Vanessa Boyle, 10, of Brunswick, celebrates five years free of cancer
Published: March 18, 2006
Having beaten leukemia, there’s nothing much new about Vanessa Boyle, except maybe her new blue hat.
That hat, hand-knit especially for people like 10-year-old Vanessa and given to her at the Maine Children’s Cancer Program, almost never leaves her head.
Like many cancer patients, chemotherapy took Vanessa’s hair — twice — and gave her a use for a warm hat. Her first one was orange, but that was five years ago.
Today, Vanessa has a full head of long, gleaming blond hair that could be in a shampoo commercial.
She still wears a hat, but the orange hat was retired for a blue one just like it.
“She always wears that hat,” said Jasmine, Vanessa’s 11-year-old sister. “Always.”
Vanessa shrugged. “I think I look better in a hat. I don’t have to brush my hair, but it’s a bit hotter.”
Jasmine and Angelica, the youngest Boyle girl at 8 years old, are growing their hair out to donate it to an organization that makes wigs for cancer patients.
Vanessa is exercising her right not to, and who could blame her?
“She already lost her hair twice and that’s enough,” said Lisa Boyle, mother of the three girls as well as sons Carlyle, 7, and Zachary, 5.
The most enduring memory Vanessa has about the whole ordeal is a long, long hallway at New England Medical Center in Boston, which leads to the rooms where Vanessa and her doctors — and life-giving bone marrow from her sister Jasmine — fought and conquered the cancer.
Lisa and Brian, her husband, fill in the rest. It’s become an easier story to tell, now that Vanessa has been cancer-free for five years.
It started during the ice storm of January 1998. Two-year-old Vanessa was suddenly sapped of energy and was tired more than normal. Bruises appeared.
In May, the diagnosis came: leukemia.
Vanessa spent much of that summer in chemotherapy treatments. The cancer subsided.
Three years later, the Boyles sent 5-year-old Vanessa to preschool, but on Jan. 1, 2001, she relapsed.
“We noticed the exact same things as the first time,” Lisa told The Times Record at the time. “We pulled her out of preschool.”
Doctors recommended more chemotherapy, radiation and a bone marrow transfer that would force Vanessa and her family into isolation for the next several weeks. Vanessa’s best chance for survival came from Jasmine, her older sister.
Both girls went to New England Medical Center together. Vanessa didn’t come home for eight weeks and neither did Brian, who stayed with his daughter in the sterile, sealed-off hospital room.
Together they endured radiation treatments and excruciating swabbing of the tissues in her mouth — though it was Vanessa who bravely accepted the pain, even when she knew it was coming.
The bone marrow transfer went without a hitch on March 26, 2001. That date became Vanessa’s “new” birthday.
When they returned to Brunswick, life was happy, but not easy. The Boyle household became a safe zone for Vanessa, and her recovery demanded special care.
Depleted of energy, time and money, Brian and Lisa fell back on a safety net of eager and willing friends and family, many of them fellow parishioners at St. Charles Borromeo Church in Brunswick.
The night Vanessa returned home, Lisa found herself unable to perform a basic medical procedure for Vanessa — something that later became routine. She called a neighbor in the medical profession and even though it was after midnight, the neighbor was at the door in minutes.
Casseroles and roasts showed up at their door in the hands of smiling people — some of whom they barely knew. Brian’s sister moved here from Switzerland for three months to help out, and other family members showed up just to do the dishes and vacuum.
A flooring company donated new, germ-free carpeting and installed it. Hundreds of people contributed thousands of dollars to help with expenses.
Two high school students, Emily Quinlan and Mark Hagar, stepped in to help occupy and supervise the children and formed special friendships that continue today. The parishioners at the church, in addition to contributing food and money, prayed hard.
To celebrate Vanessa’s fifth “new birthday,” the Boyles will host a celebration at St. Charles Borromeo Church on McKeen Street following the 10:30 a.m. Mass on Sunday. It’s the family’s way of thanking people who helped them through and celebrating the five years Vanessa has been cancer-free.
“It was an unbelievable family, community and church effort,” said Lisa. “We couldn’t have done it without all the help.”
Wearing a mask, she was able to start kindergarten that fall at Longfellow Elementary School in Brunswick. After time, she shed the mask and whatever identity comes with being a “sick child.”
Brian and Lisa have let her mentally process what she’s been through on her own.
“We decided to wait for the children to ask questions,” said Brian. “So far she hasn’t asked many questions.”
Vanessa is now a fourth-grader with a growing passion and talent for drawing. Her home is once again a center of activity for the four Boyle children and many neighbors, evidenced by a kitchen table that’s been stained and scrubbed off so many times it bears a dull, well-used patina. Finger paintings and drawings — including some of Vanessa’s best work — dominate the walls in the kitchen and dining room, all the way to the ceiling. Teddy Bear, the new puppy, only adds to the merriment.
Everything, it seems, is back to normal.
Vanessa doesn’t really care who knows about her sickness, but she doesn’t broadcast it, either.
“I don’t always like being the center person,” she said. “I do tell some people I was sick, but keep it kind of private. It doesn’t matter anyway, because I’m better now.”
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