Brandeis alum starts cancer organization
by Hannah Furst
Features | 2/8/05
Posted online at 4:09 AM EST on 2/8/05
Samantha Eisenstein '01 was first diagnosed with Ewing's Sarcoma-a type of bone cancer frequently found in teenagers in which a tumor grows in the bone-in December 1999, right in the middle of her senior year.
"I got pretty lucky because they caught it early," she said.
Shortly after the diagnosis, Eisenstein went to New York City where she received seven rounds of high-dose chemotherapy and several surgeries at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. As part of her treatment, doctors removed six inches of Eisenstein's calf bone in her right leg, where the tumor was located, and implanted a bone from a donor cadaver. Today, six years after her surgery, Eisenstein described a scar that stretches from her knee down to her ankle.
"It is a big reminder of what I have been through and that I am here now," she said.
Surrounded by her close family and friends, Eisenstein recovered in Vermont, where she underwent several months of intensive physical therapy in order to regain the use of her right leg. After the tumor was removed, Eisenstein had to learn how to walk again. She used crutches for two years and eventually a cane for additional support.
"I knew what I could know about my situation [but because] dealing with your own mortality in your twenties is tough, [there] must be some level of self-preservation," Eisenstein said. Therefore, she was hesitant to consult statistics throughout her treatment and did not do any extensive research on Ewing's Sarcoma.
Eisenstein remembered her eagerness to return to Brandeis, a place she affectionately deemed "one of the most amazing on the planet." She returned in January 2001, but that April she was diagnosed with secondary myelodysplastic syndrome, a pre-leukemia condition that had been caused by the high doses of chemotherapy she received to treat Ewing's sarcoma. The chemotherapy, along with eradicating the cancerous cells, had also destroyed Eisenstein's bone marrow.
"I got pretty lucky because they caught it early," she said.
Shortly after the diagnosis, Eisenstein went to New York City where she received seven rounds of high-dose chemotherapy and several surgeries at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. As part of her treatment, doctors removed six inches of Eisenstein's calf bone in her right leg, where the tumor was located, and implanted a bone from a donor cadaver. Today, six years after her surgery, Eisenstein described a scar that stretches from her knee down to her ankle.
"It is a big reminder of what I have been through and that I am here now," she said.
Surrounded by her close family and friends, Eisenstein recovered in Vermont, where she underwent several months of intensive physical therapy in order to regain the use of her right leg. After the tumor was removed, Eisenstein had to learn how to walk again. She used crutches for two years and eventually a cane for additional support.
"I knew what I could know about my situation [but because] dealing with your own mortality in your twenties is tough, [there] must be some level of self-preservation," Eisenstein said. Therefore, she was hesitant to consult statistics throughout her treatment and did not do any extensive research on Ewing's Sarcoma.
Eisenstein remembered her eagerness to return to Brandeis, a place she affectionately deemed "one of the most amazing on the planet." She returned in January 2001, but that April she was diagnosed with secondary myelodysplastic syndrome, a pre-leukemia condition that had been caused by the high doses of chemotherapy she received to treat Ewing's sarcoma. The chemotherapy, along with eradicating the cancerous cells, had also destroyed Eisenstein's bone marrow.
