Jorgenson keeps up the good fight

Karen Jorgenson of Williston didn't know she had cancer.

The fact she always felt cold and sleepy weren't red alerts for the 67 year old, as she assumed that's part of what happened when one got older. But a little more than three years ago, Jorgenson learned it was something much more serious.

In 2006, she was part of a study in Bismarck for people with fibromyalgia. Doctors discovered there were too many enzymes in her liver. In fact, the number was "sky-high," Jorgenson said recently.

She was sent to Minot, and immediately from there went to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. On March 15, 2006, doctors there diagnosed her with bile-duct cancer, meaning there was a tumor on the duct to her liver.

Jorgenson's life was topsy-turvy from that point. She suffered from rejecting a new liver to gaining water weight so badly she couldn't stand to nightmares in the hospital. She was told she had six months to a year to live to being cancer free in the present.

Right from the start, one of Jorgenson's first doctors was honest with her.

"She said I had six to 12 months to live. She said we could do treatment. I said, 'I'm not gonna go through it.' My son (Loren) said, 'I'm not married and I want you to see my grandkids,'" Jorgenson said.

She felt too old to go through the treatments, but her son convinced her to to do so.

In 2006, she began rigorous chemotherapy and radiation treatments. Although the radiation treatment especially scared her, she said the team of doctors were "really a nice bunch." Her treatments were at the Mayo Clinic and the Leonard P. Nelson Cancer Treatment Center at Mercy Medical Center in Williston.

Her skin turned yellow because of jaundice, and some people at the Mayo Clinic stayed at a distance from her because of it.

"You felt like, 'Now I know what a leper feels like,'" Jorgenson said.

She had frequent blood transfusions and had learned her liver was no good; she needed a transplant. For months, she watched her name move up and down the transplant list, based upon those who were deemed to need one more or less than she did.

Her son and daughter, Nancy Dyk, had their blood tested to see if they were matches. Both have A-negative blood, not a matche for Jorgenson's O-positive blood.

Her husband, Laurence, was too old to be a match, she said, as donors must be between the ages of 18-55. A Williston woman even offered to donate part of her liver, but she too had the wrong blood type, Jorgenson said.

On April 4, 2007, Jorgenson received a new liver. At first, it seemed to go well, but then it failed. Miraculously, a liver became available the next day in Rochester from a 55-year-old woman who'd had an aneurysm. That liver worked, with only one rejection. Jorgenson sent the woman's husband a thank-you card and he sent a reply, saying that was what she wanted to do when she died.

It wasn't a simple happy ending after Jorgenson received her transplant. She'd gained water weight from her thighs to her feet, making it almost impossible for her to stand. She had a friend in Williston who helped her get out of bed, and therapy also helped. Her numerous caregivers throughout the ordeal were godsends, she said.

Many have been supportive throughout her cancer battle. Jorgenson has been put on prayer lists, and Dyk placed her mother on the Caring Bridge Web site, www.caringbridge.org, a Web site for support and connections for loved ones with critical illness during their illness, treatment and recovery. A cancer support group has been a blessing, and Thrivent Financial also held a benefit for her to help defray medical costs.

"The cards, letters and phone calls have helped," she added.

So far, she's free of cancer. The medicine she takes to ward off against another liver rejection is hard on her kidneys and she's carefully monitored by doctors.

"I guess it's with the grace of God I'm still here," she said.

Jorgenson was told she didn't do anything to get cancer. She was asked if she drank or smoked. Because she only drank on occasion and had quit smoking a while back, the doctor assured her it was nothing she had done.

She isn't the only one in her family to get cancer, as three of her cousins have had cancer, and two of them succumbed to it. Her two brothers, a grandmother and uncles and aunts have all died of cancer.

"So you wonder if it's in the water or where you live," Jorgenson said.

Jorgenson is originally from Tioga and wants to go to Norway some day because she has ancestors from there. She likes to play pinochle and whist and likes to go places. She plans to start walking again more often.

"I'm going to get back to walking, otherwise you lose everything you do have," she said.