Advertisement Four cycles of chemotherapy had left 17-year-old Rachel Gordinier bald.
“Losing my hair was really hard,” she said. “I liked it a lot.”
Gordinier was diagnosed July 16 with Hodgkin’s lymphoma and has continued to thrive at Kickapoo High School.
Her grades have improved and she arrives for classes most days wearing a bandanna — and a determined smile.
“Not only has she been able to keep up with her school work, but her positive attitude has also been an inspiration to all,” Sherri Yttri, English teacher, said in her nomination letter.
“If anyone can beat this heartless disease, Rachel can.”
The senior’s determination and positive attitude have earned her the La Crosse Tribune Extra Effort Award at Kickapoo High School.
“Rachel is the most positive person through adversity that I have ever met,” Yttri said. “She has even become more focused on what is important in life.”
Rachel’s battle against cancer began during the spring softball season when she found lumps in her neck.
Doctors told her it could be a late infection from a bout with tonsillitis or cancer. Surgery, scheduled shortly before her 17th birthday, confirmed the worst.
Rachel recently finished radiation.
During chemotherapy, friends would go to Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center in La Crosse to help Rachel pass the time, and the teen said it really helped.
“My second cycle was six to eight hours,” she said. “We’d watch TV and play Wii.”
Rachel attended classes at Kickapoo as long as her doctors would allow and then worked on a home-bound curriculum. She returned to school in late January.
“I wanted to stay with my friends, but I had to do a quarter at home,” she said.
“I was doing good, but I could have gotten sick from other people.”
At school, Rachel has always been a service-oriented student, active in the FFA’s tornado relief efforts, helping people in need and planting trees, Yttri said.
To help Rachel with ex- penses, the school held a bandanna and hat day that raised approximately $500.
At first it was difficult for the teen to accept the assistance, but she said she has learned that she would have done the same for someone else.
“I know what matters now,” Rachel said. “I know what matters.”
Yttri said Rachel also has played a “key role” in helping care for her sister Alicia, 13, who was diagnosed as a young girl with Angelman Syndrome, a disease that can be characterized by developmental delay, speech impairment, movement or balance disorders and behavioral traits.
Autumn Grooms can be reached at (608) 791-8424 or agrooms@lacrossetribune.com.
