First-year professor chronicles cancer battle

Lindsey Jorgensen didn’t expect to spend her wedding anniversary inside a three-story high structure on a hard bed, protons aimed at her neck.

When Jorgensen first arrived in Vermillion at the beginning of the 2012 fall semester, she came home to the perfect combination.

Jorgensen grew up in a small town outside of Boise, Idaho and attended the University of Washington, where she gained an AUD along with a Ph. D. Jorgensen, an audiology professor and clinical supervisor, came to the University of South Dakota from the University of Pittsburgh with her husband in August.

“I started my dream job, I love everything about my job.” Jorgensen said. “I really love that I can do clinics and teach and research.”

Jorgensen soon learned everything wasn’t perfect in paradise. Near the end of September, Jorgensen woke up with a hard lump above her collar bone.

“I thought I had pulled a muscle,” Jorgensen said.

She felt the lump on a Monday, had a biopsy of the lump on Thursday, had surgery on that Friday, and by Tuesday, Jorgensen was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

“I had no symptoms of cancer other than this lump,” Jorgensen said.

According to the National Cancer Institute, Hodgkin’s lymphoma is a cancer of the immune system marked by Reed-Sternberg cells. In 2013, there were 9,290 new cases of Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Jorgensen began chemotherapy Oct. 17, 2012 in Yankton and began undergoing chemotherapy on Wednesday evenings, returning to work at the university on Thursday and on Friday and would be sick on Saturdays and Sundays.

“I didn’t want to take time off,” Jorgensen said.

After undergoing eight rounds of chemotherapy, Jorgensen underwent a PT scan, where she was injected with radioactive glucose. The results showed she still came up positive for cancer cells, and was told she would have to undergo radiation therapy for her neck and down the center of her chest.

Teri Bellis, chair of Communication Disorders, is Jorgensen’s boss and friend.

Bellis, who had only known Jorgensen for about a month before her diagnosis, thought Jorgensen’s treatment would end when the chemotherapy ended.

“I brought her to her final chemotherapy session,” Bellis said. “I thought it was done.”

Jorgensen researched her options and found out about proton therapy, an alternative to radiation therapy that can control the depth of the treatment. Traditional radiation therapy would be shot at her heart, which could lead to consequences such as the emergence of breast cancer later on.

Only a handful of facilities in the United States are able to perform proton therapy, and so Jorgensen packed her bags and flew to Jacksonville, Fla. during spring break for a consultation. She rescheduled patients and started a five-week stay in Jacksonville for treatment.

Jorgensen has managed to uphold all of her duties while undergoing treatment for her Hodgkin’s lymphoma. She conducted research, attended to patients, and while in Florida, has taught her classes through Collaborate in D2L. Although she is over 1,400 miles away, her students can still see her lectures and view her presentation slides.

“I’m still able to have that interaction,” Jorgensen said. “My research is still ongoing. I really wanted a job that allowed me to combine medicine with rehabilitation. I really like the technology I can use in my job.”

She fell into her career choice while researching the loss of inner ear hairs and now researches hearing loss in the older population.

“I love the students, the faculty. The energy of the department, that’s rare,” Jorgensen said. “The administration has been really supportive.”

Jorgensen finds being away from Vermillion to be the hardest part of her treatment.

“I was just starting to feel I was becoming part of the community,” Jorgensen said. “It’s hard being away from my husband and being away from work.”

Dedicating herself to her work through her treatment has helped Jorgensen by providing her with structure. Because her job changes daily, she does not become tired doing the same thing day after day.

“It helps, because I can tell myself my cancer diagnosis is not the end of the world,” Jorgensen said. “I work in my office with the door open, and I really like that interaction.”

During clinics Jorgensen jokes she serves as an assistant to her students, although she is technically their supervisor. Jorgensen said that while she may get sick in class, the independent spirit of her students allows the class to continue.

“A few times in class I have had to throw up, and I clean myself up and come back to class and teach,” Jorgensen said. “It takes a certain kind of student to be able to deal with that. They are incredibly resilient.”

Bellis admires Jorgensen’s resilience through her treatment.

“I have already told myself that if it happened to me, there was no way I could do what she has done,” Bellis said. “When people are sick, they are usually half their usual self. When she’s cured, it’s going to be too much energy for me to handle. She hasn’t just kind of made due. People are usually half their usual self when they are sick, but not her.”

Bellis speaks with Jorgensen most days and said the department has been extremely supportive of her.

“She has immediately been integrated with the department,” Bellis said. “We’ve told her that if she can’t do anything, then we have it covered, but she keeps stepping up to the plate. As the chair of this department, I am continually amazed at the ability of the people in this department to step up to the call of duty.”

Bellis said she sees Jorgensen’s diagnosis as a factor that changes her outlook on the world.

“It reinforces my faith in humanity to see how much people will do for their students, the community, an each other,” Bellis said. “It’s very humbling, it restores my faith on the cynical days.”

Jorgensen’s students surprised her the day she left for Jacksonville by announcing a fundraiser for her, a spaghetti dinner to be held April 18. The fundraiser hopes to raise money to help Jorgensen with her medical expenses.

Jorgensen’s last proton treatment is April 19, and she hopes to return April 20.