Meghan’s Journey: The Story of Meghan Redenbach: The Teenage Girl Who Showed a Community How to “Man Up” in the Face of Cancer (16 page)

The Redenbach Family and Friends at Walt Disney World

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

We went back today for Meg’s three-month checkup. She had her scan and blood work. The scan came back awesome, absolutely clear but her CA125 number was 46, which is high. Normal is 0 to 32. The doctor says that we can’t treat something that we can’t see, so he is having us come back on August 18
th
for blood work and to check the CA125. This makes us a little nervous, but we will soon find out.

Bridget Shanahan writes about “The Summer of 2010 and Volleyball with Meghan”:

Meghan was the type of person to make anyone feel comfortable when around her. She was the girl who would do eleven reps at the gym when asked to do only ten.

Now let me tell you about the summer of 2010…

I was so excited when Meghan’s parents gave her permission to come with me to volleyball camp at the University of Wyoming, where I was going to become a student in the fall. The reason I was so happy about it was because my best friend was going to be playing on the same court that I would be playing on for my first season in college.

My dad was going to escort Meghan and me out to camp. We took off from Buffalo, went through Chicago, and finally landed in Denver where we picked up a rental car to drive two more hours to Laramie, home of the university. It’s never a dull moment when traveling with my father. Don’t get me wrong—I love him very much, but you’d think we were launching the space shuttle, not walking through the airport. (It might help to know that he is an airline pilot.) My dad actually decided to tell Meg and me that we were not wearing the correct attire to travel in. He thought we should be donned in lace-up shoes, long pants without a dreadful belt that would, God forbid, make the sensor go off in security, and of course, turtleneck shirts. This on the day that Meg and I had left the house at 3:00 a.m. wearing flip flops, short shorts, and tank tops with a light jacket, in case we got cold. So there we were, sitting on the ground in the airport, dumping the entirety of our suitcases on the floor searching for respectable clothing (because that’s totally sanitary…but I digress…). We eventually decided that it would be too much work, not to mention embarrassment, to display our thongs, bras, spandex, and collection of snacks across the floor of the airport, just to change our clothes.

After what seemed like the longest plane ride of my entire life (approximately five hours), we arrived in Denver, Colorado! From there it was another two hour drive to get to Laramie, Wyoming. It was totally worth it, though; the view during the drive was breathtaking, and I was happy to see Meg with a smile on her face looking out the window of the car.

Typically during a sports camp, the athletes have about three sessions which last around two hours for three days. We both liked to think of ourselves as being in good shape upon arrival. We were, after all, multi-sport athletes and both played high school and club volleyball. Nevertheless, I have never been more incorrect in my life. After the first day, both of us had blisters on both heels, bruises on our knees, floor burns on our elbows, and the kind of hips that look so beaten up, you probably shouldn’t wear a bikini for a while for fear of someone calling Child Protective Services.

We, along with the rest of the campers, stayed in the dorms each night. Meg and I were roommates. Before, we left for camp, we planned that we would try and make new friends, get out every night, and talk with the other campers until three in the morning while playing cards and board games. We went to bed at around 8:30 the first night. But no worries, we still had two nights left to be social! I’m not going to sugar-coat it, but I’m pretty sure neither of us made any new friends throughout the course of camp. As hard as the actual volleyball part was, the part that was even more difficult, was getting out of bed every morning at 7:00 a.m. We vowed to take turns to set the alarm and get up to turn it off, each of us doing it every other morning. Getting out of bed is not something that is desirable when your own body is throwing up all over itself. We literally were so sore that we would argue every morning about whose body hurt worse and who should be the one to get out of their bed to shut the alarm off. Let me just say, it’s a wonder we even made it to camp each day. We could have easily stayed in bed for three days straight. And if you have ever slept on a dorm bed before, you know what I mean when I say that it’s like sleeping on a rock—a huge slab of bumpy rock. But during the course of these few days, these beds made us feel like princesses. And though the floor around the trash can was littered with wrappers, every shot that we missed, which was most of them, reminded us of the reason we were there and how much fun this camp actually was.

I’m not sure I have ever laughed so hard than I did with Meg at camp. Sure, it was tough, but it would have been a lot tougher had I not had her with me.

Wyoming Volleyball Camp

After Meg and I got back from Wyoming volleyball camp, we went to the St. Mary’s camp with a group of girls from our high school team. What I remember most about this camp was the energy we had because of Meghan! This was especially true during the car rides up to Lancaster and back. You would have thought our goal for this camp would be volleyball related, but no. Our ultimate goal was to get Danielle Kindron, one of the sweetest and quietest girls on our team, to “fist pump.” We all know what kind of enthusiasm Meg had, and let me tell you, she was driven to get Danielle to dance with us in the car. By the end of this camp, Danielle was doing the “fist pump” and dancing in the car.

Coach Donnie P’s camp was great for our team to come to. We all had the chance to play with girls from all over and compete with them. The competition brought out the best side of Roy-Hart volleyball. Days were filled with laughing until we cried, bruised and bleeding knees, the biggest smiles, and improved play. At the end of each day of camp, when we were at our least energetic, all the campers had to do sprints, push-ups, sit-ups, and a few other physical tests. While the rest of us shared disgusted looks about doing countless sit-ups, Meghan showed us all up. The rest of us looked like beached whales between sets, while the warrior of our team, a.k.a. Meg, was too busy showing off her six-pack to us.

Let me take this time to also mention that she was doing all of her sit-ups with another massive tumor inside of her. She couldn’t figure out why her stomach hurt so badly at the end of each day. We were all convinced that her pain was just some more abs coming in. No pain, no gain, right? Soon after the St. Mary’s camp Meg had some follow-up blood work, and we found out that the cancer had returned stronger than it had ever been.

Though none of us, not even Meghan, was aware of the disease threatening her life, she pushed her pain out of the way. She would not allow anything to stand in between her and being the strongest, fastest, greatest athlete she could be. Not the sore muscles, purple and blue knees, the tumor growing inside of her, not the floor burns on her elbows, and certainly no person, including doctors stood in her way. While she was battling cancer, she was constantly surrounded by people who would tell her to take it easy, and she did everything BUT take it easy.

It was the last week of July in 2010 that the Redenbachs were finally able to take Meghan’s Make-A-Wish trip to Hawaii. Nick recalled the many side trips and adventures the family enjoyed together, but his most vivid memory is the helicopter ride that he and Meghan took over the islands. Nick said everyone expected Meg to be the one to throw up. She didn’t, but he did.

Meghan enjoying Hawaiian culture

Meghan and Nick