INDY PROUDLY PRESENTS:

SEPTEMBER WARRIOR: Ellie czeck

Meet Ellie Czeck, who is an absolute inspiration and cancer survivor. Ellie was diagnosed with Ewing Sarcoma at the age of 20 after finishing her junior year of college. We went to the University of Minnesota for treatment with the Sarcoma team. She was having fevers following her first round of chemo so they kept her in the hospital for the second round. She was anxious to go home after the second round since she had been in the hospital for a month. During the last hours of her chemo run she went into cardiac arrest on the Oncology floor. We spent the next 4 days in the ICU waiting to see if she would recover. She was able to go home for a weekend before resuming chemo. She had to take a short break from the chemo so she could have an ICD placed in case her heart stopped again. Ellie completed 11 rounds of chemo before being sent to the Mayo Clinic for a second opinion. The team at Mayo recommended that she have surgery to remove the remaining tumor and surrounding tissue. In January 2016 they removed 5 of her ribs. After 6 weeks of recovery, she underwent 33 rounds of Proton beam radiation. Nearly a year later she completed all of the treatment. She had been to 5 different hospitals and was admitted for neutropenia nearly every round of chemo. She returned to school in the fall to pursue her degree in Landscape Arcitecture. Last summer she developed an infection in the gortex that was used to “replace” her ribs. She underwent 3 surgeries to remove to gortex, wash out the infection and remove more rib. She then spent 5 weeks at Mayo for hyperbaric treatment to promote healing. She is our miracle and definitely proof that she is NOT DONE YET! As a Landscape Architect, her hope is to someday be able to create healing gardens for hospitals and care facilities.