Stephanie Minge

Stephanie cancer free in January 2007!

Over the past couple of months, I have been feeling an enormous need to share with the world my biggest inspiration. That inspiration doesn’t come in the form of an amazing movie, a famous athlete or even an outstanding book. Instead, my inspiration comes from my high school friend Stephanie and her recent journey battling osteosarcoma.

Stephanie and I graduated from a small school in southern Ohio where we shared many high school milestones. However, like many friends, we drifted apart through college and, in all honesty, rarely gave each other another thought as we started our careers and families. In December of 2005, I heard Stephanie was going through a tough time. She had been diagnosed with “telangiectatic osteosarcoma of the sternum...a highly rare bone tumor.” My immediate response was to learn more about her condition and her state of well-being.

I quickly found that, due to the nature of her cancer, Stephanie was rushed to M.D. Anderson Hospital in Houston, Texas, just four days after her initial diagnosis. There, an elite team of cancer specialists would treat her, providing a level of expertise that the local doctors in Ohio could not. Overall, Stephanie eventually endured nearly eight months of chemotherapy and treatment away from her job as a high school band director, away from her family and friends and even extended periods away from her husband. However, upon diagnosis, Stephanie and her husband Sammy made the decision to keep friends and family informed through an online blog. For days, I would read the updates and cry for Stephanie. I didn’t know what to say, or how to even approach my old friend that was living through this terrible ordeal.

On her blog site, I would read things like, “Well, it's happened...I’m bald. Yep, woke up this morning (this time with a horrid headache) and the clumps of hair were far worse than yesterday. So, went to have blood work done and just decided there was no use postponing the inevitable.” Stephanie shaved her head and I couldn’t help but notice that she was amazingly strong, brave and insightful about this milestone in her battle. While I, sitting in front of my computer screen, cried like a baby. And, I realize now that it was not tears of sadness, or tears of fear for Stephanie but tears of amazement and hope.

Over the months, I stayed faithful to reading Stephanie and her husband Sammy’s postings and learned more about my friend and the true meaning of life that I ever thought possible. Her unwavering positive attitude and courage help me to put my own life into perspective everyday. I owe Stephanie more than thanks can say for allowing me to be a part of her journey and my hope is that my hero, Stephanie Minge, can share her story with millions of people that too need a hero to inspire them.