She pedaled as fast as she could on the exercise bike. ‘This is good for me,’ thought Kerry Jean Friend. She had just completed another round of chemotherapy and exercise would keep her body in shape. To check her pace, a pace she envisioned as steady and sure, she looked down at the readout. It blinked ‘PAUSE.’ She was so weak, the bike could not detect her movement.

But even that wasn’t the lowest point for the 27-year-old. There was more to come, a lot more to overcome, in her year-long treatment of aplastic anemia.

Could life ever get back to the joy she experienced as the youth and children’s pastor at Springfield Friends Meeting? To her passion to help others? To being able to pedal an exercise bike?

Like anyone with a life-threatening illness, Kerry Jean had fears but remained steadfast in her trust in God. She returned to her job in May.

As Kerry Jean speaks to the NEWS, the weather is cloudy and her office dark, but her face lights up like a ray of sunshine. Tiny clips adorn her new-growing short, blonde curls, which before chemo had circled her face. Now, she’s just happy to have hair.

Bookshelves filled with children’s Bible story books line her office in the 90-year-old meeting house. She’s in the process of making arrangements for a farewell picnic trip with the youth group, and finalizing activities for a summer Bible school.

In a few days, Kerry Jean will head back to her hometown in Ohio to a job which will allow her to be closer to the family who was so supportive during her illness. She is grateful for the opportunity to spend a little more time with the youth and congregation who have come to mean so much to her.

“I wanted to be here for the summer to reconnect with the youth and to let them see that I am better,” said Kerry Jean.

Her connection to the youth, to the meeting, renewed the congregation. Kerry Jean took the position of youth pastor in September 2006.

“Since she arrived there have been changes, not just in the youth, but in the whole church,” observed Springfield senior pastor Ray Luther. “She has a lot of energy and a deep faith. I think those two things have helped to make a difference for us.

“Her energy and her faith have been positive for the entire congregation, not just the youth. Those two things stand out and draw people to her, and that has been good for us as a church.”

Meeting members made the same observation.

“She attracts youth like the Pied Piper,” said Dr. Eldora Terrell. “She is tireless in her work with youth. She is a deeply committed Christian.”

That faith was tested last year with a ...

Life-threatening diagnosis

Kerry Jean consulted a doctor in the spring of 2009 because of unexplained bruising. Her life was put on hold when she was diagnosed with aplastic anemia in April 2009.

Aplastic anemia attacks the bone marrow, which produces red and white blood cells and platelets. Kerry Jean’s bone marrow wasn’t producing any blood cells or platelets.

At first, doctors attempted to restart the blood production process in her body through a antithymocyte globulin treatment, or ATG, which depressed her immune system.

“So I waited to see if my bone marrow would start making blood cells again,” recalled Kerry Jean. “It didn’t.” The severity of the disease would require a bone marrow transplant.

While Kerry Jean was boosted by frequent blood and platelet transfusions, the search began for a bone marrow donor match. A drive was held at Springfield Friends Meeting.

Kerry Jean had a blood transfusion at the Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center cancer clinic on July 19 before she headed to her hometown of Leesburg, Ohio, for another bone marrow drive.

Both drives produced many volunteers, but no matches.

For a while, she split her time between the two states, but finally reached the conclusion that treatment would continue in Ohio.

To get ready to receive the donor bone marrow, she endured chemotherapy and radiation treatments. Chemotherapy caused Kerry Jean to lose her hair. When it began to fall out in hunks, she knew that it was time for a haircut. The chemo barber-nurse came around, and she only knew one style — bald.

“So I just sported it,” Kerry Jean said. “I went around bald or I wore a scarf.”

Meanwhile, Kerry Jean’s parents, Ron and Nellda Friend, researched her condition.

“There was quite a bit I didn’t want to tell her [because it] was scary!” said Nellda. “First of all, it is a rare disease, so there are not a lot of statistics.”

Three things could go wrong with a bone marrow transplant. She could contract an infection while her white blood cell count was depressed; the graft might not work; and there was a risk of rejection.

Finally, the call came — a match had been found from the nationwide registry.

Kerry Jean’s bone marrow transplant was Sept. 25.

“It was a perfect match,” said Kerry Jean. “I couldn’t believe it when they told me that the donor had 10 out of 10 matching criteria. They will do a transplant with 8 out of 10 matches.”

Kerry Jean stayed in the hospital for a month following the transplant, waiting to see if the bone marrow would work in her body.

Family and friends were thrilled when her white blood, red blood and platelet counts started coming back and, for the first time in eight months, she didn’t have to get blood and platelet transfusions.

Altogether, she stayed in the James Cancer Center in Columbus, Ohio for about two months, as she 
experienced ...

Setbacks and low points

Finding and receiving the transplant was only part of the journey.

“She was at death’s door several times,” Dr. Terrell recalled.

When she was finally allowed to come home from the hospital, Kerri Jean still had difficulty eating and keeping down food. After losing 30 pounds from her slim frame she was unable to stand. She was admitted to the hospital where her first meal was a tube-fed Thanksgiving “dinner.”

Her immune system had been wiped out by the chemotherapy. She developed infections and kept getting sick with colds. The drugs interacted unfavorably.

“I went crazy ... I was out of my mind,” she said. “I thought I was dead or dying. I pulled out my IV and they had to strap me down. It was a scary experience.”

She defines the crazy episode as her lowest point, but it also was the point she began to get better.

“The doctors took a close look at my medications and they took me off of six of them,” she said. “Afterward, I felt a lot better. After that, I was on the road to recovery. “From that point, I received no more transfusions. I started getting healthier and gaining strength and appetite.

“After my drug interaction, I tell (the youth), I don’t know why in the world anyone would want to do drugs.”

She ponders now the journey and knows for sure ...

What got her through it

Kerry Jean credits her “fabulous” family and skilled medical personnel for her recovery, but what guided her heart and the prayerful hearts of many was God.

“My mom took off from work for a year, so she could help me out day and night,” she said. “My dad took early retirement so he could be with me. I have two brothers, Rusty and Raymond, and they called every day.”

Kerry Jean was amazed by the outpouring of support from Springfield as well as other churches in the Archdale-Trinity area. While in the hospital, she received cards from people she knew and others she didn’t know who said she was on their church prayer list.

“When I was in the hospital, all I could do was say thank you for those who were praying for me, because for the first time in my life, I couldn’t pray myself,” said Kerry Jean. “I just didn’t have the energy or the focus.”

During her recovery, when she was too tired to read or watch television, she spent hours listening to music. Christian alternative music was her favorite type. She was surprised to receive a call from international Christian contemporary singer Michael W. Smith.

Just like the scripture Kerry Jean kept near her, Smith inspired her.

Her favorite scripture is Psalm 50:15 — “What I want from you is your true thanks. I want your promises fulfilled. I want you to trust me in your times of trouble so I can rescue you and you can give me glory.”

The scripture kept her going and with that thought she developed a renewed ...

Appreciation of life, health & faith

“I still have checkups,” she said. “I still go to the same doctor’s office, except I am getting to leave after 15 minutes instead of eight hours.”

She leaves with her hands uplifted in praise.

Kerry Jean will take immunosuppressant drugs until the one-year anniversary of her transplant.

Since she was cleared to return to her duties in May, others have noticed changes in Kerry Jean’s spiritual side. She is stronger physically, mentally and spiritually.

“The biggest change has to be because she has faced death, and faced it as a young woman,” said Ray. “It has deepened her faith.”

Kerry Jean exudes this new focus.

“I feel really lucky that I was sick,” she said. “It has made everything about life so much more meaningful.”

As she begins to experience again those taken-for-granted moments, she savors the taste of chicken, pizza and chocolate and the feel of swimming through water.

It’s not just Kerry Jean who has this renewed life, it’s Springfield Friends Meeting.

“Seeing how she has handled and fought the disease has brought us together,” said Ray. “It has caused us to give God a lot of praise and thanks, for healing her and working with her. We have been made aware of how precious life is and how quickly things can change.

“We are aware of how much we need each other and how much we need our faith in God to get us through the difficult times, as well as every day.”

Farewell

Springfield Friends Meeting will say good-bye to Kerry Jean at the 11 a.m. worship service Sunday, July 11.