Fighting for life

Local woman copes with cancer by educating others

By JOHN STANG

The Daily inter Lake

Natalie Sorensen loved life.

Still does.

She played hard. Liked being in control. Felt invincible.

But much of that has changed.

A rare type of cancer brought the 33-year-old teacher face-to-face with her mortality.

She doesn't control her life like she used to. Her lifelong dreams now have caveats to them.

"I am not the one in charge. God is," the Kalispell woman wrote May 6 in her blog at www.caringbridge.org/visit/nataliesorensen.

Her blog entry continues:

"Before cancer, death was not something I thought about. It was a distant unreachable thought. Now with cancer, even though the doctors have given me a great prognosis, I still at times stare death in the face. I always thought I would die flying off a huge cliff while skiing, skydiving, or in a plane crash. It is strange to know that cancer is what will likely take me from this life to the next."

Sorensen will be one of the runners and walkers participating in the annual Relay For Life fundraiser sponsored by the American Cancer Society from 6 p.m. Friday to 10 a.m. Saturday.

The runs will take place simultaneously at the Flathead, Whitefish and Columbia Falls high school tracks. The Lost Prairie Skydivers will jump at Flathead High's track at roughly 9 a.m. Saturday, simultaneously with closing ceremonies beginning in Whitefish and Columbia Falls.

Another Relay For Life will be held at Bigfork in July.

Last year, the relays in Bigfork, Kalispell and Columbia Falls raised roughly $181,000. Adding a Whitefish relay this year, the American Cancer Society hopes to raise $210,000.

Sorensen believes in raising money to help fight cancer - and talking about it.

"Cancer affects all ages. It affects all races. It affects little babies. It affects old people," she said.

Sorensen was diagnosed with a type of endometrial cancer in March 2006 - a tumor in the tissue lining the uterus.

At that time, she wrapped herself inside her own scary, trembly cocoon of a world, and didn't want to discuss the disease.

But the more she learned about her cancer, the more Sorensen said she felt she had a mission to talk about it.

"Knowledge is power. Natalie's knowledge about the topic gave her more power. … It's not a complete bogeyman anymore," said her husband Matt Wacker.

Sorensen said, "It goes back to helping other people."

Sorensen, Kalispell native, and her husband were teachers in Nondalton, a hamlet of slightly more than 200 people in southwestern Alaska, accessible only by airplane.

Sorensen suffered from painful periods and had difficulty going to the bathroom. But nothing showed up on her initial tests and exams at an Anchorage hospital.

Unknown to her and her doctors, a tumor was growing between her uterus and her colon - a location that the tests didn't check. It squeezed her colon, and then punctured it.

"I was lucky it was causing me pain. A lot of cancers don't cause pain," Sorensen said.

An operation removed eight inches of her colon at Anchorage's Providence Hospital in March 2006.

But afterward, Sorensen watched a doctor enter her hospital room. His eyes foretold bad news. A shiver went through Sorensen's body when he told her she had endometrial cancer.

"It was the first time I had to look death in the face and say: 'Wow, it might take me,'" she said.

She ended up at the cutting-edge Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.

More tests. More reviews. A recommendation for a hysterectomy.

"That was worse than cancer. For my whole life, I wanted children," Sorensen said.

An operation removed her uterus as a precaution against future spreading of the cancer. Numerous lymph nodes were removed for the same reason. Then came the radiation treatments - 15 minutes of prep, 30 seconds of zapping on three tiny tattooed spots on both hips and her stomach, 28 sessions stretching across almost six weeks.

Along with nausea and fatigue.

Sorensen's blog reads like someone crossing dates off a calendar.

"One down, 27 more to go.

"Six days of radiation down, 22 more to go.

"I am starting to have side effects such as … fatigue. The doctors say the side effects start 2-3 weeks into the treatment and linger for 2-6 weeks after treatment ends.

"Every day during radiation, I take in a little foam cross that my nephew Jon made for me and wear my sunglasses to block out the laser beams (mostly it is just an excuse to close my eyes.)

"Only seven more radiation treatments to go. I am very tired every day and am having other unpleasant side effects."

Finally on Aug. 1, 2006: "Radiation treatment is finally over."

Then on Aug. 16, Sorensen wrote:

"I feel sick today and frustrated that I am feeling so. When I was going through radiation, I felt like I was doing something about the cancer. … On Oct. 20, I will have a three-month checkup to make sure I am still cancer-free. This is a scary time for me - not knowing whether the cancer will come back or stay away. I pray every day that it is God's will for me to beat this and for it never to come back."

Sorensen returned to Nondalton in November 2006 and continued teaching through May 2007.

The couple has moved to Kalispell to be near her family and to teach locally. She will begin teaching seventh-graders at Edgarton School this fall.

So far Sorensen's cancer has not returned.

But she has changed in some ways.

Sorensen now lives more in the moment, rather that sweating the future as much.

Her daredevil personality has reined in a bit; her driving is less pedal-to-the-metal than it used to be. But Sorensen has revived her stalled dream to learn to fly and is working on her pilot's license.

And children?

Wacker and Sorensen always wanted children. They love playing with their niece Bethany, 3, and nephew Jon, 7.

"Someday, I'll be a mom, only different than I pictured it," her blog said.

The couple plans to adopt, but are still sorting out how they want to approach that path to parenthood.

Sorensen has joined cancer-related activities, including the Relay For Life. Sorensen, a Catholic, believes God has given her a job of educating others about cancer.

"Early detection is the key - listening to your own body and intuition. If you feel the need to get a second opinion, get it," she said.

Wacker added: "Get a second or third opinion."

In a May entry on her blog, Sorensen wrote:

"I want to grow old with my husband Matt and be able to sit on a porch in a rocking chair looking at Chief Mountain (this image got me through 28 days of radiation). I pray this is God's plan for me."

Reporter John Stang may be reached at 758-4429 or by e-mail at jstang@dailyinterlake.com