{"id":40348,"date":"2012-05-02T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-05-02T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2012\/05\/02\/sisters-roommates-cancer-fighters\/"},"modified":"2022-09-02T20:27:02","modified_gmt":"2022-09-03T01:27:02","slug":"sisters-roommates-cancer-fighters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2012\/05\/02\/sisters-roommates-cancer-fighters\/","title":{"rendered":"Sisters, roommates, cancer fighters"},"content":{"rendered":"

They’re going to be roommates.<\/p>\n

True, Joanne (pronounced “Joanie”) Kaslon already lives with her big sister, Jenny Cich, and her husband, while Joanne studies at UNMC’s School of Allied Health Professions. But this time is different. <\/p>\n

They’ll be up in apartments at The Lied Transplant Center, fifth floor; cooperative care. As the caregiver, Joanne will watch Jenny’s vitals, alert nurses and doctors, get her sister to the treatment center every day and make sure she takes her medications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\"picture\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\nJenny Cich and her sister, UNMC School of Allied Health Professions student Joanne Kaslon. <\/span>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

Getting her sister back<\/B><\/p>\n

Jenny is in her third bout with cancer. Joanne is days from graduation. She’ll be a radiation therapist and will fight cancer every day.<\/p>\n

“I wanted to give somebody else that joy of having their family back,” Jenny said. “Because it was something that was given back to me, not once, but twice; now going on three times.<\/p>\n

“It’s a good feeling to get your family member back.”<\/p>\n

Jenny passed her the tissues. The kind with flowers on the front.<\/p>\n

Jarring news<\/B><\/p>\n

The first time Joanne heard the news, she was 11. She and another sister had just come home from taekwondo. Their dad was waiting for them at the kitchen table. <\/p>\n

The next morning, Jenny, then 22, was at UNMC. It was non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.<\/p>\n

“That was the year our brother John got married,” Jenny said. “So I was bridesmaid with no hair.”<\/p>\n

Yet again<\/B><\/p>\n

The second time, five years later.<\/p>\n

Hodgkin’s disease, a different lymphoma. Chemo, radiation, a stem cell transplant. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, another brother (there are seven siblings in the family) had another wedding. <\/p>\n

“I didn’t have hair for that one, either,” Jenny said.<\/p>\n

Then, this past Christmas, the third time: Hodgkin’s disease again. Joanne’s been with her big sister through it all.<\/p>\n

Life goes on<\/B><\/p>\n

“We have another sister getting married in June,” Joanne said. “So Jenny also will be bald for that one.”<\/p>\n

At Jenny’s own wedding, her hair was short; it was still coming back.<\/p>\n

“We’ll get a family picture with hair one of these days,” Joanne said.<\/p>\n

Sisters<\/B><\/p>\n

As time has passed, the 11-year age gap between the sisters no longer matters. <\/p>\n

“We got asked if we were twins when she had her last biopsy,” Joanne said.<\/p>\n

“I was like, ‘Ooh,'” Jenny said. Not good.<\/p>\n

No, not twins. But sisters. And now roommates taking on cancer, together. A big sister who is a fighter. A little sister who has taken up the fight.<\/p>\n

dmbA sNLJ <\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Read the amazing story of Allied Health student Joanne Kaslon and her sister, Jenny 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