Published Friday, March 14, 2003
Herald Staff Writer
The childhood friends of a former Sharpsville woman battling Hodgkin's disease are planning an event to raise money for her bone-marrow transplant.
The fund-raiser for Christa (Dunch) Sims, a 1985 graduate of Sharpsville High School, will be held at 6 p.m. April 12 at Yankee Lake Ballroom in Brookfield. The evening will include dinner, a reverse raffle, a Chinese auction and games of chance. Tickets are $25 each.
Mrs. Sims, who lives in Tucson, Ariz., with her husband Jim and daughters Veronica and Sydney, was diagnosed with Hodgkins in September 2000. The disease is a form of lymphoma, which is cancer of the lymphatic system, and usually occurs in people between the ages of 15 and 34 or in people older than 55.
Some of the symptoms of Hodgkin's disease include night sweats, fatigue and itching all over the body.
After her diagnosis, Mrs. Sims went through three regimens of chemotherapy and had a stem-cell transplant. After that she received radiation.
She was declared "clean" in August, but a routine scan in January revealed the cancer was back.
"Basically the doctors told me they are just prolonging my life by treating me with chemotherapy," she said during a phone interview from her home in Tucson. "They want to shrink what I have now and do a bone-marrow transplant."
But insurance won't cover the $10,000 finder's fee needed to find a suitable match.
"So my girlfriends decided to raise money," Mrs. Sims said.
The support she has received from her friends and family who still live in the area has been overwhelming.
"There's been an unbelievable response, it's so wonderful," she said. "I don't even live there."
Her high school friends Amy Sloan, Christine Flynn and Mary Pollock are coordinating the fund-raiser. A fund also has been established in her name at First National Bank in Sharpsville.
"I know everybody in the valley has donated just about everything ... the community response and the businesses ... it's just amazing," Mrs. Sims said. "I'm very humbled. It's overwhelming at times."
Donations can be sent to First National Bank, c/o Christa Sims Transplant Fund, 9 W. Main St., Sharpsville 16150. To purchase tickets for the fund-raiser, contact Amy Sloan at (724) 962-0917, Christine Flynn at (724) 962-0552 or Mary Pollock at (724) 962-0838.