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'Focusing On The Journey'

SUPPLIED TO THE TAMPA TRIBUNE BY DARCY ENRILLE

23 year old Darcy Enrille, a Northdale resident who suffers with osteosarcoma, was admitted to Shands Hospital at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida in June of 2006 for chemotherapy and to have her left leg amputated. IN PHOTO---Darcy during a physical therapy session at UCH outpatient therapy on Aug. 16th, 2006.

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By HAROLD VALENTINE, The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 29, 2007

Additional Photos

NORTHDALE - 'Who is ready to die right now?'

That's a question 23-year-old Darcy Enrille has asked audiences at speaking engagements for the past several months.

Enrille was diagnosed with a rare form of pediatric cancer - osteosarcoma, a bone cancer - on March 3, 2006, about eight months after her 26-year-old sister Amber Enrille died.

'I literally watched her pass away when she was taken off the ventilator,' Enrille said. 'I saw what that did to our family and friends and what that did to me, and then I was faced with my mortality.'

For weeks, Enrille's left knee had been swollen, but she said she is an active person and figured the soreness was temporary. With persistent swelling she finally saw a doctor. On the day she donated her hair to Locks of Love, which provides hair to children with long-term medical hair loss, she got a call saying she should see an oncologist.

Enrille, of Northdale, was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, which usually affects children and is so rare that vague symptoms often are confused for other ailments.

She began chemotherapy, but the tumor grew 33 percent during treatment. Amputation of her left leg was the only way the tumor was leaving her body, but she hesitated in her decision.

Quality of life was the major factor.

'I took five days to figure out what I wanted to do with the rest of my life,' she said.

At 21 and physically active, and with no guarantee cancer wouldn't pop up elsewhere, Enrille was wary of reliving her sister's experience. She did not want to be disabled.

Years before, on Sept. 11, 2001, Amber Enrille had awakened with an extremely high fever, which triggered seizures throughout the day. Stephanie Enrille, Darcy and Amber's mother, said medical treatment was slow and confused because of the chaos of terrorist attacks.

Amber Enrille, a writer for Bay News 9, suffered brain damage from lack of oxygen from her seizures. After waking from a coma, she moved to her family's home in Northdale. The stress caused Stephanie and Rudy Enrille to divorce.

'But I'm glad I had time alone with Amber,' Stephanie Enrille said. Amber Enrille died in July 2005.

'If you thought you'd never walk a mall again, or ever dance the way you used to,' Stephanie Enrille said, 'would you easily say, 'Well of course I want to save my life; take my leg?''

Darcy Enrille's leg was amputated at Shands Hospital at the University of Florida on June 2, 2006 - her 22nd birthday. She said there weren't any good options.

'I knew whatever decision I made, I would end up regretting it,' she said.

Enrille said adjusting to life with a prosthetic leg has been difficult, but she has come a long way. She said she feels osteosarcoma was meant to be in her life so she could raise awareness of the disease, adding that most of those affected are children.

She was a mass communications major at the University of South Florida and has spoken at three engagements - including Relay for Life at the university - since being diagnosed.

'When I first got diagnosed with osteosarcoma I looked on the Internet, and nothing came up that I could understand,' Enrille said. 'A lot of it was just medical jargon that was completely over my head.'

Although she will not benefit from funding and research of the rare cancer, she hopes her efforts will help those with the disease 10 to 15 years from now. That is why she has spoken at fundraisers for the Pediatric Cancer Foundation, which has raised money for pediatric cancers since 1970.

For months it looked as if Enrille had escaped osteosarcoma. However, this summer she found out cancer had metastasized in her body, with 12 tumors in her lungs. She had a few classes left at USF before graduation and had planned to walk for her degree in December. But doctors told her mother that Enrille 'won't make it' to December, Stephanie Enrille said.

Darcy Enrille walked for her degree in August instead.

'I just want go out and graduate and have fun with my friends,' she said. 'I don't want to sit in my bed and wonder if I should live or die now.'

She said her friends have been 'a huge support system.' They took turns being with her, often at the hospital in Gainesville.

'She's been through everything in the world, and she's still my rock,' said Casey Moore, 22. Moore said she admires Enrille's passion to raise awareness for pediatric cancer.

Like Moore, 26-year-old Leya Collins said Enrille has changed her life.

'Everyone around her has learned a lot about themselves,' Collins said. 'You appreciate your time with people more because you don't know when something may happen to somebody.'

Both have known Enrille for nearly four years and maintain an active social life with their best friend. Enrille said she wants to live her life to the fullest, appreciating every moment with friends and family.

She and her mother recently traveled to Alaska, and Darcy visited her cousin in California.

'If a person is faced with their mortality, and they have, say, six months to live,' Stephanie Enrille said, 'how would you like to spend that last six months of your life?'

Darcy Enrille and her mother are at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore testing experimental antibody injections that are meant to build Darcy's immune system. She has maxed-out of her chemotherapy treatments, which she said have accounted for some of her worst experiences with cancer.

She is unwilling to have surgery on the lung tumors, which requires 'cracking open' her ribs and six months of recovery with no promise tumors wouldn't return.

The Enrilles have accumulated large debts for the health care of the sisters.

'We're still in debt from my sister's medical needs,' Darcy Enrille said, adding that her chemotherapy treatments cost about $12,000 a day.

Darcy Enrille said she's willing to talk about osteosarcoma for speaking engagements anytime, provided she is not busy with medical treatment. She may be reached at (813) 767-0311. She said she doesn't focus too much on dying from cancer.

'Right now, I'm focusing on the journey rather than what's at the end of it,' she said.

Reporter Harold Valentine can be reached at (813) 865-1526 or hvalentine@tampatrib.com.

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