Ledger-Dispatch

By Scott Thomas Anderson (sanderson@ledger-dispatch.c= om)=20

Krysta Dremel, a cancer survivor, is = training for=20 a 100-mile bike ride around Lake Tahoe. The ride is part of an = event=20 called "Team in Training," which raises money for cancer = research.

Photo by: Jim=20 Reece
Speeding by on her bike, you'd hardly = recognize her now. Krysta Dremel is a far cry from the girl she once was = - pale,=20 weak, her head clean-shaven, a surgical mask banded to her face. =

When=20 Dremel was just 16, she was diagnosed with leukemia. For three years she = struggled to live, eventually discovering herself on the edge of the = frightening=20 precipice. But Dremel is still here, despite the odds, and ready to = prove that=20 she's stronger than ever. On June 1 she'll embark on a 100-mile bike = ride around=20 Lake Tahoe to raise money for cancer research, celebrate her triumph = over=20 leukemia and honor the memory of cancer patients who are no longer=20 alive.

In most ways Dremel was a typical high school student in = 2003. She=20 was active in sports. She was earning grades that made her parents = proud. She=20 was enjoying the new freedoms of a driver license. But all that was = about to=20 change. Dremel became extremely ill. She was suffering nausea, nose = bleeds, body=20 pains and an unexpected loss of weight.

It took three full = months for=20 doctors to finally realize what the teenager was suffering from. The = truth was=20 worse than she or her parents could have imagined. She was diagnosed = with the=20 blood cancer, Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia. Worse yet, the on-going = confusion=20 about what her illness actually was had burned up valuable treatment = time.=20 Dremel's condition was now critical. Her blood platelets were low. Her = skin had=20 taken on a strange ashen look and she was sleeping more than 20 hours a = day.=20

She soon found herself experiencing two weeks of cranial = radiation=20 followed by three long years of chemotherapy. "I didn't look right or = feel right=20 before I started my treatment," Dremel recalled. "Chemo just intensified = all of=20 that. It was kind of weird - I was going to school one day, and then the = next I=20 didn't go to school anymore. I lost weight, and then I lost my hair on = Christmas=20 Day."

Dremel's body did not take well to chemotherapy. On her = 17th=20 birthday, the treatment caused her to have a bad seizure. "She handled = that=20 pretty well until the doctor came in and told her that she lost her = driver=20 license," Dremel's mother, Shelley Hartsuyker, remembered. "That was the = little=20 bit of independence she had in her life. It hit pretty = hard."

Dremel=20 tried to keep her spirits up. When July 1 of her third year of = chemotherapy=20 rolled around, she'd made it to the finish line - the long-awaited day = when her=20 treatment was scheduled to end. But instead of it being a happy day, it = quickly=20 evolved into the worst part of the ordeal yet. "My doctor came back and = said he=20 needed to speak to us in the conference room," Dremel said. She smiled = and=20 added, "You always know that's a bad thing."

The doctor was = trying to=20 find a way to tell her that her series of bone marrow biopsies had = revealed=20 she'd developed a mutation called Acute Myelocytic Leukemia, a = pre-secondary=20 cancer. She also had another mutation called Monosomy 7, which made her = system=20 dangerously resistant to the very chemotherapy used to fight AML. She = was=20 teetering on the verge of having her leukemia morph into a new stage of = cancer=20 that was untreatable. She needed a bone marrow transplant to live - and = she=20 needed it soon.

While Dremel waited on the bone marrow donor = list, her=20 condition reached critical mass. There was a threat she could have = multiple=20 internal ruptures, potentially killing her - but her doctors also feared = doing a=20 surgery in that event would be a trauma her weakened body could not = survive.=20 "You get tired of hearing the words 'cautiously optimistic,'" Hartsuyker = said.=20 "But when that happened, it was really scary. We had to call our family = in.=20 There were a couple of times we weren't sure what was going to happen."=20

In January 2007, Dremel received her bone marrow transplant. = Going into=20 the procedure, she was told her chances at a successful transplant and = recovery=20 were 50/50 at best. Dremel suffered almost no complications from her new = bone=20 marrow - and, at long last, her cancer went into full remission. =

The=20 most frustrating thing about her recovery was the isolation required. = She spent=20 six weeks in the hospital. Once home, she had to be shut away from the = world for=20 six months until she got a certain blood count. With most of her friends = gone=20 away to college, it was a lonely time. "Being cut off from everyone like = that, I=20 started to go a little crazy," Dremel said. "I was afraid I was becoming = unsocialized. What really helped me out with that was all the people who = wrote=20 letters. I got messages from friends, family and members of my church. = In the=20 end, all the pen pals helped keep me sane."

Today, Dremel feels = the=20 healthiest she's been in years. And she's ready to prove it. A year = after her=20 bone marrow transplant, she's marking the milestone by starting to train = for a=20 100-mile bike ride around Lake Tahoe. She and her mother will both take = part in=20 the "Team in Training" event, a charity ride that earns money for = leukemia and=20 lymphoma research. Their goal is to raise $10,000 in sponsorship; though = they=20 need a minimum of $5,000 in pledges by March 31. "The community has been = wonderfully supportive of our family," explained Hartsuyker. "We're = hoping=20 people can help us out, but even if they can't with money, there are = other=20 things they can do to help, like praying for us and cheering us on, or = donating=20 blood or joining the National Bone Marrow Registry. There are many ways = to raise=20 awareness and help make a difference."

As Dremel works her way = into=20 shape by riding 15 miles three times a week, she continues to muster the = same=20 energy of spirit that's sustained her through the darkest times. "I've = always=20 had a keep positive attitude," she said, looking back at the long war = that took=20 place in her body. "I really believe that any situation can be good = depending on=20 how you look at it. I actually learned a lot by having cancer. I grew a = lot as a=20 person."

To donate to Dremel and Hartsuyker's "Team in Training" = ride,=20 visit www.active.com/donate/tntsac/krystadremel.

Scott Thomas = Anderson