Trina Pockett was pregnant and living in Southern California when she went in to the doctor to find out whether she was having a boy or a girl. You’re having a girl, they told her. Oh, and by the way, you also have Stage 3 Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
OK, they didn’t say it that rudely. Rather, she mentioned a lump in her neck, which when biopsied was confirmed for Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The cancer was in Stage 3 because being pregnant made noticing her cancer symptoms and seperating them from pregnancy much more difficult.
At 5 and a half months pregnant she began a rigorous 2 months of chemotherapy. She was induced 6 weeks earlier than her due date and gave birth to a healthy baby girl who weighed 4 lbs 8 ozs.
The experience has drastically changed her, and it prompted her to write in to Lifetime Television’s Clean State Challenge 2009. The Clean Slate Challenge is a contest by the channel that encourages women to take part in a life-changing experience in 2009.
For her part Pockett, not a runner by trade or hobby, will participate in the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team in Training half marathon in San Diego on May 31, 2009.
You can see a video of Trina Pockett
here, at Lifetime’s website.
