I wanted to give you an update as of January 20th on the health status of our friend and IBA Executive Vice-President, Maralee Johnson. As you all know by now, Maralee was diagnosed two weeks ago with an inoperable brain tumor. As I had indicated in the initial report, she was going to have a biopsy performed and that was done on the 12th. The biopsy revealed the type of cancer that it was, but also gave the medical team the information they needed to proceed with treatment. Learning that it was an aggressive type of cancer and that the tumor would grow and spread quickly, the decision the family made with the advice of the medical team was to begin treatment immediately. The treatment protocol will be both radiation and chemotherapy, and they began the treatment on the 13th so she has now received eight full days of treatment. The treatments will continue until approximately the end of February, and then sometime in March she will undergo another MRI to check on the status of the tumor.
Thus far the treatments have went very well, and she is not experiencing the side effects that we often hear about, especially from the chemotherapy. Her biggest problem now is an inability to use/control the left side of her body. That is due to the tumor putting some pressure on the area of the brain that controls those functions with her hand and foot. She is undergoing some rigorous physical therapy to deal with that, and she is making very good progress with it. So as of now, Maralee is still in Memorial Hospital of Springfield, and all indications are that she could be there up to two more weeks in order to get the physical therapy she needs to regain total function of her left side.
After talking with Maralee a couple of days ago, I can tell you that she is feeling well, and most importantly she is in very good spirits. She continues to have an attitude of determination and commitment to battle this disease and prevail. I can also tell everyone that she is extremely grateful for all the prayers, well wishes, emails, cards, flowers, etc. that she has been receiving. My request to each of you is that you continue to offer your support to Maralee as she battles this, and most importantly keep praying that the Lord will heal her of this dreadful tumor. My personal prayer is that the Lord will totally remove this and heal her, and use Maralee as a work to show his divine power of healing. I know Maralee believes in the power of prayer and she is amazed at the outpouring of prayers that are going out for her from across the state and country.
If you want to keep up to date on Maralee, please follow this link to her Caring Bridge journal:
Jeff Beasley
President – Illinois Beef Association
