February 11, 2010

Alumni Profile: Erica Williams

Former La Verne basketball player Erica Williams doesn't want to be considered a cancer survivor, nor does she like to dwell on her time battling a disease that at times can be unrelenting. Nonetheless she has proven to be both a fighter and a winner, maintaining a toughness and a unyielding resolve that exceeds her accomplishments on the basketball court.

Erica's journey as a Leopard began in the Fall of 2004 after she prepped at Ocean View High School in Huntington Beach. She would make an immediate impact on the La Verne basketball team, earning a starting position as a freshman. She would go on to be a two-year starter with the Leopards and was a member of the Leos' SCIAC Championship squad in 2007.

Though she cherishes many aspects of her Leopard career, she says her biggest thrill was being chosen multiple times by former coach Julie Kline to guard the other team's best player. "I absolutely loved the challenge of trying to shut down my opponent. I took great pride in my defense!"

Adversity would follow as her collegiate career abruptly came to end when she suffered a setback with a season-ending knee injury in November 2006 as a junior. Two surgeries later, a basketball career was halted though she remained very close to the basketball team. She would continue to stay active and while eventually earning her bachelor's degree in Spring 2008.

In January 2009, she began experiencing chest and back pain from what she thought was just due to the new weight-lifting regimen. The pain persisted for another three months, and she began having problems with her heart beating much faster when working out.

In the middle of the night on April 5, 2009, when she woke up with excruciating back and chest pain and was having trouble breathing. A visit to the emergency room led to an x-ray, which revealed a softball-sized mass in her chest. "The mass was pressing on my heart and my left lung, which was the reason why I was having trouble breathing. My chest and back pain was caused by the mass' rapid growth."

On April 8, 2009 upon meeting with her Oncologist, she was informed that she had Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma.

"Honestly, I never thought of myself as having cancer or being sick. I would not let myself think that I had a weakness. Dwelling on my weakness would make me vulnerable and I simply was not going to let that happen."

"I tried my hardest to live my life like nothing had changed. The only days I missed from work were the days I had chemo. The company I work for was very flexible and understanding. Approximately one week after every chemo my body would feel VERY bruised and beat up - it even hurt to wear clothes. I was allowed to wear sweats to work for those weeks, which I was extremely thankful for."

She quickly made friends with the nurses and employees in the lab (where she had to go weekly for blood work), in the radiation treatment center, in the chemo room, and at the office where she would get her CT and PET scans done. These appointments just became a part of her new routine. She said she never spent a lot of time thinking about why she was at those appointments, only that she was excited about seeing her new-found friends.

Her family and friends constantly kept her laughing. They also joked about about her losing her hair during chemotherapy sessions. "Being bald was actually fun! I tried wearing scarves at first, but those just didn't work out. I just went bald most of the time."

Good news would arrive in time for the Holiday season. "I don't think that it truly hit me that I really had cancer until I got a call from my Oncologist's assistant right before Thanksgiving 2009. She explained to me that my last PET and CT scans showed that all that was left of my softball-sized mass was a little bit of scar tissue - no more cancer! At that moment, it was like I could finally let my guard down and I was so excited to be done with it all."

She said her days playing basketball were highly instrumental in her fight against the disease as she called upon the mental and physical toughness that she had developed playing basketball for Coach Kline throughout her battle. "In basketball, you couldn't be intimidated by or underestimate your opponent. It's the same thing for cancer - you can't take the disease lightly, but you can't let it overcome you, either." Her resolve remained strong even through the toughest times "The treatment schedule my doctors put me on was aggressive and took a toll on me physically. Most days I would barely have the strength to get in the shower, but you just have to work through it. I kept telling myself - there are a lot of other people who have it way worse than I do."

"After I had finished all of my treatment, we had a big party with all of my friends and family. I really am very fortunate to be surrounded by great people. This journey would have been much harder if it wasn't for them."

She remains optimistic about her future with the hopes of remaining cancer-free. She has recently become an avid runner, finding that "running pushes my mental ‘limits' just like cancer did - you just have to keep going." On February 7, she ran her first half-marathon (The Surf City Half-Marathon in Huntington Beach) and plans to compete in another half-marathon in May. "I plan on doing the Rock ‘N Roll Marathon in Las Vegas in December as well, which should really be a challenge, but I feel like I can handle anything now."

Some immediate goals she has are to cut a few minutes off of her half-marathon time and also to learn how to cook. Additionally she plans to pursue a career as a paralegal, along with getting married and starting a family.

"My advice to others who would go through a similar situation would simply be to try to keep your life as normal as possible, try to laugh as much as possible, and whatever you do, do not think ‘poor me.' "