Stefanie Spielman passed away 11/20
http://chrisspielman.com/stefanie.html
Wife of football player (Lions, Buffalo Bills) Chris Spielman
Both help bring BC awareness. She was dx at 30.
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So so sorry about the loss of another great brave woman...
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I was just coming on to post this info too Fitztwins. We live in the same town and our kids are in the same school system. It is a huge loss for our community but i know her legacy will live on and her family will continue the fight.........
Wendy
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I just saw that Stefanie had passed at the end of the pregame show for OSU/Mich. I live in Ohio, but not in Columbus, and didn't realize how bad she'd gotten. She survived for several years after her bc spread to her lungs. The last time I checked on her she was in remission and running races. Stefanie was an enormous inspiration to everyone who knew her or was aware of her story. She and Chris were instrumental in raising huge amounts of money to fight breast cancer.
My heart goes out to Chris, their four children, the rest of their family, and to everyone who knew and loved Stefanie.
Sandy
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What stage was Stefanie's cancer in when she was first diagnosed in 1998 ?
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So horribly sad... what a terrible tragedy for her husband and those poor children....
angelcakes, I was also looking online to see if I could find what stage and type she had had initially. I haven't found anything so far beyond that she had a mastectomy within a week of diagnosis and an aggressive course of chemotherapy for several months afterward.
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I've been racking my brain trying to remember what stage Stefanie's cancer was when she was first diagnosed, but I just can't remember. She used to have a question and answer forum "Ask Stefanie" through The James Cancer Hospital website and I remember she gave that information to several people that asked, but "Ask Stefanie" isn't available now. I had it bookmarked and checked it periodically, but several months ago I tried to check it and it wasn't available. It says in some of the announcements of her death that her original lump was the size of a lemon. I do know she was HER+ because when it metastasized to her lungs, she went on Herceptin. She may have been on that for years, because the last article I read about her when she was still running in races said she was on Herceptin and another chemo drug.
She was three or four months pregnant when she found the lump, which may have caused it to grow faster, although I don't know that it was hormone positive. She had a miscarriage, then the cancer was diagnosed. She and Chris already had two children, a boy and girl, then they had another girl before she had mets. Then Stefanie accidentally got pregnant while on Herceptin and they had to decide what to do as her doctors didn't know how the Herceptin would affect the fetus. They opted to continue with the pregnancy and had another healthy girl. She talked in her column about the struggle she faced having the baby while knowing her (Stefanie's) life would be cut short from cancer, but in the end she was very glad she had the baby. I remember she mentioned what a good father Chris was so she knew her children would be fine after she died.
It's just heartbreaking when anyone dies from breast cancer (or any cancer for that matter), but on this board we know so many young women who died with young children and it's hard to come to terms with it. Stefanie and Chris were enormously popular in Columbus and all of Ohio and they were instrumental in raising breast cancer awareness tremendously in this area. Money-wise, they helped raise millions of dollars for breast cancer research and Stefanie was involved in numerous other cancer-related projects.
I talked to my son this morning who lives in Columbus. He has a lot of single friends in their 20's and 30's and he said all the girls he knows volunteer at breast cancer races and other activities, even those who haven't had bc in their families.
I hate this #$%^&*() disease.
Sandy
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The beauty is that Stefanie had an impact and made a difference for the rest of us. She did not die in vain.
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Always followed Stephanie.Very sad to hear the news.
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