Rebecca Swender

Rebecca Ann Swender, 12/07/71 - 06/14/2008
Rebecca Ann Swender was the most amazing person I have ever known. By far one of the most intelligent people I’ve met and in addition; beautiful, funny, elegant, stylish, and wonderful to be around. Becca, as she was known to her friends, was born in Syracuse, New York in 1971. She lived in the Philippines for two years when her family was stationed there, when she was very young. Raised back in Syracuse, she excelled in high school and was involved in a lot of extracurricular activities, including lacrosse and theater. Her favorite activity was swimming and she was the captain of the high school swim team. She graduated from Wesleyan University in 1995 majoring in Film and Religious Studies.


After working in the film industry in New York City she sought more out of film and was accepted to the University of Wisconsin Film graduate program, eventually pursuing a PhD. Becca was a great teacher and made a big impression on a lot of her students, often cited as the best instructor they had in college.

Though she was very prolific in her studies, she made time for a well-rounded life, being involved with many other things. One of her favorite activities was rollerblading or biking through Madison. Becca was also the kind of person who always thought of her friends, which is probably why she has so many close friends from all different stages of her life. Becca also had a very special, very loved four-legged friend, Matilda, whom she rescued from a kennel in Detroit through Shar-pei Savers. Together the three of us made a small but loving “pack,” and I shall cherish these times the most. The most important thing to Becca was her wonderful family, whom she saw as often as she could.

Becca was in the middle of research for her dissertation when she was first diagnosed with stage 1 melanoma. The initial site was not very deep and no one expected the sentinel node biopsy to come back positive, but it did. For two years Becca fought melanoma, which recurred solely in her left leg. She endured interferon shots for one year, had five surgeries, and became a part of a vaccine trial at NIH. All this time, she was still doing research, for film and melanoma, and up until the spring semester of 2008, she taught classes at UW. At the beginning of this year she completed two cycles of Interleukin (IL-2) at NIH, when she developed a severe pain in her leg that worried the NIH doctors. Further test revealed that the cancer had spread to her bones, liver, lungs, and brain.

Becca fought very hard, right up to the end. The drugs administered made her very tired, sometimes so much that she couldn’t wake up. But at the sound of someone crying she would sit up and comfort them. She passed away on June 14th surrounded by her family, Matilda and myself, exactly the way she wanted. Rebecca was a very caring and tender person, who, though very private, touched a lot of lives very deeply.

-Written by Alex Andre
This article and information on the fundraiser can be found at www.annshope.org
please scroll down the page and look for the story on Rebecca Swender
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Rebecca, by far, is an inspirtion to me. Although our time together fighting this disease was short, it is not far lived. She continues to be my guiding light. ~ Becky

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My results from my recent Pet Scan are as stated:
Findings:
There are two tiny foci of increased activity in the medial aspect of the right thigh. The patient had a biopsy there one month ago. The distribution of the radiopharmaceutical was otherwise unremarkable. No abnormal activity was seen in the chest, abdomen or pelvis. The ct shows a 3 cm in diameter fluid collection in the right inguinal area corresponding to the foci of abnormal activity. In addition there is a small curvilinear focus of increased activity to the right side of the bladder. On the ct scan there are clips deep in the right iliac fossa in the region of this curvilinear focus. No other abnormal sites are seen in the chest, abdomen, or pelvis.
Conclusion:
Increased activity right inguinal area and iliac fossa.
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There is the report! ~ I will need to wait until my next visit to the NIH in September before anything conclusive.
It's always a matter of waiting...
I just thought that I would post the results for any who are interested. Now, if you can read and decifer all that "mumbo-jumbo" (lol..) please do let me know!!! LOL... I know that pet's often show "false-positive's" ~
but, I am looking at the good news: it has not spread to any major organs ~ liver, lungs, brain... that is a big relief in itself.
The only upsetting news... my oncologist stated that there is "no cure" at this stage of my disease; especially since it is on a major artery. However, I believe that I already knew this... there is always faith, hope, and belief... for a CURE.