Cheerleader Looking for Perfect Match
Charliy Nash
Thursday April 24, 2003
If you wanted to pick one girl to represent AFL cheerleaders, Robin would be an excellent choice. Even watching her from the stands you could tell that she was, what we in the South call, “good people.” Robin’s smile could make you feel as if you were the only two people in the arena. She taught girls’ gymnastics and was active with her church.
Robin and Brad were married a few years ago (sorry guys). Their life together was just beginning when things went terribly wrong. “Robin started having symptoms of a cold and bronchitis about the tenth of November,” Brad explained, “and within the course of one week we took her to the doctor twice, and she was admitted to the hospital on the fifteenth. On November the sixteenth she was diagnosed with Acute Myloid Leukemia. It’s a very aggressive leukemia that most of the time children or older people get. There are no symptoms, no signs, it just comes.”
Robin’s hopes for recovery depend on a bone marrow transplant. Earlier this year I joined over one hundred other people who came out after an ice storm to be tested and added to the marrow donor registry. Initial testing requires just a small blood sample and a lot of paperwork. Most of us also gave blood.
A Party Without the Guest of Honor
The room was packed with people. Tables were packed with items for auction. Robin, undergoing her fourth round of chemotherapy, was represented by numerous photos, slides, and videos. Especially touching was a picture taken when the cheerleaders had visited children in a hospital. There she was, bringing a smile to a young bald-headed cancer patient; another more recent photo showed her without her blond hair, still smiling as she held on to Brad for comfort. It was as if she had switched places with the boy in the first picture; the combination was incredibly powerful.
The event was a fundraiser – the medical bills are already huge and will continue to grow. The entertainment was highlighted by the country group SHeDaisy. A few items were auctioned live, including dinner for an entire family with NFL veteran Chris Sanders. When the bidding slowed down his wife, Stacie, took the microphone and stole the show saying, “Now I know there are women out there who want to have dinner with my husband – and I know there’s young men who want to have dinner with me!” The bidding picked up considerably. The other big auction item was a guitar autographed by both Tim McGraw and Faith Hill. Former Nashville Kats’ coach Pat Sperduto came up with an original way to raise money. Anyone who asked him about the probability of Arena Football returning to Nashville had to make a cash donation before he would answer.
At the end of the evening we saw a video of Robin, filmed just before she went into the hospital for her latest round of chemo. A scarf covered her hairless head. Pain dulled her smile, but nothing could diminish her spirit. She expressed her absolute certainty that she would recover, repeating a phrase that had already become the theme of the evening, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” She promised that once she was well we would have another big party. Nobody in the room doubted her.
What Can I Do?
Robin’s biggest need, her best hope, is a “perfect match” bone marrow donor. At any given time there are approximately 3,000 patients in need of a marrow transplant. You can find out how to be tested as a donor – or even better,how to set up a drive to register several donors – by calling 1-800-MARROW2, or going to www.marrow.org or www.themarrowfoundation.org.
There is also still a very large financial need. Once a marrow donor is found, Robin will have to spend over a month in a hospital in Houston while her body adjusts to the transplant. Donations can be sent to: Robin Towe Leukemia Fund, First Tennessee Bank, 429 West Main Street, Hendersonville, TN 37075
You can also keep Robin and Brad in your prayers. In many ways they are very fortunate. They have a large and dedicated support system. Their church, Robin’s gymnastics students, and her fellow cheerleaders are all standing with them. As her fellow cheerleader, Judith, put it, “We’re pulling for her, we’re cheering for her. That’s what we do!”
Charliy Nash has covered both incarnations of the Nashville Kats, and now has make the 2 hour drive to Huntsville for an Arena Football fix. He also covers the Tennessee Titans as a blogger for nfl.com and still hopes this will eventually lead to a paying gig.
