Latka:

E! True Marian Girl Story

Colleen O’Doherty

I woke up Monday morning expecting to go to school…I sat up and yawned, stretched my arms…and scratched my head.

But this time it was different. This time there weren’t the usual few strands of hair that naturally shed from your head. A lot came out. But maybe I was mistaken. So I tugged at my hair…and more hair came out…I looked at my hair-covered pillow. I saw my beautiful blond hair in clumps on my bed. I was bawling and pulling, pulling and bawling.

This was taken from a letter written by sophomore Emily Latka, and though it may sound like some nightmare to most girls, it’s actually the reality to which Latka woke. Latka had Burkett Cell Lymphoma, a form of cancer that, in her case, manifested itself in her throat.

Latka’s birthday is July 22^nd. She’ll tell you this can be irksome considering the timing of her birthday means that, not only is she one of the youngest in her class, but she also doesn’t get the usual festivities one gets when their birthday falls on a school day.

This last birthday, however, turned out to have yet another undesirable element: her delicate voice gave out. Seemingly out of nowhere, a week before her fifteenth birthday, Latka started to sound as hoarse as “a 45 year old ‘trying to quit smoking’ Cookie Monster.” Latka said that since her throat didn’t actually hurt, she didn’t think much about it and didn’t go to the doctor until a couple weeks into the school year.

Finally, Latka made her way to the doctor’s office, and a cyst was found over her right vocal chord. Surgery followed after this discovery and everything seemed like it would be all right. Unfortunately, not everything is what it seems. Cancer cells were found inside the cyst after a biopsy was performed on it. Emily’s parents broke the news to her one night.

“I was called into the kitchen. Mom told me to sit at the table, as her and Dad sat across from me with worried, ‘I’m so sorry’ expressions on their faces. Any kid will tell you that is never a good sign,” Latka said.

Surgery, spinal taps and chemotherapy followed soon after the discovery. The chemo resulted in grogginess and some time in the hospital for Latka. “My first chemo treatment sucked; I won’t lie. I was stuck in the hospital for a few days.”

The chemo also caused hair loss, which was especially upsetting to Latka. “I had always thought my best feature was my hair,” she said.

Although she’s angry over what has happened to her, Latka hasn’t let it keep her down. Ms. Ronda Motykowski, Latka’s gym teacher and dean of discipline, observed her resiliency.

“Emily’s very positive. I’ve never seen her feeling sorry for herself,” Motykowski said.

It would seem that positive attitude has been beneficial to Latka’s health. The cancer is now in remission, and Latka is doing better. She gives a lot of credit to her friends and family for her recovery, which she said helped her to keep her mind off the cancer.

“My mom has been my savior. Everyone else who helped me has been my backbone,” Latka said.

Her mom, Mrs. Lisa Latka, said that although this has been a difficult time, a lot of good has come from it. She said, “This has been a blessing. It’s brought us closer together.” She said it has also made their relationship with God stronger.

Mrs. Latka said that her initial reaction was shock. She said, “I always thought that [one of her children getting sick] would be one of the worst things.” Yet, once they found out, it became a matter of taking everything one day at a time as it came. She said it has resulted in a greater appreciation of family and life in general.

She speaks glowingly of how her daughter has handled the situation. “She is amazing. She is wise beyond her years. A fifteen-year-old has taught me a lot of stuff,” Mrs. Latka said.

Of Latka’s friends, one has been especially supportive. Fellow sophomore Erin Feichtinger is Latka’s best friend and has helped her through some of the more difficult times.

“The night I found out [about the cancer], she came right over,” Latka said.

Feichtinger spent the night at Latka’s house often and was a major source of encouragement throughout the ordeal. She even helped Latka through what she considered “the lowest low” of her life. “My best friend [Erin] had to help pull out my hair. It makes me cry still to this day, whenever I think about it.”

Yet, talk to Feichtinger, and she’ll turn right around and give all the credit to Latka. “She is the strongest person I know,” Feichtinger said. She continued by saying that her main role was just being there for Latka and sad, “I was always there. I think they think I’m part of the family.”

Although there wasn’t much she could say, humor was helpful. In fact, when she and Latka’s other friends visited they would “have fake names like Saddam” when giving their names to the receptionist. They also made matching t-shirts saying, “Bald is Beautiful.”

Luckily, things have started to look up. Feichtinger said that it’s still hard because they have to keep making sure the cancer stays gone, but Latka has got her energy back, and she can go back to some activities that she had to drop for a while. While she still can’t do track, which she participated in last year, Latka was able to do tech for Marian’s play and return to Select Women’s Choir second semester.

Senior Allison Grier, a fellow SWC member, said of Latka’s return, “We as a choir…tried to make it a calm transition.” Grier also said, “She’s a good kid. It takes a lot of courage to go through that at such a young age. She’s an inspiration.”

And while Latka had to drop some classes, she’s still kept up with her work. “I will be able to graduate,” she said. She’s still taking the required English and religion courses as well as a few others.

Mrs. Latka said that Marian was very cooperative and that she would have never gotten through this without the school’s help. She said the counselor Mrs. Laura Geleki was especially helpful, so she could focus on getting Emily better. “She is a saint,” Mrs. Latka said.

On an even better note, Latka’s hair is growing back. “My hair is coming back, slowly but surely. Too slowly, if you ask me, but beggars can’t be choosers,” Latka said.

Mrs. Latka is happy about Emily’s hair growing in also. She said, “The hardest part was losing her hair.” So now that it’s growing back, Emily can show it off. In fact, she recently went out in public without a hat on for the first time since she lost her hair, which Mrs. Latka said is a monumental step for Emily.

Mrs. Latka said, “I want to have a hat burning party. That hat was driving me crazy.” She said it was bothersome because it was hiding the beautiful hair that’s been growing in.

While it has been a long, arduous journey, Latka has continued onward. While many would find such a difficult thing at such a young age overwhelming, Latka has managed to keep strong. Her perseverance and resolution are of a level some adults never achieve, let alone fifteen-year-olds. Perhaps it’s because she follows the wisdom of one of her favorite movie characters, Joe Dirt, who said, “You gotta keep on keepin’ on.”

It’s one of her favorite quotes, and she follows it very well.

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