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Warrior Post
‘True,beautiful,
Issue No. 1 19 October 2012 Martin High School
miracle’
Martin and community come together to support student Taylor Helland
Abby Bishop • News Editor
A
ing pep rally and the game, escorted by her boyfriend, senior Chris Messer. “Having all this attention can be a little overwhelming every once and a while, but it makes me feel supported and loved – like I can do anything with all these people behind me,” Taylor said.
s the Helland family moves past Sep. 18 when they found out that junior Taylor Helland’s cancer returned, Martin and the community have been there to support them every step of the way. Taylor’s freshman year, she was diagnosed with Stage III Signet Ring Adenocarcinoma or in simpler words, colon cancer. She had several operations, 12 rounds of chemotherapy and a risky HIPEC procedure, until she was officially cancer free. ‘Praying for a miracle’ Taylor started to have stomach pain again and went to the hospital Sep. 17. She was supposed to have her quarterly scan a week later, so they decided to do it early. Unfortunately, the doctors found two large masses in her stomach. The next day, doctors confirmed that it was the original cancer and was very aggressive. After some discussion, the Hellands have decided to try a few rounds of chemotherapy, check to see how it is affecting the tumors, and then decide from there. “While the doctors are telling us the odds are stacked against us, we continue to have hope, and we’re praying for a miracle,” Taylor’s father Bob Helland wrote on Caring Bridge. Mr. Helland frequently updates Caring Bridge, a website designed to keep people connected during health events. The site, which was set up in April 2011, has almost 50,000 views now. “We have this horrible, dark cloud just hanging over our heads 24 hours a day, but moments when you people are doing these indescribably amazing things for us, just for a bit there, we actually forget
Junior Taylor Helland is presented on the field as Homecoming Princess Oct. 5. photo by Karsen Cinquepalmi about that cloud, and it’s just a miracle,” Mr. Helland wrote. “Just a true, beautiful miracle.” Homecoming Princess After they received the news of Taylor, Student Council officers came together and all agreed that Taylor should be crowned honorary Homecoming princess. Taylor was presented at the Homecom-
Care and support Taylor plays a vital role in the Warrior band. She is a principal oboe player, in the Wind Symphony, saxophone section leader and a member of band leadership. “As director, I have a renewed sense of dedication to the kids,” director said. “With the day-to-day rigors of marching band, you can lose touch to the fact that 14- to 18-year-olds are doing this, and when something like that happens to one of our kids, it really gives you perspective.” During Taylor’s first battle, junior Jennica McGinnis and Messer created blue bracelets saying “Pray For Tay” with a ribbon and cross. Now, there has been even more of this kind of support for Taylor including two t-shirts. Mary Moore, where Taylor’s mother Julia Helland teaches, created one, but Messer wanted to be able to sell a shirt to Martin Students. Martin established “Tuesdays for Tay” and encouraged students and faculty to wear the t-shirts. “It’s kind of weird sometimes, but at the same time kind of cool to see people that don’t know me care enough to buy a t-shirt and support me,” Taylor said. As of now, the Helland family does not know exactly what lies ahead of them. All they know is that Taylor will go through an undetermined amount of chemo treatments to shrink the tumors, and hopefully be able to surgically remove the tumors once they are small enough. While the future looks shaky, they are focusing on the today, right now, this moment.