Walking With Leroy

Today, we hear again from Leroy and Laurie's friend Rebecca Lipkin, who has Inflammatory Breast Cancer.

I am a cancer novice. No one else in my family has had it. I have been basically healthy all my life. No previous surgery, no previous illnesses.

So who to turn to when I was diagnosed? The choice was easy. As a former producer for ABC's Nightline in London, I depended on Leroy Sievers to talk me through potentially dangerous assignments. After all, he had been there, done that.

When it came to cancer, again I had to rely on my former general -- my former executive producer. Leroy knew all about the world I was to enter. He and Laurie helped cheer me on, helped gird me for the battle ahead. Yeah, I hate the battle analogy, too--but it is the fight of one's life.

My fight has included seven rounds of chemotherapy, a mastectomy, five weeks of radiation therapy. Fatigue, nausea, disappointment -- but on the other hand, support and love.

Six months after the jubilation of finishing my treatment, in June of this year, I noticed some discoloration along my chest wall. My worst fears were realized. I had a recurrence.

One year after that initial diagnosis, I went back into chemotherapy -- back to the realization that my body is failing me, but my spirit is not. And I owe a lot of that to Leroy and his indomitable spirit.

At his desk in Nightline, Leroy sitting down was taller than me standing. At a party for him, I stood on a chair to see what it would be like to see him eye to eye. He said it was a strange feeling for him. I will never forget Leroy's size. But I always told him he used that size as a force for good, not evil. He did not intimidate. For many of us, he was a gentle giant who knew how to protect us and expect the best in us.

Knowing he was ahead of me navigating the medical system, made me stronger. Knowing Leroy was at Hopkins fighting the good fight made me realize I could fight, too, at the Royal Marsden Hospital.

The last time I saw Leroy was shortly after he left Nightline. He, Laurie, and my friend Elissa took a walk around his beloved canal. I always remember his strength and humor.

And we all knew, but somehow didn't want to accept, that cancer would eventually win. As it will eventually vanquish me. But learning that it did take his life rocked my world, as it did all those around him.

My world is a lot more lonely thinking of his absence across the Atlantic.

But I feel his strength through Laurie. And I feel it again when the oncology nurse infuses me with the poison that is supposed to keep me alive a little longer.

-- Rebecca Lipkin

7:00 AM ET | 10-23-2008 | permalink

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