice of surgery, or he could send her to M.D. Anderson, or send her to Baylor College of Medicine to a doctor in private practice that is an OB-GYN oncologist. We opted for Baylor."

When Dr. Ogdee contacted Baylor College of Medicine they discovered a retired oncologist formerly with M.D. Anderson was practicing there. He happened to be the same doctor who treated sister Shawna, Dr. Creighton Edwards.

"I immediately said we wanted Dr. Edwards since he had seen Shawna six years earlier," Terry said. "Dr. Edwards did the surgery on Dec. 6, 2000 and found that Shannon also had ovarian cancer, but more rapidly growing."

She was given the option of chemotherapy. "He said if it were someone in his family he would want them to do the chemo as a precautionary treatment."

"So Shannon opted to the chemo in Houston at Methodist Hospital. She took four months of chemo for three days at a time in which she stayed in the hospital during the treatment each time," she said. "Shannon completed her last treatment in April 2001, one week before her 20th birthday."

Today the sisters are cancer free and doing well. "Both of the girl's doctors said they should be able to have children when they're ready, but it might take a little longer than most because of having only one ovary. But the ovary that's left compensates for the one that is missing one," she said.

Terry's father was diagnosed with seminoma and has been cancer free since 1979. Her husband was Stage IV B Cell Follicular Lymphoma in December 2005.

"Walt says, 'the cancer may win the war, but will not win the battles. Having cancer makes you appreciate life, family and especially the presence of God a whole lot more.'"

Walt's cancer was discovered when he saw a specialist for what seemed to be a wart.

"Walt went to see Dr. Melissa Kainer-Erwin because he had a small wart-like spot on the side of the top of his head," Terry said.

"She was just going to remove it because it bothered him when wearing a hat. But when she found out he had a nodule on his chest, Dr. Erwin decided to do a biopsy of the area on his head. Dr. Erwin called Walt after about a week when she got the report and had him come in telling him the results of the biopsy being lymphoma. She sent him to M.D. Anderson for consultation and treatment."

After CT scans, biopsies and blood work to get a diagnosis, a type of chemo treatment was decided upon. His treatments were done in Wharton.

"Walt did six rounds of chemo and completed them in May 2006," she said.

He will continue with routine check-ups until he is considered to be in complete remission.

Terry's maternal grandfather, Fred Baca, Sr., had leukemia and died in January of 1975. Her paternal grandmother, Annie Leaser Baker Zimbro, had colon, kidney and adrenal cancer. She was treated at M.D. Anderson and passed away November 2005.

In her profession, Terry has dealt with cancer patients who weren't her family members.

"Being a nurse, I have taken care of a lot of patients with cancer and many have become very good friends," she said. Terry challenges everyone to participate or support Relay for Life in some way.

"To me the Relay for Life cancer walk is very important to help raise money for cancer research so as to find cures for these awful diseases. It also lets those being treated or who have survived to know that there are those of us who truly care about them and what they are going through or have gone through," she said. "Everyone has either had a family member, friend or knows of someone who had or has cancer."

Terry will be participating as a committee woman with the survivors committee, and as a member of the Cancer Convicts walking team.