Martha - by Joni

I finally have some time alone and access to the computer so I will give you a verbal picture of Martha.

You hear it said all the time - "She/He is such a nice person" when referring to a person who is dealing with cancer. Martha was no exception - she was indeed a nice person. People would say she is/was a lady, that she had class .

She surely had no enemies except for Hodgkin's Disease.

Martha was a gifted violinist. In addition to performing, she taught violin in the prep school at Wheaton College, Wheaton, Illinois. The school didn't provide medical insurance and I encouraged her to get a second job which would provide medical insurance.

She always had an interest in the medical field and loved being with people. She took a job at our local hospital as a transporter in the cardiac testing area.She began feeling unwell in the fall of 1991. Our family doctor found nothing unusual wrong with her and basically treated her as a hypochondriac.

In her association with the hospital she began to look into the DR's who were respected by other health employees. In January of 1992 she made an appointment with one of these doctors. He took a simple Xray and diagnosed the problem.

As I recall her symptoms were - a cough, night sweats, a lump in her neck and a low grade fever. She had the lump biopsied, still hoping that it could be catscratch fever as our surgeon proposed it could be.

As I was waiting in the hospital that day to hear from the surgeon, I caught him at the elevator and asked him how she was. He knew me, but I don't think he realized that I was her mother. He said, "She is a very sick girl!" I said nothing of this to Martha.

As we waited for the results of the biopsy - weeks - I called the Dr.'s office to find the results as I didn't want her walking into his office and getting that news alone. He told me it was Hodgkin's and asked me to tell her as I was close to her.

That was the hardest thing I have ever had to do in my life.

I am also a musician - a pianist and church organist. It is this background that sustained me.

Before I went to her house I played the piano and prayed (simultaneously) until I felt that I had the strength to tell her. Her disease was difficult to diagnose and treat. The biopsies went to Stanford in California, St. Jude and another big hospital in the east which I can't remember. They all came back with different opinions.

She had elements of both Hodgkin's and Non-Hodgkins.

She began her treatments in March. The second round of chemo they eliminated one of the key drugs - vincristine (sp?), I believe - because it causes neuropathy and she is a violinist. She did well with the treatment and continued teaching and transporting. She only missed work if she was hospitalized with low blood counts as a result of the chemo.

The disease returned and then we turned to having a bone marrow transplant. She was under the care of a wonderful pioneer in this field - Dr. Patrick Stiff of Loyola Medical Center in the Chicago area. Unfortunately, dramatic a treatment as it is, it was the least effective for Martha and the disease returned.

She was in and out of treatment for five years.

In that time she only missed work if she was in the hospital or recovering from the bone marrow procedure. She was such a dedicated and respected worker at the hospital that they kept her employed even tho they were laying off many people.

Everyone loved Martha! There were parents of her students who said at her funeral that they weren't aware that she was sick. She fought her disease valiantly. She worked until she was hospitalized the week before she died. She maintained hope - we all did. She was getting antibiotics during that week. When they said they would be giving her morphine hours before she died, she said, "OK, but keep the antibiotics going as well!"

The church was filled to beyond capacity (over 500) and many could not get in to attend her Memorial Service. Her students played as a group during the service.

We dedicated a tree in the Morton Arboretum to her memory. Friends and students do gather around that beautiful Sycamore tree. We chose that tree as there is a Sycamore tree in front of the church where she grew up and she loved that tree. This one is tall and is as stately and elegant as she was.

She lived on earth to the age of 35 and in her short life made a positive impression on many people - young and old.