Tomorrow and Friday, we will share videos from the St. Baldrick's assembly at Richards High School. Today, we offer the words of Richards guidance counselor Marie Cerwin.
She writes beautifully about her friend, Leslie Andrew, who tragically died in December from cancer. Marie, who has raised thousands for St. Baldrick's and twice given her hair to Locks of Love (an organization that provides free wigs to those who lose their hair to cancer treatment) writes about her inspiration to give to these wonderful organizations . . .
"Leslie Andrew was a college friend of mine. She played on the University of Cincinnati Basketball team and I played on the soccer team. We were roommates, graduate assistants for the University of Cincinnati athletic department, and did our master’s in school counseling together. She was very athletic, fun, and one of the hardest workers I’ve ever met,” HLR counselor Marie Cerwin said.
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“She loved hanging out with friends, cooking, and never let anything hold her back. She married her husband Jon a few years out of college and has a three- year old son, Landon,” she said.
Diagnosis
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Leslie was diagnosed with Melanoma in 2011. She had a mole on her head and the dermatologist said she was fine.
“Then a few months later she got a lump on her neck and that’s when she found out. She had a surgery that removed all the cancer and things were good for a while,” Marie said.
Leslie attended Marie’s wedding in Jamaica, threw her a baby shower, threw a birthday party for our another friend, and came out to Chicago for visits and enjoyed life.
“Then the cancer came back full force, five spots in her lungs turned into 25 spots within a month. Leslie was a fighter and probably the toughest person I knew. She was determined to beat the cancer,” Marie said.
Told multiple times to go on hospice and that she only had a few months left, “she would then choose to do whatever crazy and extreme treatment was available to give her a few more weeks. She tried to get into trials all over the country,” Marie said.
She received treatments up until there were no more treatments left. “Her doctor told her it was over, and Leslie was gone the next morning. She literally fought until the last second. That’s how much she loved life,” Marie said.
Motivation
“Leslie’s battle really opened my eyes to the reality of cancer. I think everyone knows it’s horrible but until you have personally witnessed what cancer does, what treatments look like, what kind of emotions a family who is losing someone goes through, it’s hard to truly understand cancer,” Marie said.
After Leslie died in December 2013, Marie found herself wanting to act. “Leslie was a huge lover of children. She worked at a nursery in college and was a high school guidance counselor. If her body would have let her, she wanted to have a lot of children. Even when she lost the ability to have children she would talk about how she wanted to adopt a baby when she got better,” Marie said.
St. Baldrick’s, Locks of Love
Through St. Baldricks and Locks of Love, Marie found organizations that matched her ambition.
“I have a daughter now who just turned one and I would never want her to go through what Leslie went through. I cut my hair for Leslie and to help raise money for research into a field that is every parent’s nightmare. Hair is just hair. It will grow back. I bet if someone met a little boy or girl without hair because they were sick that they would rethink how attached they are to their hair,” she said.
Whether students choose to participate or not, she believes they gain from our schools getting involved. “I think it’s important for our students to see others giving back and to give back themselves. Everyone is or will be affected by cancer,” she said.
Her St. Baldrick’s donor page offers plenty of evidence.
“There are many names of people who they want to honor, someone they lost to cancer or who is currently fighting the battle. This is including Abby Wujcik, who is the niece of Brian Wujcik and the cousin of Dana Wujcik (a student at Richards and Brian’s daughter),” she said.
Richards teacher Matt Gavin, the son of Eisenhower speech pathologist Mary Ellen Gavin, was on her mind that day.
“He’s a friend who passed. It’s so sad to lose someone to cancer but it’s never too early to start being part of the solution. I hope that our students feel good when they donate or raise money and that it becomes contagious to others,” Marie said.
