My daughter, Eileen, was born with a beautiful singing voice. When she was a little girl and would ride her bike outside, neighbors would leave their windows open to hear her sing. In church, someone would always turn around, from the pew in front of us and say she had the voice of an angel. Eileen sang in the car, in the bathtub and at night she would sing herself to sleep. When she went skiing and was on the chair lift, she would sing and people from the ground below or sitting on the other chairs would yell song requests to her. Although Eileen struggled academically in school, her ability to sing always gave her enjoyment and a feeling of self-esteem. Her dream was to someday sing for Disney movies or sing for soundtracks for other movies.

When Eileen was in the 6th grade, she became very sick and doctors were unable to tell us what was wrong with her. She had arthritis symptoms and also a big bulge in her neck. Doctors at a children's hospital tested Eileen for months, for everything from a brain tumor to bone cancer. Everything they tested her for proved to be negative. The doctors said the bulge in Eileen's neck was a goiter. They measured it with a ruler and told us that sometimes people get goiters and they "just have to learn to live with them". Since I was uneducated about thyroid disease, I didn't know to insist that the doctors do blood work, an ultrasound or a needle biopsy.

Eileen got a little bit better but two years later when she was in the 8th grade, the arthritis symptoms came back, and we took Eileen to a different doctor. He determined she did indeed have Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis. Her neck by this time was getting bigger but still no testing was done. I was relieved to have the diagnosis for arthritis but my "mother's instinct" told me the bulge in her neck wasn't something she was "going to be able to live with."

Eileen had just begun her sophomore year in high school when I decided to send her to an endocrinologist doctor. Her neck had gotten even bigger and my "Irish intuition" was telling me something was very wrong. Fortunately, we picked a wonderful doctor and the tests she ran determined Eileen had Hashimoto's Disease. Because of the size of Eileen's neck, she also did an ultrasound, which lead to a needle biopsy. The tests showed Eileen did indeed have thyroid cancer. A golf-ball size tumor and several marble size tumors. A few days later, during surgery, when the doctors made the incision in her neck to operate, they discovered that the cancer had spread beyond the tumors and throughout her throat. Because of the extent of her surgery, her doctors told us she would possibly lose her beautiful voice. My beautiful daughter, who had looked so forward to high school and the musicals there, could barely even attend school. Worse yet, she had gained 80 pounds. Radiation treatments followed and eventually, Eileen became cancer-free. She worked very hard and by graduation she was in the top 1/3 of her class. It took a few years for her Synthroid medication to kick in but eventually, she was able to lose all the weight she had gained being sick.

Eileen Johnson and actor Richard Karn, "Home Improvement's" Al (Photo courtesy Mary Kay Johnson)

While a freshman in college, Eileen became involved with efforts to raise money for cancer research. By writing letters telling of her story, she personally raised over $5000 for Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center here in Seattle. At the benefit, she went onstage and told of her battle with cancer. Eileen then sang Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On" and the response to her voice was overwhelming. Local newspapers began writing of her inspiring story and last year, Richard Karn, (Al from television's "Home Improvement" show) asked Eileen to perform for his "Stardays" cancer fundraiser in Seattle.

The Seattle Mariners Baseball asked Eileen to sing The National Anthem in the Kingdome and she was also asked to sing the Anthem in Key Arena.


Eileen Johnson
(photo courtesy of long/shots photography)
This year, Eileen will again participate in Richard Karn's "Stardays" and will perform for the June 2000 Seattle "Gilda's Club" cancer benefit in memory of the late Gilda Radner who died from cancer. Eileen is a junior in college, studying nursing, but she still holds onto her dream of singing for movies. She is recording original songs with artists in the Seattle area. I am so very proud of Eileen, as she not only won her battle with cancer but is using the "miracle" of her beautiful voice to help in efforts to raise money for cancer research!

Mary Kay Johnson

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