F O U N D AT I O N
Lessening the Burden Lina learned she had a friend with almost the exact same diagnosis and considered herself lucky to have someone with whom she could share her challenges and frustrations. However, she found it increasingly difficult to avoid comparing their experiences. “I found myself comparing my healing journey to hers, or to anyone else who was going through something similar,” she says. “It did more harm than good. Healing is a personal journey, and you can’t compare your experience to anyone else.” Immediately after her diagnosis, Lina began eight sessions of chemotherapy. Aside from the obvious physical healing that took place during treatment, Lina recognized the many ways in which she and her family would need to heal. “Receiving my diagnosis took a toll on me and my family emotionally, mentally and physically, but it’s sometimes easy to forget about the financial toll it took,” she says. Coming from a single-parent household, Lina knew her diagnosis would add financial pressure on her mother. “All my time in the hospitals was not going to be cheap; any extra financial help was going to be greatly appreciated.” From left: Kansas Betas RYLEIGH DISKIN and Lina.
Oftentimes a healing journey has an unexpected beginning. This was surely the case for Kansas Beta LINA SATTARIN, who considered herself to be a perfectly healthy 20-year-old until she was diagnosed with stage II Hodgkin's lymphoma. Lina first noticed something was wrong the summer before her junior year at Kansas State University. After her diagnosis, she immediately turned to her Pi Phi sisters. “On my first day of chemo, they created a 15-minute video filled with kind words and jokes to get me through the day,” Lina says. “Over the course of the last year, they sent gifts and cards and showed their love in so many ways— even Pi Phis at Kansas Alpha sent me care packages. Their support has been so incredible.” Despite their support, Lina struggled with missing out on her collegiate experience and making memories with her sisters. “I was worried people would forget about me or that I would miss out on so many events,” she says. “I had to remind myself that everything would still be there tomorrow, in a couple weeks and even in a couple months.”
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During her treatment, Kansas Beta Chapter President BRITTANY RAINES reached out to Lina to tell her about Pi Beta Phi Foundation’s Emma Harper Turner Fund grant program—a program which provides emergency assistance grants to Pi Phis who find themselves in times of financial stress. Emma Harper Turner Fund grants are awarded with the goal of helping members through financial crisis created by job loss, illness, natural disaster or other unexpected life circumstances. Lina was selected to receive an Emma Harper Turner Fund collegian grant and the financial support she received helped to lessen the burden of her educational expenses and tuition at Kansas State University. “Once I received the grant, I felt a weight lifted off my shoulders,” she says. “I knew it would lessen the burden on my mother who was balancing all the new expenses on top of everything else.” For Lina, support from our Foundation ensured she didn’t have to choose between receiving the treatment she needed and attending Kansas State. Three months after her initial diagnosis, Lina completed her treatment
