SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) – A woman who has dedicated her career to helping others get well, is now facing her own battle after being diagnosed with an aggressive cancerous tumor in the brain.
Sara Beck has been with Sanford Health for nearly 25 years helping patients feel better.
It wasn’t until earlier this year she would be the one receiving care.
“I was having headaches for a couple of weeks and just kind of chalked it up to stress. There’s kind of a lot of things going on in my life at the time,” Beck said.
But as the headaches continued, coworkers also started to notice and encouraged her to make an appointment.
“It’s no big deal, it’s just a headache,” Beck said. “I ended up trying to help admit a patient into a room. And I lost my balance and they sat me down in the chair and then they were like, ‘Nope, it’s time to go to the ER.’”
After a few test results, Beck was diagnosed with a grade four brain tumor called GBM.
“Fear, you know, because, of course, they tell you prognosis-wise and how long they anticipate you being around. So there’s definitely fear,” Beck said.
Beck then told her close-knit coworkers about her condition.
“It honestly felt like a bad dream. It was like, this could not be real. And then once we started putting the pieces together and came back to work, it was like we all did notice little things,” Kristin Schlapkohl, a registered nurse at Sanford Children’s Hospital said.
“Woke up to a snap the next morning and just couldn’t believe it. Was sad, scared for my friend, my coworker,” Kayleen Meyers, a registered nurse at Sanford Children’s Hospital said.
However, they wasted no time trying to find ways to support their friend.
“We put together the benefit raffle to fundraiser in the month of May for brain cancer awareness,” Meyers said.
“It blew up more than we ever could have anticipated. It just goes to show how amazing Sara is and how many people truly wanted to help her.” Schloapkohl said.
When Beck lost her hair, her friends were by her side.
“We put my hair into braids and everybody cut some of my hair off for me. And then we shaved my head and it was actually a lot of fun. I think that was the best way of losing my hair is doing it with my friends,” Beck said. “They’ve just always been there. Any time I’ve needed anything, I can certainly call on them and they’re there for me. I just absolutely love them,” Beck said.
Nancy Kiesow, a child life specialist at Sanford Health, said she wanted to make sure Beck felt supported every step of the way.
“For kids when they are having radiation, we will call our artists that work over at the cancer center and have them paint on the mask to make it not so scary when they come in,” Kiesow said.
A special mask was made for Beck when she underwent treatment.
“The first day that I went into radiation I was nervous going in. And then I saw that mask and how beautiful it was and it just made it so much better,” Beck said.
Ryan Eisenbeisz, a radiation therapist at Sanford Health says treatment can be intimidating at first.
“It seems scary to a lot of people. The unknown. And after you get them past the first-day hurdle, they relax and get more comfortable,” Eisenbeisz said. “You do not feel anything. So just like getting a chest X-ray, an X-ray for anything.”
Beck had surgery to remove the tumor at the end of April where they took out 95% and is a few days away from finishing her final round of radiation.
“A standard course of treatment for Sara’s diagnosis would be 30 times 30 fractions, 30 days, so five days a week typically and that would be six weeks of treatment,” Eisenbeisz said.
While away from work Beck has turned to running to help get her through the days.
“I start my morning with a run every day just to kind of center myself. Some mornings I’m crying during my runs as I try to refigure myself, and there’s other days that it’s like, ‘Oh, this is perfect, and I’m just going to run to the music,’” Beck said.
Beck says her relationship with God is one thing that’s kept her spirits up.
“You only have one life right? So if you’re going to be down and depressed and upset over everything then it’s not going to be a very happy life. So why not just try and look on the positive side?” Beck said. “I do feel that my faith has kind of helped me be able to have more of a positive aspect of things.”
Beck’s last day of radiation treatment is scheduled for July 3rd. After that, she plans on returning to work at Sanford Children’s Hospital.
One of her goals this summer is to run the Sioux Falls half marathon in August.
