Team Glenda Rockwell
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Through teary eyes, Glenda Rockwell recalls days she was kept inside, too sick to be around her friends. The only company she had was her medications and the bathroom floor, but still she forced herself up and to never give up.
Rockwell, 17, is facing another bout with cancer -- the Hodgkin's Lymphoma she beat once has returned. If you ask her, she says she isn't fighting for her life; she's fighting for her family.
"They are what drives me," she said. "I have to be strong if I want to be with the ones I love the most. Even if my body doesn't know it, I know I can beat this thing. Don't forget -- I've done it before."
Rockwell and her mother, Mandy, leave for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis early Monday morning. Glenda desperately wanted to spend Easter Sunday at her home, surrounded by her family.
"Every second is different after cancer," she said. "I cherish every little moment now."
Mandy Rockwell said even though she isn't the one fighting cancer, she also feels the importance of those little moments.
"I catch myself tearing up just watching my two girls interact," she said. "The littlest things bring unimaginable happiness."
Glenda's younger sister, Alyssa, 14, will stay at home while her mom and sister live in Memphis for the next six to nine months of chemotherapy, but she said as long as her sister gets better the separation is worth it.
"Obviously, I'll miss them every single day, but when Glenda beats cancer again, it's all going to be worth it," she said.
Doctors told Glenda she was cancer free Oct. 14 after she went through three months of chemotherapy.
"Even though they said I wasn't sick, I just never felt like my body was healthy," she said.
During a checkup a month ago, Glenda said she knew something wasn't right as they continued to run tests.
"When they kept asking to do more blood work, I knew the results weren't going to be good," she said. "Then they told me it was back."
Glenda said having beaten cancer before, she feels like this fight will be different.
"I know what I'm walking into now," she said. "Before, I was scared. Now I'm determined."
Looking at her, it's easy to tell the battle has already started.
Pictures adorn the wall of her mother's house that show a pain-free teenager with long blonde hair and a free spirit. A look into the past through those pictures has Glenda in her softball jersey and at high school dances.
Even through constant pain and with tired eyes, she smiles when she looks at her mother and sister and never shows signs of quitting.
"She is somehow the person who keeps everyone level," Mandy Rockwell said. "I can't be weak when she is being so strong."
Glenda can't really answer why she has handled her battles with such an even disposition. She said maybe it's because she isn't thinking of the disease, but instead thinks of familiar faces.
"I want to be hanging out with my friends, watching Alyssa play softball and being a normal teenager again," she said. "Keeping those thoughts in constant focus allows me to block out the disease."
By James Skrmetta
Read more here: http://www.sunherald.com/2015/04/04/6159521_glendas-fight-hancock-county-teenager.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy
Rockwell, 17, is facing another bout with cancer -- the Hodgkin's Lymphoma she beat once has returned. If you ask her, she says she isn't fighting for her life; she's fighting for her family.
"They are what drives me," she said. "I have to be strong if I want to be with the ones I love the most. Even if my body doesn't know it, I know I can beat this thing. Don't forget -- I've done it before."
Rockwell and her mother, Mandy, leave for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis early Monday morning. Glenda desperately wanted to spend Easter Sunday at her home, surrounded by her family.
"Every second is different after cancer," she said. "I cherish every little moment now."
Mandy Rockwell said even though she isn't the one fighting cancer, she also feels the importance of those little moments.
"I catch myself tearing up just watching my two girls interact," she said. "The littlest things bring unimaginable happiness."
Glenda's younger sister, Alyssa, 14, will stay at home while her mom and sister live in Memphis for the next six to nine months of chemotherapy, but she said as long as her sister gets better the separation is worth it.
"Obviously, I'll miss them every single day, but when Glenda beats cancer again, it's all going to be worth it," she said.
Doctors told Glenda she was cancer free Oct. 14 after she went through three months of chemotherapy.
"Even though they said I wasn't sick, I just never felt like my body was healthy," she said.
During a checkup a month ago, Glenda said she knew something wasn't right as they continued to run tests.
"When they kept asking to do more blood work, I knew the results weren't going to be good," she said. "Then they told me it was back."
Glenda said having beaten cancer before, she feels like this fight will be different.
"I know what I'm walking into now," she said. "Before, I was scared. Now I'm determined."
Looking at her, it's easy to tell the battle has already started.
Pictures adorn the wall of her mother's house that show a pain-free teenager with long blonde hair and a free spirit. A look into the past through those pictures has Glenda in her softball jersey and at high school dances.
Even through constant pain and with tired eyes, she smiles when she looks at her mother and sister and never shows signs of quitting.
"She is somehow the person who keeps everyone level," Mandy Rockwell said. "I can't be weak when she is being so strong."
Glenda can't really answer why she has handled her battles with such an even disposition. She said maybe it's because she isn't thinking of the disease, but instead thinks of familiar faces.
"I want to be hanging out with my friends, watching Alyssa play softball and being a normal teenager again," she said. "Keeping those thoughts in constant focus allows me to block out the disease."
By James Skrmetta
Read more here: http://www.sunherald.com/2015/04/04/6159521_glendas-fight-hancock-county-teenager.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy
Organizer and beneficiary
Jennifer Lenain
Organizer
Pearlington, MS
Mandy Rockwell
Beneficiary