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Archives: St. Petersburg Times: "'She's going through it with grace' Series: RELIGION"
'She's going through it with grace' Series: RELIGION; [STATE Edition]
EILEEN SCHULTE. St. Petersburg Times. St. Petersburg, Fla.: Oct 30, 2004. pg. 5
Abstract (Article Summary)
After church one Sunday during last Christmas break, the Mauer family was having its traditional barbecue. Everyone was having a good time but Amy. The 15-year-old wasn't hungry and was running a 102 temperature. And she was very tired.
Debbie Mauer quit her job as a cafeteria manager for Val-Pak so she could stay with Amy in the hospital. Lee Mauer, a Vietnam veteran, is a self-employed tile installer who needs more work than he's getting these days.
To donate to the Amy Mauer fund, call the Rev. [Ken Link] at (727) 442-2661. Lakeview Baptist Church is at 1366 Lakeview Road, Clearwater.
Full Text (992 words)
Copyright Times Publishing Co. Oct 30, 2004
After church one Sunday during last Christmas break, the Mauer family was having its traditional barbecue. Everyone was having a good time but Amy. The 15-year-old wasn't hungry and was running a 102 temperature. And she was very tired.
Her lymph glands were noticeably swollen and she had a terrible headache. Her mother, Debbie, thought she might have mononucleosis.
At 2 p.m., Amy was in such pain that Debbie drove her to the emergency room a few blocks from the family's modest house on Grand Central Street.
It took doctors until 11 p.m. to make the diagnosis: lymphoblastic leukemia, or leukemia of the central nervous system.
Amy's mother cried.
Her little sister cried.
Her boyfriend cried.
But Amy didn't.
"I didn't think anything," she said.
There was good news: The cure rate was 85 percent.
At 2 a.m., an ambulance took her away from Clearwater, away from her father, twin siblings and two dogs to All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg.
Word spread fast around her church, Lakeview Baptist. Within a short time, members were calling, wanting to help and to put their arms around Debbie.
Amy, a devout Christian, would come to count on their love to help her survive the bone marrow aspirations, the spinal taps and a backpack full of pills she has to take every day.
And money. The family was unprepared for the cost of the treatment. Medicaid pays the medical bills, but the family barely gets by.
Debbie Mauer quit her job as a cafeteria manager for Val-Pak so she could stay with Amy in the hospital. Lee Mauer, a Vietnam veteran, is a self-employed tile installer who needs more work than he's getting these days.
A "Biker Sunday" fundraiser, where motorcycle riders showed off their Harleys and Kawasakis, raised about $3,400 in March. Last week, the church had a similar "Hot Rod Sunday" with antique cars. That raised about $2,100.
The family draws money from a church fund for basic needs. Still, the family has relied on food stamps at times.
"We can't pay any bills," Mrs. Mauer said.
After two weeks of chemotherapy, Amy's beautiful, long, curly blond hair started to fall out, and with it, part of her identity.
"Everybody knew me by my hair," she said. "Guys love long hair."
She went to a salon where a stylist braided the remaining strands and cut it off.
She put the hair in a baggie and put it away.
Amy, now 16, looks at her school photo on the wall, which shows her thick, wavy locks. "That was me."
Straight blond fuzz is growing on her scalp now.
In February she developed infections, and was in intensive care for 45 days.
Mrs. Mauer wouldn't leave Amy, disobeying hospital rules and sleeping in a reclining chair by her bed.
But as ill as she was, Amy did not want to miss church.
"When she was in the hospital and was so very sick, she would ask me, 'What are you preaching on Sunday?' " said her pastor, the Rev. Ken Link. "She would ask me to read the sermon to her. One time, we took a cell phone and put it (on speaker phone) so she could listen to the Sunday sermon."
"She said, 'I just need my church,' " Link said. "I think at 16 she just needs some 'normal.' And normal for her is church."
After her stay in intensive care, her blood work revealed she was in remission - after only two weeks of chemotherapy.
"It's (because of) faith in God," Mrs. Mauer said.
Inspired, members of Amy's youth group who had traded extra hours of sleep for Sunday morning services, came back.
"They looked up to her," Mrs. Mauer said. "She was a good person to talk to . . . to ask what to do about problems. When she got sick, they said they needed to grow up spiritually."
Of all the kids in the church, Amy was the strongest to be able to endure cancer, Link said.
"The Lord has a higher purpose than we can see," he said. "Maybe Amy got this and someone else is touched."
Indeed, 10 months into a two-year treatment program, she is planning to become a hospital volunteer, comforting children whose own mothers don't visit or staying overnight with them as her mother did.
For now she charts her medications and spinal taps in a binder.
She has so many doctors, nurses and social workers, she can't remember all their names. The Lexapro she takes for depression isn't really necessary, she said. Her faith is more effective than pills. But they make the cancer kids take it.
An honor roll student at Clearwater High School, she studies at home, her books piled up by the front door. Sometimes her old high school friends call.
She falls asleep at 9 p.m. and wakes up at 1 p.m. the next day.
"I'm always tired," she said. "Really tired."
Sometimes she thinks about her dream.
She said the Make-A-Wish Foundation has offered her a trip anywhere, but she wants to make sure it's a vacation her whole family can enjoy, even the 11-year-old twins, Jeanne and Richard.
She said she has been to the theme parks but the twins haven't. Maybe they would like Disney World, she thinks.
Link said the church will stand by the family until Amy is cured. The members have gained a lot from this experience, he said.
"She is a living, breathing image of Christ," he said, "because she's going through it, and she's going through it with grace."
Eileen Schulte can be reached at (727) 445-4153 or schulte@sptimes.com.
HOW TO HELP
To donate to the Amy Mauer fund, call the Rev. Ken Link at (727) 442-2661. Lakeview Baptist Church is at 1366 Lakeview Road, Clearwater.
[Illustration]
Caption: Amy Mauer, 16, sits in a 1969 Camaro Rally Sport at the antique car show Sunday that raised money for her and her family.; Photo: PHOTO, DOUGLAS R. CLIFFORD
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission.
People: Mauer, Debbie, Link, Ken, Mauer, Amy
Dateline: CLEARWATER
Text Word Count 992
St. Petersburg Times: "Mission: Get Amy in fighting shape
Mission: Get Amy in fighting shape; [STATE Edition]
St. Petersburg Times. St. Petersburg, Fla.: Oct 25, 2004. pg. 1
Abstract (Article Summary)
Amy Mauer, 16, right, of Clearwater gets a hug from her friend Brittany Link, 19, of Tampa while attending a fundraiser Sunday for Amy and her family at Lakeview Baptist Church in Clearwater, where the girls attend worship services. The church is trying to raise money for Amy, who was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in January. ALL is a cancer of the white blood cells, the cells in the body that normally fight infections.
Full Text (243 words)
Copyright Times Publishing Co. Oct 25, 2004
Amy Mauer, 16, right, of Clearwater gets a hug from her friend Brittany Link, 19, of Tampa while attending a fundraiser Sunday for Amy and her family at Lakeview Baptist Church in Clearwater, where the girls attend worship services. The church is trying to raise money for Amy, who was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in January. ALL is a cancer of the white blood cells, the cells in the body that normally fight infections. Leukemia cells are abnormal cells that cannot do what normal blood cells do. For ALL patients, the abnormal cells are immature white blood cells that cannot help the body fight infections. For this reason, children with ALL often get infections and have fevers. Like all blood cells, leukemia cells travel through the body. Depending on the number of abnormal cells and where these cells collect, patients with leukemia may have a number of symptoms. Children with ALL frequently have low amounts of healthy red blood cells and platelets, and there are not enough red blood cells to carry oxygen through the body. This condition, called anemia, makes patients look pale and feel weak and tired. When there are not enough platelets, patients bleed and bruise easily.
[Illustration]
Caption: Amy Mauer of Clearwater gets a hug from her friend Brittany Link of Tampa while attending a fundraiser Sunday for Amy and her family at Lakeview Baptist Church in Clearwater, where the girls attend worship services.; Photo: PHOTO, DOUGLAS R. CLIFFORD
It's October baseball time!
Last night I found a ticket to game 5 of the NLCS in Houston, TX. The series was tied 2-2 after Houston won the last 2. My outfield seat cost just $45 -- standing room only tickets were exceeding $100! Outfield section 254 was the best ticket I could find.
Backe started for Houston; Williams for the Cardnials. "Pivotal" best describes this game. Winner needs just 1 more win to goto the world series. And Houston has been HOT at home.
I sat beside two gentlemen who were from Calgary, CA. They are heading to Iraq for a year of engineering service.
Beltran made a fabulous basket catch mid-game. He then made a super catch on "the hill" in center.
With one out in the bottom of the ninth, score even at zero, Kent blasted a 3 run homerun that almost hit the train. Minute Maid Park erupted. Not a single person left for 15 minutes. What a great ballgame! The article below describes the game.
Pitching dominant until Astros' Kent plays Superman
Pitching dominant until Astros' Kent plays Superman
By Tom Krasovic
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
October 19, 2004
Associated Press
Houston Astros' Jeff Kent is congratulated by teammates in the dugout after his three-run home run in the ninth inning to beat the St. Louis Cardinals 3-0 in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series in Houston, Monday.
HOUSTON – Led by two favored sons from the Lone Star State, the Houston Astros last night charged to within one victory of giving Texas its first entrant in a World Series.
The Astros, age 43, climbed atop the National League Championship Series three games to two when Jeff Kent, batting with one out in the ninth inning, launched a three-run home run to beat the St. Louis Cardinals 3-0 before 43,045 at Minute Maid Park.
Kent's blast off Jason Isringhausen, the team's relief ace, was just reward for Astros pitcher Brandon Backe. In a stunning, eight-inning effort by a 26-year-old who's yet to work a full major league season, Backe allowed just one hit, Tony Womack's sharp single with two outs in the sixth.
Batting with Carlos Beltran on second base and Lance Berkman on first, Kent belted the first pitch he saw, a slider, off the facade above the left-center field wall, touching off a raucous celebration.
Just another Houston hoedown, it was for these Astros, who snaked the wild-card berth on the season's final day with their 18th consecutive home victory and won Games 3, 4, 5 of this series at home after losing Games 1 and 2 in St. Louis.
"I've never seen crowds like our fans in this homestand," said Astros manager Phil Garner, whose team didn't make an error in the three games. "It's something, and I think the fans built a large part in our play. It's been building this last six weeks, and it's just gotten crazier and crazier."
Kent, whose winters are spent on a cattle ranch near Austin, broke from his stoic ways as he trotted out his home run. Inspired by the theatrics of Red Sox slugger Dave Ortiz, whose home run less than 24 hours earlier won Game 4 of the American League Championship Series, Kent flipped his helmet before reaching his jubilant teammates.
"That's the kid in me that loves to play the game," Kent said.
Backe grew up idolizing Astros stars Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio. However, the ovation that greeted Backe was as loud, if not louder, as Astros players were introduced before Game 3.
Backe hails from Galveston, an island town about an hour from Houston. The fiery right-hander was a standout high school quarterback who led his team to the state's 5A semifinal opposite a team quarterbacked by Drew Brees, the future Chargers QB.
Better-rested than in his Game 1 start, in which he gave up four runs, Backe opened in a groove. He began with a strike to the first six hitters and 12 of 14. Not until Jim Edmonds walked with one out in the fifth did a Cardinal reach base. Womack's single came after Backe became the first pitcher in NLCS history to open with 5 2/3 hitless innings.
"I was upset that I gave up a hit," Backe said. "I had a chance to have something remarkable happen."
Larry Walker followed with a walk, which brought up hitting star Albert Pujols, who had hit three home runs in the series. Backe showed toughness, firing an inside fastball with his first pitch. Pujols hit a weak popup. Backe went on to retire the final seven Cardinals before Brad Lidge, coming off two scoreless outings in Games 3 and 4, retired the Cardinals in the ninth.
But Woody Williams gave Backe no margin for error. A former Padre and Houston native, Williams held the Astros to one run over seven innings. Next came Isringhausen, who retired the Astros on 11 pitches in the eighth.
"We were pulling our hair out," Kent said.
Beltran had set a postseason record with home runs in the previous five games. The streak ended last night. Beltran still kept busy. He made two fine plays in center field. And he set up Kent's blow by opening the home ninth with a sharp single – the game's third hit – and one out later stealing second base on a 1-2 pitch as Berkman batted.
As Kent expected, Cardinals manager Tony La Russa had Isringhausen walk Berkman, the cleanup man. In six seasons with the Giants, for whom he often batted behind Barry Bonds, Kent learned to anticipate a walk to the preceding hitter and envision his method of attack. He jumped on an Isringhausen slider, clocked at 89 mph.
"I don't want to get cheated," he said. "I was going to take three swings."
At times, Cardinals hitters appeared overanxious against Backe, never more so than when Renteria, who's batted .059 in the series, popped out on the first pitch he saw in the fifth. Backe had just hit his first rough patch, throwing 12 pitches two at-bats earlier to Scott Rolen and walking Edmonds on five pitches.
Now, the Cardinals need a win to stay alive, two to reach their first World Series since 1987.
"We're looking forward to getting home," La Russa said.
HSN.com - Terry Lewis: I sat beside Terry Lewis on a Continental flight IAH-TPA. She has her own clothing line that's sold on HSN.
I'm in Houston again this week.
Otto's Barbecue and Hamburgers - Houston, TX, 77007
Tonight we went to Otto's Barbecue and Hamburgers at 5502 Memorial Dr. This is just a small dive place but with great Texas BBQ. President Bush is among the many celebrities who have dined at Otto's.
The Westin conciege also recommends the Goode Company Barbeque on Kirby St.
The Astros have beat the Braves and are playing the Cards for the NL championship! Monday they return to Houston.
Tonight the Red Sox are playing at NY. Currently the score is 8-5 NYY with the Bo-Sox threatening.
Northpinellas: Teen hit by truck dies at hospital: "ST. PETERSBURG - A 16-year-old hit by a truck while crossing the street Friday died Sunday, said a family spokeswoman.Doctors at Bayfront Medical Center pronounced Rebecca McKinney brain dead Sunday morning, said friend and family spokeswoman Debbie Hembrey. Family members elected to turn off life support later in the day.
McKinney suffered serious internal injuries when she was hit by a 1991 Chevrolet S-10 pickup Friday as she was crossing McMullen-Booth Road, the Florida Highway Patrol said. Janice L. Dotter, 57, of Palm Harbor was driving the pickup. She was not charged.
McKinney, known to friends and family as Becca, was on the swim team at Clearwater High and sang in the chorus there.
She had just gotten off a school bus with other students near San Bernardino Street, south of Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater, the FHP said.
FHP spokesman Trooper Larry Coggins said Sunday that detectives were still investigating. He said earlier the girl ran in front of the truck and Dotter could not avoid her."
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