Thursday's Internet Edition, July 24, 2008.

Ashley Harper found out she had cancer just months after giving birth to her healthy son, Evan. Doctors say her Hodgkin’s lymphoma is in remission, but the 23-year-old is currently undergoing a second round of chemotherapy as a precautionary measure. JIM COOPER/SPENCER NEWSPAPERS

What she didn’t know was that she had cancer.

Harper, a 23-year-old single mom, was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in January. That was a little more than four months after she had given birth to her first child, a healthy boy she named Evan.

“When I was four months pregnant I had been treated for a chronic sinus infection and a real bad cough,” she said. “Obviously, I had cancer when I was pregnant and didn’t know it.”

Hodgkin’s lymphoma, also known as Hodgkin’s disease, is a cancer that attacks lymph node groups. It is one of the most curable forms of cancer, if caught in the early stages as Harper’s was, but that offered little consolation to a new mother.

“I was worried about him getting it; I wasn’t sure,” she said, adding that she later learned that the cancer is not passed from mother to unborn child. “And they say there’s a 95 percent cure rate, but I was scared of that 5 percent chance. I was worried about making sure he was going to be taken care of.”

A CT scan revealed that the swollen lymph nodes had been pushing on Harper’s vocal cords, causing the cough. Another doctor visit resulted in a biopsy and the removal of a mass she said was about the size of a silver dollar. She said she had developed cysts in the area between her shoulder and neck as another symptom of the disease.

Along with lymphoma, leukemia and sarcoidosis were considered as possible causes. Leukemia was of particular concern to Harper and her family.

“The ‘L word’ kind of scared us with it running in our family,” she recalled.

Harper’s grandmother, Susie Starcher, had died of leukemia in 2001 and her grandmother’s twin brothers had both died in their 20s from leukemia.

“I’m really bad about thinking the worst,” Harper said. “It was like time stood still. I didn’t want to believe anything.”

After the lymphoma diagnosis, Harper began a round of chemotherapy treatments on Jan. 23. Laid off from her job as a medical assistant at Jackson General Hospital, she was somewhat familiar with what was to come, but still apprehensive.

“I was really depressed,” she said. “If it hadn’t been for my neighbors, my mom and dad (Norma and Richard Harper), support from my church and lots of prayer, I don’t know what I would have done.”

The treatments had a remarkable effect. Harper said that after a scan on May 12, doctors said they could see no sign of the cancer.

“My doctor said that in 27 years he had never seen a cancer react so quickly,” she said. “He was dumbfounded.”

Harper’s doctor consulted colleagues in other states who are lymphoma experts. They recommended a second course of chemotherapy, with the possibility of radiation in the future, as a precaution.

“They did tell me it was completely gone,” Harper said. “Talk about divine intervention.”

She is now traveling to Charleston every other Wednesday for treatment and should finish up by the end of July.

“Hopefully, that will be the end of it,” she said.

Harper, who has had several family members on both sides claimed by cancer, has attended the local Relay for Life several times in the past. She especially recalls the emotional luminaria ceremony in honor or memory of those touched by cancer.

“It was amazing seeing how much support there is,” she said. “Everybody there was showing how much they care about finding a cure.”

Harper plans to attend the Relay this year as a member of the First Baptist Church team, although treatments make her ill and wobbly enough that she has had to use a cane to steady herself while walking. She said her dad jokes that he will get a wheelchair if need be so she can join in this year’s survivors’ lap.

As her happy 10-month-old played at her feet, Harper said her personal battle with cancer has changed her perspective regarding the Relay.

“I was always on the outside looking in,” she said. “Now I’m on the inside. It’s definitely opened my eyes.”

This is the third in a series of articles leading up to the 10th annual Relay for Life Friday, June 20 at Roane County High School.