May 27, 2008 (Greeley Tribune - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via
COMTEX) -- When Marlene Brotemarkle first learned she had leukemia, she was more
worried about her daughter, Kelsie, and her recovery from the flu.
Then she was worried about the costumes from the Greeley West play "Peter Pan."
When the doctors told her it might be a month before she left the hospital, and
that she would have to go that night, she worried that her home was a mess of
unfinished costumes. She had a crocodile to tend to.
But that's Brotemarkle, 48, of Greeley -- always putting others' needs before
her own. Now those who love her want to do something for her. They're hosting a
bone marrow donor drive to help save her life. Bone marrow transplants are the
best known solution to leukemia, and Marlene's sister-in-law, Sharon Taylor of
Greeley, wants to find her a perfect match.
"I want her to live," Taylor said.
Life can be pretty cruel sometimes. Thursday's storms demonstrated that.
Brotemarkle's got plenty of reason to complain about her own situation. She was
diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005. It took three years of a long, hard
battle, and a double mastectomy, but she beat it.
In December, she called Taylor and told her she got the best Christmas present
possible: She was cancer free.
Two months later, she took Kelsie to urgent care, and the doctor was a lot more
concerned about Marlene once he saw the purple polka dots splattered all over
her leg. She was tired and thought she was battling a lingering flu. Leukemia?
She didn't even really know what that was.
"Our heads were spinning," Marlene said.
The cruel irony came from the fact that her disease came from the chemotherapy
and radiation that helped her beat breast cancer. It's called Acute Myeloid
Leukemia, and more than 10,000 adults a year are diagnosed with it. So what
cured her, in fact, might kill her, if the odds hold up.
But Marlene isn't about the odds. When doctors told her she didn't have much
time left, she told her friends they didn't know anything.
"She's a remarkable lady," Taylor said. "She always sees things in a positive,
wonderful way."
That means giggling with her friends at the surgical masks they sometimes have
to wear while they sew together (she keeps a bag of them by the door). It means
making fun of the horrible nightmares her chemotherapy treatment for the
leukemia gave her, calling them "way worse than Saw III" (and she doesn't even
like horror movies). It means working on the costumes while she was in the
hospital and even defying the odds and getting out to see the play and going
home early.
"Did you see the crocodile?" she asked those who attended.
Brotemarkle admits she's a little scared about her upcoming treatment. It will
hurt. Doctors will pump enough chemotherapy in her to kill all her bone marrow
cells. Then they'll replace them with donated marrow. Right now they have a
match for her, but it's not a perfect match, and anything less than a perfect
match increases the chances for a rejection.
But she's also refusing to let it rule her thoughts.
"This is just what I'm going through right now," she said.
It's her turn for others to do something for her. Once the drive takes place
Sunday, maybe they'll find a better match for her. Regardless, she'll undergo
treatment for 100 days, and she'll have to stay in Denver, in an apartment.
Kelsie and her twin boys, Darek and Tate, both 19, along with her husband of 28
years, Tim, will trade off shifts of traveling down and cooking for her and
being with her.
After many years of taking care of others, they will need to take care of her.
It's possible that she's even looking forward to that. Then again, she has one
thing to say about her own story.
"If I do have anything to say, it's that you can do it," Brotemarkle said.
She was, of course, talking about those with cancer. She's beaten it once. But
she could have been talking to so many residents of Weld County as well.
The point isn't who she's addressing. The point, of course, is that, once again,
Brotemarkle prefers to think of others as she prepares for the fight of her
life.
-- Staff writer Dan England covers the outdoors, entertainment and Fort Lupton
for the Greeley Tribune. His column runs on Tuesday. If you have an idea for a
column, call (970) 392-4418 or write dengland@greeleytribune.com.
To help
The bone marrow donor drive takes place 2-6 p.m. Sunday at Greeley West High
School, 2401 35th Ave., Greeley. You must be between the ages of 18-60, able to
meet health guidelines and willing to donate to any patient in need. You'll
undergo a cheek swab the day of the drive. To learn more, call (800) MARROW2 or
go to marrow.org.
To see more of the Greeley Tribune, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to
http://www.greeleytribune.com. Copyright (c) 2008, Greeley Tribune, Colo. Distributed
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Dan England
Copyright (C) 2008 Greeley Tribune, Colo. Subject Code: Gy