ROD OHIRA'S PEOPLE
Cancer can't dampen patient's spirits
By Rod Ohira
Advertiser Staff Writer
Summer Becker slipped in a compact disc, turned up the volume and the sounds of Michael Buffer's "Let's get ready to rumble!" soon shattered the tense silence of an early morning drive to Loma Linda University Medical Center in California for surgery to remove a rare cancerous tumor last October.
Like a pep talk, it raised the spirits of everyone in the car, recalled the teenager's mother, Jill Becker.
Summer Becker has remained upbeat and fun to be around despite being critically ill.
After two surgeries eight days apart last year to remove a tumor about the size of a softball from behind her neck, where the skull and spinal cord meet, and outpatient therapy that included 42 proton radiation sessions, Becker has no guarantees the cancer will not return.
Two months shy of her 19th birthday, she endures the daily nausea, cannot chew or taste food from the left side of her mouth and tries to overcome the disappointment of not being able to graduate with her class at Sacred Hearts Academy.
The chordoma cancer, which doctors have told her affects only one in 10 million people, is "like weeds that keep growing back," she said.
Jill Becker photo
The chordoma was discovered in May 2001 and has drastically changed her life. But it hasn't taken away her sense of humor. Becker's ability to laugh at adversity puts people at ease.
Summer Becker, center, flashes a smile before the first of two surgeries at a California hospital last October to remove a cancerous tumor. Sister Tiana, left, and mother, Jill, have helped her remain upbeat through it all.
"Without laughter, it'll beat you," she said. "Humor is a state of mind.
"They thought I'd never been able to smile again. I feel great that I can still walk and not be paralyzed."
Living with her aunt, Jasmine Kono, Becker regularly drove three miles to the Loma Linda University hospital for 45-minute radiation treatments.
"The most difficult thing about going for treatment," she said, "was finding parking."
On her first visit, Becker recalled entering the waiting room crying after assuring her mother on the telephone that everything was all right. "There I am crying and surrounded by hundreds of old men with prostate cancer trying to hug me," she said. "They kept saying 'oh, first time, huh?' Those people offered me a lot of support.
"This has been a learning experience for me. Doing things like having to drive myself to radiation made me grow up fast."
Becker plans to get a General Equivalency Diploma. "I won't be able to walk with my class, but I am going to Project Graduation with them," she said.
Because she's not a full-time student, her medical expenses are not covered by insurance. Becker needs to return to Loma Linda every three months for one year and every six months for six years after that to have the cancer checked. Chordoma are aggressive tumors with a high recurrence rate.
Jill Becker, a single parent who also has a 23-year-old daughter and 15-year-old son, works for Hawai'i Family Support Center Healthy Start at Kapi'olani Medical Center for Women & Children and is well known in the community as a fund-raiser for social service programs, especially those involved with preventing child abuse.
Friends like Allen Uyeda, First Insurance president and chief executive officer, have been doing in-house fund-raisers to help pay off some of Summer Becker's $20,000 medical expenses. Hawaii National Bank is also accepting donations to assist the family. Checks should be payable to "Friends of Summer Becker."
A major $10 per person fund-raiser, "Mo' Betta Now," is planned for April 28 at Kapono's at Aloha Tower Marketplace from 4-8 p.m. with Desiree and Ernie Cruz, Barry Flanagan, Reign and Tihati's Polynesian Revue scheduled to perform.
"I know we have need and I'm thankful for the help," Jill Becker said. "In my job I ask (for) help for other people but I was embarrassed to ask for myself."
An accident led to the discovery of her cancer.
While tossing water balloons at a friend's house after attending a Junior Prom last May, she slipped and struck her head on a concrete walkway. A CAT scan to determine if she suffered a concussion detected a problem that was identified later by magnetic resonance imaging. Although chordomas are aggressive, they have a slow growth rate and are usually discovered when a person is 40 to 50 years old.
"If you don't get it out, it wraps around the spinal cord and paralyzes you," Summer Becker said. "If I didn't fall, they wouldn't have found it and I'd be paralyzed."
The mother, like the daughter, is brave enough to laugh.
"I teach my kids that even if we don't have money and a junky old car, we'll always know everything is OK if we have laughter," Jill Becker said.
Reach Rod Ohira at 535-8181 or rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com.
