UA student with cancer finds help through a necklace

Issue date: 3/11/09 Section: Lifestyles

Media Credit: Courtesy Photo

Sharon and Jeremy Ostrowski are benefiting from 12 women in Kansas who are donating money to wear a necklace to help cover the costs of Jeremy Ostrowski's cancer treatments.

In times of distress, many often look to their closest friends and family for support.

So for Jeremy Ostrowski, cancer patient and UA student, help from strangers in a different state was unexpected.

Ostrowski, 32, was diagnosed with sarcoma, or cancer of connective tissues, in 2000, just five months after marrying his wife Sharon. After four cycles of chemotherapy, surgery and two more cycles of chemotherapy, Ostrowski was living cancer free.

However, in 2005, Ostrowski was diagnosed with a reoccurrence of stage four sarcoma.

During an MRI, doctors found that the original location of his tumor had grown, and a biopsy confirmed the return of the cancer.

Bone cancer is a sarcoma that arises in the bone. Around 2,500 cases are diagnosed in the United States each year, making primary bone cancer relatively rare, according to the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas.

To receive the best care and treatment, the Ostrowskis temporarily relocated to M.D. Anderson in Houston, leaving their friends, family, careers and home in Northwest Arkansas.

"We knew that God would reveal his will for our lives if we just prayed for it and were willing to accept it," said Sharon Ostrowski on her Web site, Luckyyoupsc.com. "Once it was certain that my husband could maintain treatment back home, we eagerly returned."

In the meantime, 12 women from Kansas joined in an effort to raise money for Ostrowski's treatments.

After reading the book, "The Necklace: Thirteen Women and the Experiment That Transformed Their Lives," Lori Rognile of Topeka, Kan., discussed the book with Judy McCourt, who just happened to be Sharon Ostrowski's mother-in-law.

And so McCourt brought the "Jeremy Necklace" to life.

McCourt began a system in which 12 women could sign on to wear the necklace for one month by donating $50 or more. Each woman who wears the necklace also keeps a journal when the necklace is worn, and then meets other supporters once a month to read the journal and pass the necklace along.

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