Dianne and family

UPDATE - May 6, 2023: It is with a great deal of sadness to announce the passing of our beloved mother, grandmother, daughter, sister, aunt and friend early this morning.  While this is still difficult to communicate, the family is happy that she is no longer in pain and will forever be walking with Jesus in heaven...without pain and suffering or the stresses this life on Earth presents to us all.  

Even though Mom is longer with us, the unconditional love she gave us and lived with each day will give us comfort, direction and guide us always!

For so many of you that were her friend at some point in her life, we thank you!  Thank you for being a part of the good times, the bad times and all those just normal times that we often take for granted.  We are happy that Mom got to spend these past few weeks with her family.  Her mother, Marlene, was able to be by her side this week as well, and I know that comforted her. 

In honour of Dianne and the way she lived her life, please go and hug someone special that you love and make sure they know that.  Do that today, and every day after!

Funeral services are still being planned and when they are final, we will make announcements here, Facebook and other places.  Thank you all again for your prayers, support and love during the past several weeks.  She felt it all and was grateful for it to the very end. 

Thanks,

Ryan, Derek, Mandi and the Walling/Koentop Family

Revelations 21:4 - "He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death' or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

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Hello Walling family and friends! If you've found this page, then you might already be aware of what our mom, Dianne, is going through. If not, here's a "brief" summary...

Late in 2022, Dianne started experiencing rapid weight loss that continued into 2023. In late March of 2023, after her primary care doctors believed it to be kidney disease, trips to the ER along with a couple of extended stays in the hospital revealed she was dealing with something a lot more complex and more aggressive than just kidney dysfunction.

Oncologists and doctors were stumped. After her original biopsy results were questioned by doctors and oncologists on her case, a second biopsy was performed in early April and the results were sent to Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, who collaborated with cancer specialists across the country to come to a final diagnosis. Finally, on April 25th, doctors had a name for this thing.

Renal Medullary Carcinoma, also known as RMC, is a rare cancer of the kidney that predominantly afflicts young people of African descent who carry the sickle cell trait, sickle cell disease or other sickle hemoglobinopathies that can cause sickling of the red blood cells. Renal Cell Carcinoma, Unclassified with Medullary Phenotype (RCCU-MP) is an extremely rare subtype of RMC that occurs in people who do not carry any sickle hemoglobinopathies. This "Unclassified" type, is what doctors confirmed she had. They also informed us that there were only 7 reported cases, ever....Dianne was the 8th on record. Wrapping our heads around that fact is still difficult. Unfortunately, the malignant cancer cells have spread to multiple organs (metastatic) at this point and is considered in stage 4.

So what are the next steps? How do they treat this type of aggressive cancer? Unfortunately, there are no clear answers. The prognosis is not good. Her team of doctors and oncologists, at arguably the best kidney hospital in Dallas, have never seen this type of kidney cancer in their collective careers. Again, this information is still difficult to comprehend at the moment. For the time being, doctors have chosen to start her on immunotherapy in hopes that her immune cells will respond and begin attacking the cancer cells. Dianne had her first dose on April 24th and will continue this therapy every 3 weeks until/unless a new path of treatment is agreed upon.

Now that you are caught up on Dianne's condition and the battle she is fighting, many of you might be wondering about who she is, our Mom, aka "Grammy." She is blessed with 9 amazing grandkids, whom she cherishes more than anything else in this world. She has been a staple in the Sherman/Denison community for the majority of her life. Mom ran a home daycare for almost 20 years and had the privilege of being a big part of many children's lives during that stage of her career. She then moved on to help special education students in SISD as an aide in addition to starting her retail career managing Dollar General and Old America stores at the same time. Most of you might remember her working at Lowe's for the past 20 years as well, a work community that has provided her with so much support and joy through many good and tough times over the years. We always enjoy it when Mom runs into one of our old family friends at Lowe's and gives us updates on how they are doing.

While our sister, Mandi, battled depression and addiction over the years, Mom and Dad took the primary role in raising her children, whose ages are 21, 20, 11 and 9. The oldest was diagnosed with a severe learning disability along with ADHD that will likely require him to live with a supportive adult his entire life. The next oldest was diagnosed with severe dyslexia which qualified him for section 504 support, however, he has not been able to graduate high school yet due to his struggles. The third oldest was diagnosed with ADHD along with Oppositional Defiance Disorder (ODD) which has resulted in many behavioural problems that Mom has been challenged with. For most, these circumstances would be too much to handle, especially alone. Unfortunately, our Dad passed away after his own battle with an aggressive form of cancer almost exactly 8 years ago. He was an important father figure and role model for Mandi's kids for the majority of their young lives when illness took him from them and from us all. While our family has tried to ease this significant burden of caring for her grandkids without our Dad, Mom has always put her grandkids in front of her own needs and has continued to be at the center of their development and support for many years. Mandi is making progress each day and we all have faith that she will be able to take on all the things that our Mom provided for her kids, with continued support from family and friends, including you all.

Any money donated will help to ensure she/we can continue to provide for the things she cares about and worked so hard each day to care for, along with the things we need to care for her condition as she enters the next phase of this battle. We hope for her to be able to come closer to home soon and she has been approved to move to Beacon Hill in Denison, TX soon.

Thank you for being an important part of her life, and/or, being a part of someone's life that is important to her. The amount of people that have reached out and are following her battle is truly amazing to witness and makes us proud to call her Mom and Grammy. I've always liked to think that we make a living by what we get/earn. But, we make a life by what we give. During this challenging time, please consider giving to Dianne as a token of the love you have for her and her family and her community.

Thank you again, and God Bless you all!!!

Ryan & Derek Walling

Link: Dianne's CaringBridge Site

Romans 8:39 - Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.