Heidi DiGennaro
Harford County Emergency Operations
2220 Ady Road, Forest Hill, MD  21050
Email:  hadigennaro@co.ha.md.us

Note from 911 CARES. Heidi from Maryland is making this request about her good friend (and dispatcher) Cindy. Please do what you can to help.

September 4, 2007

911 Cares,

I am writing you on behalf of a dispatcher with twenty-five years experience, a friend I call a gift to have in my life, and the lives of all she's touched.  Cynthia Gillam, Cindy to her friends, and Cin to the Internet community, was recently diagnosed with low grade myxoid liposarcoma.  Translation:  a cancerous tumor located in her left leg.  For a lady who has three children, five grandchildren, two dogs, a husband, hasn't hit fifty yet, and lives her life on the go, this has put a hitch in her giddyup. 

Cindy started out dispatching at small municipal departments where she was the one-girl band for many years; dispatched her law enforcement husband; moved up to county departments and dispatched for them; became an instructor in all aspects, including running citizen academies; and currently works for the Texas Department of Public Safety, Texas City station.  Professionally, there's few better because she has the seasoning to go with the time.  She's worked through the good and the bad of public safety, all the while never forgetting the important things many of us overlook – sending cards to family and friends for anniversaries, birthdays, pick-me-up care packages.  We met in 2001 on the Internet; I'm in Maryland, so we have the challenges long-distance friends have – the phone calls, bills, and the distance factor.  Regardless, we use each other for stress relief and for those times when you just need to talk to a friend who will listen to you and tell you straight what they think.  Cindy seems to know just when she needs to talk, and when she needs to listen, making her someone very special to everyone who knows her.   She's a natural redhead, so she has the temper to match the challenges of public safety, and definitely isn't perfect because she's still dispatching after twenty-five years.

This isn't her first experience with cancer; her eighteen year old pregnant daughter was diagnosed with lymphoma several years ago, and she helped her through all the chemotherapy, the birth of her first grandchild, her daughter's wedding, two more grandchildren, and throughout the agonizing years of testing to insure the lymphoma has not come back – it hasn't. 

Now it's Cindy's turn.  Her cancer has an added twist; it's rare to begin with, and has not conformed with precedents.  Her tests have come back with question marks, causing her doctors to become aggressive in the treatment to insure her survival.  At the beginning of August, 2007, she started her first chemotherapy sessions, five days a week at MD Anderson, three to five hours a day.  She has eighteen weeks total, with every third week receiving the chemotherapy.  During the two weeks between chemo, she has to go to the hospital on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for testing to see how the chemo is working and see how she is doing. 

Her doctors have already told her she will need blood transfusions, and MD Anderson does offer a program to donate blood or platelets in her name, to allow her to build up a bank of blood and blood products to pull from when she needs it.  They also offer her free parking for each donation received in her name; at seven to eleven dollars a day, three to five times a week, this adds up quickly.  I've attached the instructions at the bottom.

She has a large amount of sick leave built up at her work that will help, and she does intend to work as much as she is capable, however, the leave is finite.  Her husband's leave is also limited, since they are talking about treating her into January, 2008.  Her doctors have her scheduled for eighteen weeks of chemotherapy followed by at least a month's worth of radiation treatment, then they will do the surgery to remove the tumor from her leg.  The doctors want to reduce the size of the tumor before the surgery to lessen the invasion to her leg and try to save the muscles.  We've already given thanks they are not talking amputation; she walked about a mile a day before this struck, and the thought of losing mobility scares her. 

Insurance is covering a large majority of the doctors' bills, but does not cover the expenses of the forty-five minute each way commute to the hospital, the parking fees, copays, the hospital deductibles, motel fees for when she's too sick to ride home, and prescriptions.  Any help anyone can spare is greatly appreciated.  Whether it's a care package to help her through the long hours of boredom while receiving treatment (she's an avid reader and a writer, too!), or anything to keep her mind occupied while she's too sick to work. She would especially love to get bits of wisdom from fellow cancer survivors to give her ideas on handling the months ahead. Good thoughts and prayers are ALWAYS wanted; any goodwill to help such a special lady through a months-long ordeal beating cancer is welcomed, especially since she has given a quarter century to providing service to the public.   

There are other ways to help: blood donations in her name to allow her a blood bank available to her when she needs it; free parking for each blood donation to her account; help with the gas for the forty-five minute drive each way to the hospital.  Since her treatment will go into winter, hats will help protect her head and scalp when her hair falls out from the chemo.  She and her husband collect patches (like many of us) from different departments and agencies.  Help with the parking fees which will add up quickly for each day she's required to go will go a long way; or just a little something to have for when her paid leave runs out, or her husband's leave runs out and he has to take unpaid leave to be with her.  Her agency is planning a blood drive on her behalf, in addition to other events later in her treatment.

Blood Donor Info from Cindy: This is the information given to me by MD Anderson for blood donations. Just use my name and it's under Cynthia Gillam and patient number 720620.

We encourage you to invite your family and friends to donate blood or platelets for the benefit of all MD Anderson Cancer Center patients.  Additionally, you may receive blood service fee credits when your family and friends donate blood or blood components in your name.  You may transfer blood credits within the United States through the National Clearinghouse Program of the American Association of Blood Banks (AABB).  In order to donate, you must be in good health, at least 17 years of age and weigh more than 110 pounds.  You can donate at the following locations:

To make an appointment or to set up a community blood drive, please call the MD Anderson Blood Bank at 713-792-7777.

Family and friends from out of town may donate at their local AABB accredited blood center and transfer credits in your name to the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center Blood Bank.

For more information about donating blood or platelets, or to locate a blood drive near you, please visit our Web site at, www.mdanderson.org/bloodbank

Thanks
 Cindy

Here are the details for donations: Make checks out to Cindy Gillam. Cindy’s address is:  Cindy Gillam, PO BOX 1483, La Marque, TX, 77568

Due to the chemo and financial hardships, any other donations would be greatly appreciated. Here are suggestions from her friends:

1.  Glad Press-and-Seal plastic wrap.  She has IV ports and catheters in her all the time, and in order to bathe, she has to cover them; this is what the hospital recommends to cover the ports and catheters.  She'll be using a large amount of this.

2.  Coach's Sport Tape (avail at all stores, regular or generic); it's that white waterproof medical tape used to tape down bandages or bandage squares, or any waterproof bandage tape.  These are for her many bandages, some which have to be changed twice a day, if not more.  Her local stores ran out of this last week, and a care package of this tape really helped.

3.  Crystal Light Singles or Lipton to Go Tea Mixes:  prefers diet, favorites green or white teas, any or all welcome, and/or coupons.  She has to drink at least four quarts of liquid a day to flush her systems and keep her kidneys from failing. 

4.  Ensure, Slim-fast, or anything meal in a can, and their line of products, preferably chocolate and chocolate varieties, but vanilla, strawberry, and all are okay; this will be her meals during the chemo outside what the hospital gives her. 

5.  Shampoos, soaps, and lotions:  Anything in the Dove or Aveeno line, trial sizes are great, too.  She has to use gentle soaps.  Conditioners are not necessary.  Also coupons again are wonderful. 

6.  Mixes, Gift Cards, Coupons, and Suggestions:

Smoothie King - great for chemo days when the stomach's in revolt, or any type of smoothie mixes; the easier to make the better, coupons; Smoothie King is the one in the hospital she's getting treatment.

Starbucks - hot chocolate, any flavor, gift cards, coupons, etc.; also in the hospital where she's getting treatment.

McDonalds and/or Waterburger, gift cards, coupons, etc.; nearby to her house.

Best Western; near the hospital, for when she’s too sick to ride home and ride back during chemo and testing weeks.

7.  Walmart Gift Cards.   Walmart where she is has the best price on gas and she can use gift cards for the gas she’s burning during the 45 min commute, and/or for any of the above she needs, or for groceries. 

8.  Hats:  Her head size is 22 inches (for those making anything) and converts to a size 7.  She shaved her head after the first round of chemo.

If you have any e-mail notes of encouragement, here is the contact for e-mails. She is also a close friend (and dispatcher) of Cindy.

Heidi DiGennaro
Harford County Emergency Operations
2220 Ady Road, Forest Hill, MD  21050
Email:  hadigennaro@co.ha.md.us