Battle with rare cancer is
                  fought with doses of courage
                  and chemo 

                  Monday, January 11, 1999

                  By Karen Nugent
                  Telegram & Gazette Staff 

                  CLINTON-- Before leaving the house on the
                  morning of her cancer surgery, 15-year-old Dana
                  R. DeBoer went around checking to make sure all
                  the doors and windows were locked.
                           “That's how she is -- calm and collected.
                  This kid has more strength than I'll ever have,”
                  said Rachel Gravelin, her neighbor and friend.
                           Dana's mother, Elaine B. Weymouth,
                  nodded in agreement.
                           “She is one courageous kid,” Weymouth
                  said. “She has a tremendous amount of faith that
                  God will take care of her. She has no doubts, and
                  had no fear of the surgery. She'll say to me,
                  'Mom, why are you crying? It's going to be OK.'
               
                           But it might not be OK.
                           Dana has been given a 50 percent chance
                  that the bone cancer, which attacked her 13th rib,
                  will go into remission.
                           Diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer
                  -- in her chest wall -- about four months ago,
                  Dana got to attend only about a week of ninth
                  grade at the new Clinton High School. Since then,
                  she has been tutored at her Laurel Street home
                  between trips to the Dana Farber Cancer Center
                  and the Children's Hospital in Boston.
                           The type of bone cancer that Dana has
                  generally strikes young people ages 10 to 20, but
                  usually in bones of the arms or legs, sometimes
                  during growth spurts. Her tumor, which initially
                  gave Dana some stomach and back pain and
                  fatigue, got so big it eventually pushed back from
                  the rib cage and was a visible lump on her back.
                           The lump was so painful that the simple
                  movement of Dana's backpack hurt when it
                  rubbed against it.
                           “At first they thought it was scoliosis (a
                  curvature of the spine often found in teen-age
                  girls). But the tumor was actually pushing against
                  the spine, causing a lot of pain because the lump
                  had grown so big,” Weymouth said.
                           It took several courses of harsh
                  chemotherapy, one of which put Dana in a coma,
                  to shrink the tumor to a size that was operable.
                  One hospital stay was two months long.
                           “We've only been home five weeks since
                  the diagnosis on September 9,” Weymouth said.
                           Her daughter's condition is a big enough
                  burden to face.
                           But, Weymouth, a New York native who
                  has lived in Clinton for about 20 years, also is
                  being saddled with medical bills that her
                  ex-husband's insurance policy won't cover.
                           Moreover, Weymouth has lupus
                  erythematosus, a chronic disease of the skin and
                  connective tissues, and can no longer work.
                           Almost daily, along with cards and gifts for
                  Dana, the mailman brings hospital bills in amounts
                  such as $800 and $1,000. And when she stays
                  with Dana in Boston, parking, food and living
                  expenses also add up.
                           Recently, Weymouth was denied a claim
                  from Medicaid because she receives a few dollars
                  over the limit from Social Security.
                           “I try not to worry about that. After all,
                  getting Dana well is my top priority right now,”
                  Weymouth said. 
                           Since she was diagnosed, Dana has lost 36
                  pounds. And that's not all -- she also lost all of her
                  long brown hair, which her mom had just allowed
                  her to have permed.
                           “They say my hair will grow back the
                  opposite of what it was, so I won't have to get a
                  perm anymore,” Dana said.
                           She refuses to get a wig, Weymouth said.
                           “Her attitude is, if people don't like looking
                  at her, they don't have to,” Weymouth said.
                           “I want to start my own style,” Dana joked.
                           Throughout her ordeal, Dana has shown an
                  optimistic spirit that most find hard to believe.
                           When the topic of remission comes up,
                  Dana says, “Not yet.”
                           She has been labeled “GI Jane” by the
                  nurses at the hospital -- which Dana calls “Camp
                  Chemo” -- because of her vitality.
                           Weymouth said Dana has gotten a
                  tremendous amount of support from Gravelin,
                  Dana's church (Clinton Assembly of God) youth
                  group, the Turner Hall in Clinton, and from
                  teachers and students at Clinton High School.
                           The school, through an effort led by Alan
                  Gage, a technology teacher, bought Dana a
                  complete laptop computer system. Now she can
                  send and receive e-mail and learn about her
                  favorite topic, whales.
                           “The teachers are always visiting and
                  checking on her,” Weymouth said. “The kids who
                  were her close friends are really wonderful, but
                  some of the others seem to be afraid of her.”
                           Weymouth said neighbors, relatives, and
                  friends have helped out with meals and Christmas
                  preparations, and people from all over the world
                  send Dana cards and presents, especially Beanie
                  Babies -- whales in particular.
                           “Everyone has been so supportive,”
                  Weymouth said. “When you're trapped in a
                  hospital and you're only 15 years old, a simple
                  message from somebody helps. I think that
                  support has kept her going.”
                           Dana's wish for the Make-A-Wish
                  foundation is to visit Sea World in Florida and
                  ride on a whale.
                           Sitting in her living room last week --
                  wearing Tweety Bird slippers and bouncing
                  19-month-old Gabrielle, Gravelin's daughter, on
                  her knee -- she prepared for yet another course
                  of chemotherapy and a bone scan to see how if
                  the tumor has regressed. Weymouth is meeting
                  with Dana's oncologist this week.. 
                           If the chemotherapy goes as hoped, Dana
                  will have bone scans every few months, and after
                  five years, will be considered cancer free.
                           Unfortunately, her mother said, the chances
                  are “pretty good” that she will get it back.
                           “Hopefully, as she believes, she will be
                  fine,” Weymouth said.
                           In the meantime, contributions to help pay
                  Dana's medical bills can be made to an account
                  set up by Gravelin at the Workers Credit Union,
                  145 Main St. in South Lancaster. Contributions
                  also can be made by mail to: The Dana DeBoer
                  Charitable Fund, PO Box 893, Clinton, 01510.