Area woman balances work, parenting while fighting cancer
By Troy Sparks
Correspondent
What began as a severe lower back pain for Sarah O’Connor turned into a life-changing journey that continues today. O’Connor’s medical condition is affecting her home life and being a parent to her two sons, 13-year-old Parker and nine-year-old Phenixx. The Delavan resident, who works at her father’s company, sometimes misses work to get treatment for her rare condition.
“It has been very difficult maintaining parenting, work and home, to say the least,” O’Connor said. “I work for my dad, so my job has been very flexible, which is great.”
O’Connor battled that pain in her back when she was 27 years old. Parker was six at the time and Phenixx was two. O’Connor went to see the doctor and was told it was a bruised tailbone that could take 18 months to heal. It got worse after nine months, so she got an MRI on New Year’s Eve of 2013.
“They found a grapefruit-sized tumor on my tailbone,” O’Connor said. “I waited at the hospital for several doctors to see what the prognosis was. They thought cancer, but after a biopsy and several referrals to the Mayo Clinic (in Rochester, MN), I was diagnosed with chordoma cancer.”
O’Connor underwent a 17-hour surgery in February of 2014 to have her tailbone removed. That was followed by a six-week stay in the hospital to recover. O’Connor had to learn to walk again and she returned to the Mayo Clinic for follow-ups.
Since the surgery, there have been six re-occurrences, according to O’Connor. She took chemo pills and tried cryoablation – which is an extreme cold treatment that freezes and destroys cancer cells. Chordoma cancer is difficult to treat and diagnose.
O’Connor makes the four-hour drive one way to the Mayo Clinic to receive immunotherapy every three weeks for six months. Immunotherapy boosts the body’s natural defenses to fight cancer and it may stop the growth of cancer cells. She said the longest that she’s been cancer free was eight months.
She’s a fighter, that’s for sure. And that’s why the American Cancer Society of greater Walworth County named O’Connor its honorary survivor this year.
“I am very honored and appreciative to be recognized for my strength in such a time in my life,” O’Connor said. “It’s been very difficult finding support considering my age and rarity of my cancer. My few friends and community have been my biggest support.”
The odds of chordoma cancer are 1 in 10 million.
O’Connor, who’s 34, said breast and lung cancer runs in her family but not the type of cancer that she is currently battling. Her sons are coping with her difficult medical situation the best way they can.
“This has been exceptionally hard for them,” she said. “And being away is never easy, but I think we are doing our best.”
The American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life event was held on June 21 at the Walworth County Fairgrounds in Elkhorn. Each team had at least one participant on the track or on the outer path of the fairgrounds at all times.
After the opening ceremony, cancer survivors and caregivers took their celebratory first laps to start each event.
The Relay For Life event unites communities across the globe to celebrate people who have battled cancer, remembered loved ones lost and took action to finish the fight once and for all.
O’Connor said she has participated in the Relay For Life in the past and admitted she didn’t know what the event was all about before.
The Relay For Life event serves as a reminder for O’Connor and other individuals who are in the beginning stages of cancer, are currently battling or have beat the odds of cancer as a survivor that they’re not alone in dealing with this horrible disease.
For more information about Relay for Life of Walworth County, which is still accepting donations for last week’s event, visit relayforlife.org/walworthcountywi or follow the group on Facebook.
