A battle she couldn't afford to lose — When she was 15, Tori Rando went from being on top of the world to fighting for her life. Here is what happened.
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| Tori Rando's bout with and recovery from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma changed her perspective on life and convinced her to pursue college courses to become a "child life" specialist. What's that? "Majoring in child life will prepare me to work at Children's Hospital [in Boston] to help kids who are sick," she explains. "People were so great to me when I was sick, and I want to pay that back." |
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Norwood Hospital's recommendation shook Toni and David Rando like a thunderbolt. Their daughter Tori, 15, was an upbeat sophomore at Wrentham's King Philip High and always bursting with energy. When she developed a sore, swollen shoulder late in 2004, they figured it was from cheerleading. Their doctor was suspicious, though, and sent them to Norwood Hospital. After an MRI, doctors there advised them to head for Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, the renowned research and treatment center in Boston.
"I was in shock," recalls her mother, an administrative assistant for the Wrentham Public Schools. Tori's father is a branch manager at Hobart Corporation.
Unfortunately, Dana-Farber physicians could not see Tori for several days. When her neck swelled that night making it difficult for her to swallow, however, Dana-Farber staff arranged for Children's Hospital in Boston to admit her immediately. Children's doctors, who hadn't seen her MRI, thought she probably had an infection.
"Despite antibiotics, two days later the lump was bigger and spreading to her back," her mother continues. "The MRI showed what looked like a mass in her shoulder."
A parent's nightmare
A biopsy confirmed cancer, but doctors didn't know what kind. They gave Tori gallium, a radioactive tracer, so they could perform full-body scans.
"The scans showed two more lumps in her abdomen," Toni says. "They explained this meant Tori's cancer was at stage 3 because it was in both her upper and lower body." (Stage 1 is least serious, stage 5 is worst.)
A week later, tests revealed she had non-Hodgkin's anaplastic large-cell lymphoma—the same rare cancer that 22-year-old Red Sox pitcher Jon Lester was recently diagnosed with.
"There are [at least 25] types of non-Hodgkin's lymphomas and only three or four are curable," Toni says. "Tori's was curable and the doctors were encouraging that she could beat it."
The forward-looking teenager took the news stoically. "I just told them to fix me, because I needed to go to my prom," she says matter-of-factly.
Debilitating treatments
Her chemotherapy sessions at Dana-Farber's Jimmy Fund Clinic began in January 2005. The swollen glands diminished after her first treatment, but torturous months lay ahead. For a year, Tori endured regular chemotherapy at Dana-Farber and took oral chemo at home. Her mother has a word for those treatments: brutal.
"She was in a lot of pain, she was sick all the time, and lost 15 of her 107 pounds. She missed more than half of her sophomore year and nearly all of her junior year," her mother says.
Tori says the pain was not bad. "The chemo caused sores in my mouth, on my tongue, and down my throat, which made it difficult to eat. It made me tired and left me nauseous. But I usually felt better again 10 to 14 days after each treatment."
Her friends had cried when they heard her diagnosis, and they stood by her. The high school provided tutors so Tori could complete course work at home because she wanted to graduate with her classmates. What amazed her parents was that despite the pain, the nausea, the sores, the exhaustion—and missing 17 months of classes—Tori made the honor roll for the first time—and remained on it throughout her ordeal.
Her chemotherapy ended in January 2006 but for health reasons, she still had to stay home for months. Finally, in June 2006, she reentered King Philip High School and attended the last month of her junior year. This month, she became a senior.
Wrenching two years
Reflecting on the last two years, her mother suddenly blurts, "To think we could have lost Tori—." Her voice breaks, and tears streak her suddenly taut face. She is uncertain how she and her husband made it through those agonizing months when Tori was most ill.
"Tori was so strong, so positive, that's a big part of how we got through," she recalls. "The support from our friends and family was phenomenal too. It seemed that every day, somebody delivered or sent something to our house. It was heart warming and incredibly relieving to know people cared."
How helpful was Dana-Farber staff?
"Do you have an hour?" Toni asks half-jokingly. "They are incredible! You walk into the institute and everybody hugs you, asks you how you've been. They help with everything, and half the time they know what you need before you do.
"They have support groups. You can talk with other parents there that know exactly what you're going through. They gave parents a night out in Boston that was so much fun and an unbelievable help to us. I cannot say enough about how wonderful they are. Not just the doctors and the nursing staff, but everyone."
The special arrangements that staff make for their young patients are even more amazing, Toni continues.
"Many kids with cancer think they are alone," she says. "Dana-Farber arranges for them to hang out with other kids that are sick—kids they can talk and laugh with, and that know what one another is going through.
Tori, for example, met Tanya at the Jimmy Fund Clinic.
"Tanya had cancer with me—Hodgkin's lymphoma," she says. "We beat it together, and she's one of my closest friends now. I can tell her anything. She really understood how I felt when I said how much I missed my hair."
There were other positive experiences during her ordeal. Lisa Sherber, Dana-Farber's activities director, plans special trips for adolescent patients. An anonymous benefactor pays for most of these trips, Tori's mother says.
"You cannot imagine how much difference those trips make to the kids. After Tori lost lots of hair, she wouldn't take off her wig even in stifling weather. Then, Dana-Farber took her and other children to Atlanta where they met peers from another cancer treatment center. After she got back, she took off the wig. She wasn't so self-conscious anymore because she had more hair than half the kids she met in Georgia."
What does Tori think of Dana-Farber's professionals?
"They're amazing, and that's an understatement. They did everything for me and made me feel so much better. They took us to see Red Sox games in Baltimore and Atlanta, and they also took us to spring training in Florida. I got to meet my favorite players—Tim Wakefield, Jason Varitek and Coco Crisp. I also met David Ortiz, and he's as nice as he seems on television."
Still not at full strength
Nine months after treatment ended, Tori's recovery continues. She still tires easily and gets migraines—neither of which she'd had before the illness. She must get checkups every three months to ensure the cancer isn't returning.
Regardless, this bright, indomitable 17-year-old is firmly focused on the future. She wants soon to obtain the driver's license that her illness has delayed. She hopes to start classes at Wheelock College in the autumn of 2007. But before that, she looks forward to another important milestone.
"This year for my prom, I get to have my real hair done instead of a wig."
Fighting a potentially fatal illness changed her thinking about life's recurring annoyances, she says. She doesn't let them bother her anymore.
"They aren't important," she says. "People are."
Because people are paramount, she will attend Sensata's 5K race and one-mile run/walk on Sunday, October 8, 2006 as the patient-sponsor for Dana-Farber. Her mother Toni will speak at the event.
"I will tell our story," Toni says. "We want everyone who runs and contributes to know what they raise and donate money for, and we also wish to thank all of them so very much for caring. Because of them and others like them, we still have our Tori."
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