The Telegraph, Alton, Ill., Dan Brannan Column: 01/21/2007

By Dan Brannan, The Telegraph, Alton, Ill.

Jan. 21–Godfrey’s Anne Hussey is combining two of her loves — fitness and compassion for a family member — to participate in an upcoming fund-raising effort for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Team In Training program. Hussey’s brother-in-law, Nate Folwell, was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in Christmas 2004. His form of lymphoma is an extremely aggressive type of cancer with only a 15-percent survival rate. When Folwell was first diagnosed he was in Stage 4 of his illness, meaning the cancer had spread over his entire body.

Folwell was treated at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. He received chemotherapy, radiation and a bone marrow transplant at the acclaimed center and has been in remission for two years.

Hussey is following the footsteps of her father, Sanford Schmidt, a Telegraph reporter in the Edwardsville office, and her sister Sarah, Nate’s wife, in completing one of the Team in Training programs. Last year, her father raised $5,000 for his 13.1-mile half-marathon run in St. Louis.

Hussey plans to run the Spirit of St. Louis Half Marathon on April 15 in St. Louis.

Leukemia and other blood-related cancers strike some 114,530 Americans each year and 54,480 of those will die. Every five minutes, someone is diagnosed with a blood cancer; every 10 minutes, someone dies from a blood cancer. Leukemia is the leading disease killer among children under age 15.

One point Hussey made is that almost every person is touched by cancer in some way. I have personally lost two family members over the last six years to cancer. I think we need to make cancer research much more of a priority in this country. Federal funding for cancer research has decreased in recent years, which to me, is horrifying with the statistics surrounding the disease.

Anne is married to Peter Hussey, a music faculty member at Lewis and Clark Community College. He specializes in the percussion area of music and is well thought of by students and parents alike in the region.

Anne is also musical. She played the French horn in the Marching 100 in high school and met Peter while playing in the marching band at Eastern Illinois University. Music has always played a big part in the lives of both of Anne and Peter Hussey. The couple will mark their eighth anniversary this summer and have two children: Caroline, 3, and William, 1.

Anne Hussey is a fitness addict, running, swimming, weight training and performing aerobics. She teaches at Nautilus a few days a week. She majored in elementary education and special education in college and taught for five years, before leaving to stay at home with her children. She said teaching special education is a natural process for her, although she says the same thing about being a mother.

The ordeal with Nate Folwell has been eye opening to Anne. She said her family has tried to turn his cancer into a positive and focused on what they could do to help him and other cancer patients.

“I think this has made me a more compassionate person,” she said. “You relate to people differently when you actually go through this. It makes you more understanding. Even though it has been awful, we managed to turn it into something positive.”

Anne and her sister, Sarah, are close, but opposite in their personality traits. “She is more introverted and I am more extroverted,” she said. “We balance each other out and are really good friends.”

Those who wish to inquire more about her fund-raising opportunity should call Anne at (618) 465-8575. Contributions can be mailed in care of Anne Hussey at 1124 Logan, Godfrey, IL 62035. Checks need to be made out to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

I admire what this fit person is attempting to do and I hope the public will support her in the fund-raising effort.

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Copyright (c) 2007, The Telegraph, Alton, Ill.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.

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