The Compass Winter 2019 | Page 10

TEMPLE: PATIENT PROFILE Cancer-free and back to life Two patients share their stories of diagnosis and treatment at the Vasicek Cancer Treatment Center in Temple. hen champion barrel racer a ranch that breeds and trains horses for took its toll, so her care team arranged to Angela Ganter of Abilene was competition. Worried that her illness would have part of her treatment done in Abilene. diagnosed with breast cancer, cause her to lose business, she worked “But when I walked in there, it was just she was certain of one thing: she had to hard to live life normally. “I rode every day, I nothing like what I was used to at Baylor survive to be there for her daughter. went to the barn to work while no one else Scott & White,” she says. “I always say that was there, and I continued to race.” second place is first loser, and I knew then In 2010, six years after her husband passed away, Angela found a lump under Hair loss is a common side effect that the Vasicek Cancer Treatment Center her arm that didn’t feel right. After an of chemotherapy, but Mrs. Ganter was truly is first place. There really isn’t another ultrasound, doctors removed the lymph determined not to let that happen. “It’s place like it.” node and confirmed it was cancer. She a big deal for rodeo queens to have long immediately called family friend and hair,” she says. With some research, she then my cancer journey, I have been to oncologist, Dr. Mark Holguin at Baylor Scott learned about an ice cap system from a lot of hospitals,” Mrs. Ganter says, “but I & White, who scheduled a consultation England that prevents total hair loss by can unequivocally say that Baylor Scott & with her at the Vasicek Cancer Treatment using dry ice to freeze a patient’s head. The White was the best place for me. At the Center in Temple. cold air would close the hair follicles during end of the day, it wasn’t just a hospital—it infusions to help prevent hair loss. “Dr. was family.” Doctors identified the primary source “Through my husband’s illness and of Mrs. Ganter’s cancer as her breast, Holguin and the entire staff were skeptical, although she’d had a clean mammogram but they were very accommodating of a long year of training, she is also back to just a few months earlier. Over the next what I wanted to do. They wanted what I riding, this time alongside her daughter. seven years, Mrs. Ganter underwent wanted, and they were in it with me,” Mrs. Both recently qualified for the Canadian nine surgeries and countless rounds of Ganter says. “I lost some, but not nearly Finals Rodeo, which comprises the top 12 chemotherapy and radiation. all of my hair. They were all proud of every barrel racers in the world. “I came back to little hair on my head.” do even better than I did before,” she says. “I spent 24-7 trying to survive for my daughter,” Mrs. Ganter says. “I had to live no Eventually, the intense treatment matter what because I couldn’t leave her caught up with her and Mrs. Ganter had without a parent.” to stop riding. The long trek from Abilene Mrs. Ganter owns Lone Star Stables, Mrs. Ganter is now cancer-free. After “But more importantly, I get to watch and compete with my daughter.” to Temple and back every two weeks also Then and now: 1. Angela Ganter wore a wig during competition because she was afraid of losing business if any of her customers knew she was sick. | 2. Angela spoke about her experience with cancer at the 2019 Cornerstone Luncheon in Temple honoring donors who have included Baylor Scott & White in their estate plans. 10 1. THE COMPASS / BAYLOR SCOTT & WHITE CENTRAL TEXAS FOUNDATION NEWS / WINTER 2019 2.