Story Photos
 Photo by Greg Ebersole Brenda Bergman holds her 4-year-old daughter, Jordan, at their Castle Rock home Friday. |
Annual bazaar fund-raiser to benefit Castle Rock girl with leukemia
Monday, October 30, 2006 7:22 AM PST
By Tom Paulu
Printable version
E-mail this articleDan Bergman once saw a Texas tornado destroy a shopping center. His daughter Jordan's leukemia diagnosis a year ago has been just as emotionally devastating for him and his wife, Brenda.
"Everything that was once important has gone away like a tornado," Dan said.
"Everything is different from before," said Dan, 41. "Everything is focused on her medication and trips back and forth to the hospital. There's really not much time for anything else."
If Jordan's health allows, her parents will bring her to the Toy Soldier Bazaar on Saturday, which is a benefit for her medical costs. The annual event is sponsored by the Xi Alpha Beta Sorority to raise funds for a sick child.
The medical storm swept into the Bergmans' life on Oct. 26, 2005, while the family was carving pumpkins. Dan and Brenda, 42, who live in Castle Rock, noticed Jordan had a fever, so the next day Brenda took her to the doctor. "That night we were taken down to Doernbecher" Children's Hospital in Portland, Dan said.
Jordan was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia, a type of cancer that affects the blood-forming cells of the bone marrow. The rare type of ALL she has, characterized by a genetic abnormality called Philadelphia chromosome, makes her case harder to cure.
In the year since her diagnosis, Jordan has had 25 stays for chemotherapy in Doernbecher, totaling 125 days. Brenda usually stays with her and Dan spends every other night, commuting to his job as a surveyor for Longview engineering firm Gibbs & Olson.
Brenda keeps a suitcase packed in her car for quick trips to the hospital.
Recently, the chemo schedule has been relaxed. "We didn't have to go down for almost two weeks," Brenda said gratefully.
Jordan has been fitted with a port in her chest for the chemo treatment. She gets her medicines through a nose tube affixed to her cheek with a big bandage. Dan has devised a color-coded medicine chart. "She gets so many each day you have to schedule them," he said.
He and Brenda had to give Jordan three shots a day for three months.
Though she gets nutritional supplements, Jordan can eat normal food and isn't small for her age. Jordan, who turned 4 in June, weighs 40 pounds.
Brenda, a manager for Burger King, now works Saturdays only, when her husband can stay home with Jordan. Because of the little girl's weakened immune system, it often isn't safe to have even relatives babysit.
"This last year has been the best year and the worst year of our lives," Dan said.
"You learn where your faith is," Brenda said.
"An what you believe in," Dan added.
At one point, Brenda was so stressed out from caring for her daughter that she ended up in the emergency room herself.
"Sometimes I don't know if I can do this anymore and Dan points to this," Brenda said, pointing to their matching wristbands that read "God is In Control." They also wear "Jordan's Courage" wristbands that were made for a previous fundraiser.
"We have a huge support system," Brenda said. "Even though it's been tough, God has really blessed us."
People around the country have written to tell them of prayers. The Bergmans' church, Castle Rock Nazarene, held a fundraiser.
Gibbs & Olson has been generous with giving him time off. The company switched insurance plans, reducing copays which were running $2,000 per month. Jordan's treatment can cost to $80,000 per month.
During an interview last week, Jordan had just gotten back from the hospital and spent the time quietly cuddling in Brenda's lap. "She's feeling a little chemo-sick," Dan said.
"She's usually a very happy, very playful little girl," Brenda said. "She doesn't care for Barbie dolls. She likes playing with Lincoln Logs.
"She's bang bang bang against the walls, just like any kid."
When Jordan's immune system allows, they'll take her to the playground. Her bald head and nose tube makes parents awkwardly silent but children aren't so inhibited about asking questions. "She'll say, 'That's my tubie -- want to play?" Brenda said.
The Bergmans have been told Jordan will need two more years of intermittent treatment at the Portland hospital..
They're heartened by doctors who say treatments are going well. "All the doctors are very, very encouraging," Brenda said. "But as far as looking to the future, they can't give us any answers. We just take it day by day."
Before Jordan was born, Dan and Brenda often went mountain climbing, and their eyes light up as they talk about routes in the Olympics and Cascades. "We can't wait to get her punching the trail with us," Brenda said.
They draw an analogy between climbing and their daughter's long slog of treatment.
"It's a different kind of climb," Dan said.
"It seems like you never get to the top, but you do," Brenda said.
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