most of you who know me, know i'm very involved in an organization on campus called DANCE MARATHON. basically, we raise money to help children with cancer. it is a cause that i care so much about and that i would do anything to further. Iowa's DM is this friday and saturday, february 1 at 7pm until saturday feb. 2 at 7pm. this is an article about one of the children we've tried to help - this weekend, please keep the children out there fighting for their lives, and those dancing to help save them, in your prayers. thanks
Remembering what they dance for
By Peter Rugg
The Daily Iowan
Laura Gaston doesn't feel right when she watches her daughter's friends growing up. It's "too surreal" for her when she sees how big they're getting and thinks about her daughter, Alex, who died more than a year ago.
"My life stopped when she died," said Gaston of her 7-year-old. "You don't want to be here anymore. This isn't part of the plan."
Gaston will be the last speaker at Dance Marathon, a fund-raising event for cancer victims to be held on Friday. This is her third year as a Dance Marathon family member.
When Alex was 5, her mother took her to the UI Hospitals and Clinics for a routine visit. During the examination, a lump was discovered on Alex's arm, and she was diagnosed with bone cancer.
"I never dreamed it was a tumor," Gaston said. "You just get smacked in the face with it, and you don't have time to feel sorry for yourself."
Only 15 days earlier, Alex's father, Calvin Gaston, had been diagnosed with cancer of the lymphatic system.
While Calvin Gaston eventually beat his illness with chemotherapy treatments -- he is now in remission -- his daughter's condition worsened.
After Laura Gaston watched her daughter's hair fall out because of chemotherapy, Alex slipped and broke her arm at the tumor. The arm was amputated on Sept. 27, 1998.
"The first time she saw her reflection in a window at the UIHC, she just said, 'I look disgusting,' " Laura Gaston said. "But she adapted to it so quickly. If people said anything or stared, they were usually adults. Adults were worse than children. Children are usually just curious."
After the amputation, Alex complained of "phantom pains" from the amputated arm. She described it as a tingling sensation, as if her arm had fallen asleep, said her mother.
Although Alex was an initially shy girl, Laura Gaston said, she was very secure in herself and outgoing, and she soon began educating people about cancer. She became involved with, and was crowned princess of, Relay for Life, a fund-raiser for cancer treatment, as well as with various other organizations.
She learned to write with her left hand and attended kindergarten when her health allowed, otherwise being tutored at home. She was devoted to her two dogs, cat, hamsters, and fish, and she planned to be a veterinarian someday.
"She loved animals very much," said her grandmother, Pat Bennet. "You couldn't even kill a bug around the house without her telling you not to do it."
Alex also became an honorary member of the Alpha Phi sorority, which sponsored her for the UI Dance Marathon. She missed the 1999 fund-raiser because of health problems, but she attended in 2000.
"She was so active," said UI graduate Sarah Abdo, the Alpha Phi chapter adviser. "She stayed up all night and danced with everyone. Meeting her was one of the high points of college."
Alex underwent several medical procedures between 1999 and 2000, including a surgery in which 11 tumors were removed from her lung. In April 2000, she entered remission, but a month later, a tumor was discovered on her bronchus. After her mother arranged for her to receive communion and baptism, Alex died at home on July 24, 2000.
"She knew what was happening, and she told me whom she wanted to give her toys to," said Laura Gaston. "The night she was dying, she wasn't scared. I was moving her pillow to make her more comfortable, and she looked up and said, 'Mommy, can I have my pillow back?' Those were her last words, but you could still hear that independence in her voice."
After Alex's death, Laura Gaston said, it was a struggle to find her place in society again. She is now clinical coordinator for UI Community Homecare, and she said she is still amazed by the children she's met who have cancer.
Afflicted children are some of the wisest people she's met, Bennet said.
"They go through hell, and they don't complain -- they keep smiling," she said.
DANCE MARATHON!!!!!
That is amazing! You should definately be proud!
Rhoyal Blue and Gold...I LOVE my SGRho!
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