Mari Lepke -Fighting cancer since 1994

In 1994, I was 14 years old.  Bryan Adams was on the radio, Forrest Gump was on the big screen, OJ Simpson was driving a white bronco - and my mom was diagnosed with Breast Cancer.

At that time, a cancer diagnosis was a death sentence.  Treatment was so new and survival rates were so much lower than they are today, that the news that my mom could die rocked this freshman in high school pretty hard.   We were a family of 8, living on a parochial school teacher's salary - who was going to take care of my 5 year old sister?   I didn't even know how to make Mac & Cheese.  But God had more planned for Mom, and she is a fighter.   It was a long hard couple years, but we soon got the word that 'remission' was possible, and eventually reached.    Our prayers had been answered.

Several years went by and life moved on.   One by one, all 6 of us kids got married and started families of our own.  Mom was driving school bus and working at Fox Valley Lutheran High School as a study hall supervisor and athletic secretary.  She enjoyed every second of it.   She is one of those people that loves talking, loves including everyone,  loves making you laugh and can't help but bring out the positive in every situation.  If you put Oscar the Grouch, Squidward, Ebenezer Scrooge and Severas Snape in a room with my mom -- she would have them playing games and belly laughing in about 12 minutes flat....she's that good.

6 years ago, we all got an email.  Mom and dad had gone down to help move my grandparents move, and while spraying for roaches, my mom thought she inhaled some of the backspray.   Thinking she probably did some damage, she saw a doctor who ordered a CAT scan of her lungs and what came back was a shock.  The cancer was everywhere - it was Stage IV Metastatic Breast.   The doctor gave her 3 years to live.

So, the fight started all over again.   The problem was that her body knew what was coming, so it rejected the Chemo.  That's probably not the right way to say it, ...but her white & red blood cells were so depleted that they had to stop the treatment or what was supposed to be helping her, would truly poison her to death.  They put her on a drug that she was told was just there to stop the spread, there was no way to get rid of it. God is Good.  Mom's drugs seemed to be doing their job and the cancer just stayed in place.

But you see.... the problem with cancer is, that it sucks.   As it slowly invades your body, attaching itself ever so slowly to even the smallest cells, the smallest nerves, the smallest granules - you just don't know. 

The next attack hit my mom's nerves, particularly in her throat.  It grew until it pressed again the nerves that controlled her vocal box and killed two of the muscles used to speak.  She was seeing a doctor to try and figure out why her voice kept getting softer and softer and why it was harder and harder to take a breath.   Have you ever wondered what it's like to be suffocated one cell at a time?   Mom does.

She was airlifted to Madison when my dad brought her into the emergency room one night because she 'just couldn't catch her breath'.   The doctors did what they could but told her they couldn't take the breathing tube out or they feared her throat could close.   A trach  was really the best option.  Surgery went a great as it could have, a tracheostomy was performed.  Focusing only on the positive, she was just so happy they saved her voice.

She had to sadly say good bye to her job at the school, but stayed upbeat as she continued driving bus.  Last year she got a round of good news when her doctors told her she would be a good candidate for a new experimental drug just coming out  that she liked to call 'the magic pill'.   It was one of the few drugs out there that actually went out and attacked the cancer cells and left your good cells in place.   Still in trials, she signed her rights away to test out this drug in hopes that others could benefit from the results.  

God continued to bless us with good news -- the drug was working!  Her checkup were pretty frequent.  They wanted to monitor her progress as closely as possible and each time the cancer was not growing... her results that came back in May of this year that her that cancer counts were actually down!   She was so happy, so upbeat, so positive....she's always so, so positive.  

But it grows slowly & you just don't know.

Mom called us this time.  She usually writes emails or sends texts when she has news.   It's easier to tell all 6 of us kids at once, than play phone tag and risk the gossip getting out before we all know.   To be honest, I don't even remember what I said to her when she told me.  I'm sure it was something profound like, 'oh'.   She wasn't angry or mad .... she was upbeat.   She was so appreciative and blessed the doctors had found it, because now they can do something about it.  Positive... always so very positive.  Unknowing to the doctors, the cancer spread to her brain.   Today she will undergo brain surgery to takeout a 2" tumor located in the Broca area of her cerebrum.    This is the area of the brain that affects speech and motor coordination.   Its so hard to believe that a woman who thrives on talking, laughing, & joking may lose the ability to speak.

I'm 41 now.  Going through this now is very different that when it was when I was 14.   Now, I don't have to worry about my younger sister, but I do worry about my dad.  Now, I'm not embarrassed when they say a prayer for me in high school, I ask for prayers.  Oh - I know my mom is going to stay positive during this - she will fight - its what she does.   God will be by her, He always is, she is in His hands.   She was given a 3 year window and 6 years later she is still fighting.

We reached out to Go Fund Me because during the Covid-19 Pandemic, there is no way to have a traditional fund-raiser for her and my dad, Dave Lepke,  to help offset the hospital costs that don't seem to end.  They have been fighting this for 26 years and not once have they ever  asked for help.  The surgery is scheduled for Tuesday, July 21 at noon and should last 5-6 hours.   I thank you for thinking of them, for praying for them and for any help you can give here to help support them at this time. 

God's blessings to you and your family,

Sincerely,
Amy Behm

along with Mari & Dave's other children and grandchildren;

Josh, Nicole, Eli, Sophia & Micah Lepke - Jake, Crystal, Lauryn, Henry & Hadley Lepke - Caleb, Samantha, Emmitt, Charlie & Eloise Lepke - Annie, Joe, Charlotte, McLain, & Finnick Searl - Abbie, Chris, Liam, Maeve, & Zek Ambler

Oliver, Paxton, Paris, Elise & Maddox Behm