Less than three years ago, she was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. This year, she shined brightly on televisions across the country during an episode of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.
But Jayna Schenk, 17, of Delmar, is not a national celebrity. She is a local teen who is battling cancer, which is now in remission, and got to see one of her dreams come true.
According to her mother, Diane Schenk, she and Jayna’s father, Doug, first learned of Jayna’s Acute Myeloid Leukemia when she was visiting her uncle in Florida.
Jayna came down with a painful migraine, her mother said, and was brought to the hospital, where her blood was tested and the disease was discovered. She was officially diagnosed in August 2007.
Schenk said the symptoms of Jayna’s disease were present, although the disease itself was not immediately recognizable.
`She had been sick for a few months, but we couldn’t pinpoint it,` she said.
According to Schenk, Jayna’s disease was attacking her white blood cells rapidly, with the cells mutating and causing many complications, including severe headaches.
Once doctors discovered Jayna had AML, her mother said, they knew she would have to endure rigorous treatment in hopes to cure the aggressive disease.
Jayna was recommended for five cycles of chemotherapy, Schenk said, although her body responded to the treatment and went into remission almost immediately after her first treatment.
`She was advanced, but not as advanced as other children,` said Schenk. `[Her body] just took to the chemo.`
In addition, Schenk said Jayna became part of an experimental study for chemotherapy medications that she thinks also helped Jayna stay in remission, along with the four other rounds of treatment that doctors said were necessary to completely fight off Jayna’s disease.
Schenk said that while some chemotherapy treatments allow patients to return home after the treatments, Jayna was required to stay in the hospital for several weeks, averaging about 60 days per treatment round.
It was during those days that Jayna developed a true passion for `Law and Order: SVU,` a television program that features police detectives solving a new criminal case each episode.
Schenk said the doctors at Jayna’s hospital recommended her to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, an organization that helps grant the wishes of children suffering from diseases.
According to Marketing and Public Relations Coordinator for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Northeast New York Stephen Schaeffer, the organization functions through that referral process.
`An ill child can be referred to the chapter through a number of different avenues,` he said. `It can be from themselves, a parent or guardian, teacher, social worker or medical professional.`
Once a child is referred, Schaeffer said, they are then assigned to a wish granter, who helps carry out the wish.
Jayna’s wish granter was Suzanne Oliver, a seasoned wish granter, according to Schaeffer, and assistant wish granter Mary-Jane Rooney. Rooney and Oliver served as liaisons between the chapter and the family, said Schaeffer.
Schenk said the two women were very helpful in making sure Jayna got the exact wish she desired and constantly kept in contact with Schenk to check on Jayna’s progress.
The women also reminded Schenk to talk to Jayna about what wish she would like to have granted.
`A lot of times, she was even too sick to think about it,` said Schenk, `And other times she would write things down that she wanted.`
Schenk said that Jayna was advised by the women to come up with a list of four wishes she would like to have granted, in order of importance to her. According to Schenk, fourth on the list was to go on a cruise to anywhere; third was a shopping spree in New York City; second was to be able to shadow Comedy Central’s `The Colbert Report` host Stephen Colbert; and first was to be able to meet the cast of `Law and Order: SVU.`
In mid-December, Jayna’s No. 1 wish was granted when she and her mother were picked up at their home by limousine and brought to a hotel across from Giants Stadium to stay for the weekend in which they would meet the characters from the hit television program Jayna admired most.
On the day her wish was carried out, Jayna and Schenk were picked up at the hotel and brought to the set in Fort Lee, N.J., where Jayna not only got to meet her favorite characters, but got to sit in the director’s chair and call the shots for part of the day, share several meals with the characters, and at the end of the day, have her hair and makeup done so that she could serve as an extra during one of the scenes in the episode `Snatched` that premiered on national television on Tuesday, Feb. 3.
Schenk said Jayna is still in remission and that the experience Make-A-Wish gave her daughter made up for the times Jayna was feeling so sick.
`She just glowed the whole day,` Schenk said. `Her smile was from ear to ear.`
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