Too

yo

ung
to
face it:

Fighting cancer under 40
By Tamara Lawrence
ing tumor consisted of. Thus, Farmer continued to
undergo tests.
“I’m too young to die.”
Those tests soon revealed her mysterious tumor’s
You’re not even 40 years old, but this fear of identity: sarcoma, a soft tissue cancer. According to
Gabby Farmer and son.
cancer diagnosis trickles its way down from your the American Cancer Society, sarcoma develops
mind to your veins, making you feel as if your young from soft tissues including fat, muscle, nerves, fibrous
“The aggressiveness and the size of the but not her life. She was determined to be
life has ended. tissues, blood vessels or deep skin tissues.
cancer led to me losing my leg,” she said. “So, around for her newborn son, Deon.
Two Detroit women, Gabby Farmer and Laeki Struggling with denial and nervous about what
I was even more scared and nervous about
“The doctors always tell you the worst, and
Hester, fought against this type of sudden life paraly- was going to happen, she fought back and forth with
how I was going to get around and take care
they made it seem like if they did not remove
sis from cancer but they survived. the unbearable physical and emotional pain as the
of a baby.”
my leg, that I would have died,” she said. “Be-
And they were only in their early cancer attacked her nerves.
She knew she was going to lose her leg, sides, it didn’t seem serious enough to kill me
Cover
thirties.
since the cancer was in my leg.”
story
In September 2006, Farmer
Despite her optimism, Farmer was nervous
fell down the stairs. As time went
about how she would get around and take care
by, she noticed a growth on her
of her newborn baby. Most of all, she didn’t feel
left knee, eventually about the size of an orange or
comfortable enough to go out in public.
grapefruit. When she finally visited the doctor to get
“From the beginning, doctors always said I
her knee checked out, her fate was punctured by an-
might lose my leg,” she said. “It always came
other surprise: she was one month pregnant.
up as a way to prepare me for when it had to
Faced with the drastic decision to either take care
happen.”
of her personal health or the health of her unborn son,
Feeling sorry for herself, she cried often but
Farmer decided to postpone her knee check-up until
found the strength to make the first steps to-
after she had given birth. Unfortunately, throughout
wards learning how to live a normal life again.
her pregnancy, the tumor on her knee grew in size
After having her left leg amputated, she had to
and in pain.
learn how to walk, stand, climb stairs and get
“I ignored the pain, thinking it would go away,”
in and out of a car.
Farmer said. But it didn’t go away. It got worse.
Because she received several types of
The risks of hurting her unborn child while under-
chemotherapy, she had to stay in the hospital
going X-rays, MRIs, and CT scans haunted her, but
for three days at a time, every two weeks, from
so did the pain.
November to January. After the amputation of,
she only had to visit the hospital every Thurs-
“The pain became so unbearable that my labor
day from March to May. Today, lymph nodes
was induced a week early, so that I could get my
are appearing on her leg, but doctors are confi-
knee checked,” she said. “Two weeks after having
dent that the cancer is not coming back.
my son, I went in for tests, many, many tests.”
Just like Farmer, 35-year-old Laeki Hester
Doctors could not drain the excess fluid in her
knee nor could the ultrasound identify what the grow- Laeki Hester Continued on page 9
Too young for Cancer • September/October 2009 | 
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