Wilsonville Spokesman Online

The good fight

A local teen is battling Hodgkin's lymphoma with the help of friends

• By: Josh Kulla  
• Published: 11/25/2009 3:35:35 PM
• Last Updated: 11/25/2009 3:40:47 PM

Struggle
19-year-old Ashley Roth is fighting Hodgkin's lymphoma with help from friends and the community,

All 19-year-old Ashley Roth asked for is a donor who is not allergic to seafood.

It might sound odd, but for someone who loves sushi, the thought of going a lifetime without her favorite food was too much to bear without speaking up.

A Lake Oswego resident and 2008 graduate of Gladstone High School, Roth currently is battling Hodgkin’s lymphoma for the third time in the past two-and-a-half years. The disease has ravaged her body and health since she was first diagnosed in August 2007, and she now is facing a second bone marrow transplant, this one from an outside donor.

Only, that donor better be the right one.

“Yesterday with her doctor she said she has two non-negotiable deals,” Jeff Prottas, Roth’s step-father, said during a recent interview. “She said one is that I be released on the 19th (of November) so I don’t miss the Twilight premier. And second, the donor you find can’t have a seafood allergy. Doernbecher is awesome, they agreed they’d work their way around those things. It’s unbelievable the dedication and the passion up there.”

Roth’s life was changed for the better earlier this year after she joined a networking group in Wilsonville in response to losing her parents to drug and alcohol addiction in recent years.

Now, those around her say the outgoing young woman, formerly a member of the GHS dance team, also is providing a shining example of a never-say-die attitude in the face of adversity.

“She is full of youth, ideas, enthusiasm and a wonderful positive attitude,” said Kathleen Noonan, a fellow member of Roth’s networking group who has grown to befriend the teen in recent months. Noonan said she and others in the group were floored when they learned of Roth’s battle with cancer.

“We in the group didn’t know anything about her illness until she explained that she wouldn’t be around for a while and explained why,” Noonan said. “We were all shocked and saddened and wanted to help in any way that we could.”

They also learned Roth has limited health insurance through her employer, a Lake Oswego senior care facility. She now faces skyrocketing medical costs as her treatments grow more complicated.

“I know what my health care is like when I have insurance, and it’s nothing,” Noonan said. “So we decided to do something, and I’ve got to tell you, it’s just been going gangbusters.” 

That wish took concrete form on Saturday, Nov. 21, when the newly formed Ashley Cancer Fund hosted a fundraising spaghetti dinner, raffle and silent auction at the Frog Pond Church in Wilsonville. The event was open to the public, and they responded, donating money to help pay for Roth’s medical care, ongoing prescriptions and living expenses while in the hospital.

Food for the dinner was donated by a local grocer who asked to remain anonymous, while Sysco Food Services and Panera Bread both contributed to the event. All told, Noonan said, the event turned out to be a testament to the power of teamwork among ordinary people.

“We’re just a group of ladies and men that decided to help out,” she said.
 
Intensive treatment
Hodgkin’s disease is a type of lymphoma cancer originating from a type of white blood cells called lymphocytes. It is one of the first types of cancer to successfully be treated with radiation, and when caught early has up to a 95 percent survival rate. It is particularly common in teenagers.

Despite twice battling the disease into remission during the past two years, Roth had her tonsils and two lymph nodes removed in April after all her symptoms returned. She now is in a third round of chemotherapy at Doernbecher Children’s Hospital in Portland.

“She’s in stage three, but that sort of goes out the window when it’s the third time through the treatment,” said Prottas. “Hodgkin’s lymphoma is said to be one of the most curable cancers there is, but again the oncologists are not so clear when it comes to a second, or in Ashley’s case, a third attempt to clear it out.”

Roth’s current round of treatment calls for three to six more months of chemotherapy intensive in- and outpatient treatment. She was admitted to Doernbecher once again last Friday, and is now scheduled to undergo a painful bone marrow transplant sometime during the next several weeks in an effort to stunt the growth of cancerous cells.

It will be her second transplant, Prottas said, the first coming around 18 months ago, and will require up to five weeks of hospitalization.

“There’s a great group of people supporting us,” Prottas said when asked how he and his family are enduring. “My wife has been in ICU for five weeks and they put her back on the respirator last night. Then, they had been concerned about her (Ashley’s) weight, it had been sliding, so they re-admitted her (at Doernbecher) this morning and put in a feeding tube tot ry to stablize her weight. She starts her fourth round of chemo next week, and then she’ll get a couple of weeks at home.”

Although they already were dealing with Janet’s own debilitating struggle with multiple sclerosis, the couple is providing Roth a home while she wages her own battle.

“This girl is special,” Prottas said. “She’s really sweet and really bright, beautiful and kind of a metaphor for the potential of life.”
 
Donate to fight cancer:
Donate to Ashley’s cause through the Sparrow Foundation: www.sparrowclubs.org. Donations also can be made to Jeff Prottas through PayPal at jrprottas@comcast.net or mailed to Jeff Prottas c/o Ashley Roth: 4625 Firwood Road, Lake Oswego, 97035

  (log in to rate)