Through two years of undiagnosed colon cancer, and then 45 rounds of chemotherapy, Muncie resident Meredith Rankin still had enough strength to tell her mother about her passion to help save other young people from going through what she did.
Even after Rankin's death at the age of 23, her mother, Julie Holbert, tells the story about dealing with colon cancer and the importance of early detection.
Holbert will tell Meredith's story at 7:30 p.m. in the David Letterman Media and Communication Building Room 125.
Chi Omega sorority advisor Cathy Courtney, Holbert's sister, knows the importance of cancer awareness and telling her niece's story. That is why the sorority is having the event.
Courtney said Rankin‘s dream was to begin a foundation to help young people understand the important of early detection.
"When Meredith was going through her ordeal, her goal was to prevent others from having to deal with what she did," Courtney said.
Rankin began suffering from digestive problems her senior year in college at Miami University. Doctors originally diagnosed her with irritable bowel syndrome, but her health continued to decline.
Two years later, she was diagnosed with colon cancer. By that time, it had spread to her liver, lungs and lymph nodes. She died in 2008 after dozens of rounds of chemotherapy, radiation and surgery.
According to the Meredith's Miracles Colon Cancer Foundation's website, the goal is to raise awareness of the symptoms of colon cancer and to provide financial assistance to young adults undergoing treatment.
Holbert said the foundation wants to support young adults while they are sick.
"We've given five grants to three young adults for the year we have been in operation," she said. "We even helped a person from Idaho get treatment from the Mayo Clinic."
It was important for Holbert, a Ball State University alumna, to talk and open up conversations about cancer.
"People can see face to face someone that is a typical healthy, vivacious person suffering from cancer, they can see it might affect anyone," she said.
Chi Omega President Molly Johnson said for young students, it doesn't seem like it could affect them, but it happened to Rankin.
"If students have the knowledge about colon cancer for the future, then we can fight it," Johnson said.
A woman speaking about her battle with ovarian cancer at age 19 will be at the event as well as a 25-year-old woman who had stage 3 breast cancer.
"You hear the saying, ‘You look to you right and you look to your left and one of the three people will have cancer sometime in their life,'" Holbert said. "Meredith's cancer was rare for her young age, but it's a reality we have to face."
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