Brenda Stima has cancer. Her sister Beverly Russell has the healthy stem cells she needs. Beverly wouldn't let an ocean stand in the way of helping her sister. And her new buzz cut is just another way she's showing her support.
By TERRI BRYCE REEVES
Published September 17, 2006
CLEARWATER - After British authorities thwarted a terrorist plot to blow up planes flying to the United States, Brenda Stima started to worry.
Her sister, Beverly Russell of Selsey, England, might be afraid to fly.
Hah!
"I wasn't going to let a bunch of idiots keep me from helping my sister," Beverly said.
On Sept. 5, Beverly, 47, arrived in Clearwater to be the donor for a stem cell transplant that her younger sister is scheduled to receive next week.
Brenda, 41, will receive her big sister's healthy stem cells as she battles multiple myeloma, a blood cancer in which the body produces an abnormal number of plasma cells.
"We're in this fight together," said Beverly, a resident of Britain for six years. "This whole thing has made us very close. If anything good has come of this, it is that it has drawn our family together."
The last time the two saw each other was in March, when Beverly flew over for a "remission party" for her sister - that was before they learned the cancer had returned.
Lately, the two have kept in touch almost daily with e-mails, phone calls and online blogs.
In fact, the sisters are so close now, they even have matching haircuts - though they aren't your typical cut-and-blow-dry hairdos.
In a show of support and solidarity, Beverly and Brenda each had their hair buzzed to a bristle-cut a mere three-quarters of an inch long on Thursday.
Brenda was heading to the Supercuts in Largo's Tri City Plaza anyway, since her doctors and nurses had recommend that she shave off her hair before it falls out in clumps.
Brenda's son, John, 13, an eighth-grader at Oak Grove Middle School, went along for a buzz cut, too. Even Brenda's husband, Doug, 47, jumped on the bandwagon at the last minute for a close cut and beard trim.
And, while there, Beverly donated to another worthy cause.
Supercuts store manager Anna Jenne cut off two 15-inch long hanks of hair for Locks of Love, a nonprofit organization that creates hairpieces for children with medical hair loss.
"It takes about 10 to 12 donations to make one wig," the stylist said, scissoring off Beverly's straight flaxen hair. She then refashioned the rest of Beverly's hair so that it looked like the fuzz on a tennis ball.
Watching her sister's hair fall to the floor, Brenda teared up.
"I've just never had anyone want to shave their head for me," she said.
Beverly appeared to like the new 'do.
"It's a good way for someone from England to deal with the Florida heat," she said, running her fingers across her remaining tufts.
Today, Brenda plans to enter the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa for four days of chemotherapy, a day of rest, and then, on Friday, the stem cell transplant.
Beverly will be given a series of shots to boost her white stem cells. Then her blood will be drawn into a machine, which will harvest the white cells for Brenda.
Beverly said she has been told there could be some small side effects like bone pain, "but nothing major."
After that, Brenda will spend 24 days in the hospital, followed by three months of living in an apartment near Moffitt so she can be close to the hospital for treatments or possible medical emergencies. Her family, which also includes daughter Jessica, 6, will be able to visit as long as they are not sick.
Multiple myeloma is considered a treatable cancer, sometimes curable.
"There is a chance of a cure," said Dr. Dan Sullivan, an oncologist with the hospital's blood and marrow transplant program who has treated Brenda. "She has a fairly aggressive disease so this (transplant) is a good option."
The hospital performs about 100 transplants a year for this type of cancer, he said.
Brenda, a former massage therapist, was diagnosed with the disease in February 2005, after experiencing back pain and numbness from the waist down.
She has undergone a variety of drug therapies, radiation to shrink tumors in her spine, and kyphoplasty, which involves cementing the vertebrae to treat fractures.
After two transplants using her own stem cells in August and October last year, the doctors determined that Brenda was in remission.
Buoyed, she and her family organized a team for the 2006 St. Petersburg Relay for Life, and raised more than $3,200 for the organization. The morning of the event, April 28, a three-month followup revealed the cancer had returned.
"I was devastated," she said.
Along the way, Brenda has battled deep vein thrombosis, shingles, and bronchitis.
Still, she considers herself a "cancer survivor."
And, as she sat getting her hair shaved, she showed she hadn't lost her sense of humor.
"Actually I was kind of tired of the curls," she said, looking at the auburn curls in her hands. "I'm hoping it will come back straight when I get Beverly's stem cells."
"We're in this fight together. This whole thing has made us very close. If anything good has come of this, it is that it has drawn our family together."
Beverly Russell, who has her head shaved by Anna Jenne as her sister Brenda Stima, reflected in the mirror, wipes a tear. Brenda is battling multiple myeloma.
