Cancer in her genes
Vander Top battles fourth bout with cancer
By Jill Fennema
Lynch Syndrome, also known as “hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer” is an inherited disorder that significantly increases the risk of developing several types of cancer. It is passed down through families, meaning individuals with a family history of certain cancers may be at higher risk.
Individuals with Lynch Syndrome have a substantially higher chance of developing colorectal cancer, endometrial cancer, and other cancers like stomach, small intestine, ovarian, and urinary tract cancers.
Alanna Vander Top was diagnosed with Lynch Syndrome about 30 years ago. At that time, she was in treatment for her second bout with cancer. Her father, Clarence De Vries, died of cancer at the age of 37. Her grandfather and great-grandmother also died from cancer at a young age.
Alanna’s first experience with cancer came when she was 27 years old. It was 1977. She and her husband Loren had two daughters – Jill was four years old and Lisa was two years old. They had been married five years and farmed east of Edgerton.
Knowing her family history, her doctor had mentioned that she should think about having a colonoscopy even though she was still young. Six months later she found out she had colon cancer. The cancer was in the upper portion of her colon, but had also spread to her lymph nodes. She was told she had about a 20 percent chance of surviving for five years.
She had surgery to remove about three feet of her colon. Laparoscopic surgery was not being done yet, so this was a full abdominal surgery.
At that time, the protocol for colon cancer included a full year of chemotherapy. Alanna would have chemo in Luverne every day for a week and then have three weeks off to recover. Alanna recalls that she could take the girls with for her treatments at the beginning of the week but by the second half of the week she would need someone to drive her.
The treatment made her sick and tired. But in thinking back to that time, Alanna recalls that one of her biggest fears was that her young daughters would never get to know her and would forget who she was.
After that year of treatment, she would return to her doctor for blood work and testing to check if the cancer came back. And every time the news was good. But it wasn’t until nearly five years later when her doctor – Dr. Sybesma – finally said, “You know, Alanna, I think you have this thing licked!”
The Vander Tops welcomed their third daughter, Deanna, a few years later in 1986.
In 1997, Alanna was diagnosed with endometrial cancer, which was thankfully contained and able to be removed with surgery.
At the time, her younger sister Carla Schaap was going through treatment for uterine and stomach cancer. The family decided to have genetic testing done. They all sent blood samples to Creighton University, which is a leader in hereditary cancer research.
It was discovered that three of the four De Vries siblings had a Lynch Syndrome gene mutation.
Alanna’s third cancer diagnosis came in 2014. Every single year she went in for her colonoscopy – she’s probably had 60 of them in her life – but this time they found two large aggressive tumors. She had surgery to remove nearly all of her colon, but thankfully did not have to have any additional treatment at that time.
Her fourth diagnosis came in December 2023. At the time, Carla was in hospice battling pancreatic cancer.
“Carla and I had been through everything together,” Alanna said. “I tried to encourage her to keep going.”
But there is a certain part of the cancer road that you can only know when you have walked it yourself. Carla knew what her body could bear and she could take no more chemo. She would succumb to cancer on Christmas Day of that year.
Carla’s death was particularly devastating – and traveling that road through hospice with her kept Alanna’s mind off her own diagnosis to a certain degree.
This diagnosis was pancreatic cancer and it has been her hardest thus far. Alanna had surgery to remove half her pancreas and all of her spleen. That was followed by six months of chemo, every other week.
Alanna said that during her treatments she would lose about four pounds every two weeks. The chemo made her so tired and weak. “Your bones feel like lead,” Alanna said. “You can lay in the recliner and think you want to move to the couch. But it’s too hard to move that far.”
After nine cycles of chemo, she told her doctor that she could not go on. She was just too exhausted. Getting up to go to the bathroom required that she rest halfway across the room. Her doctor knew something more had to be going on – in fact, she had several blood clots that were causing her shortness of breath! Once those were dealt with, she could finish her chemo.
Her final chemo was on August 12, 2024. Unfortunately, three months later, doctors found a cancerous lymph node. This one cannot be surgically removed and cannot be reached with radiation.
So now, Alanna is on immunotherapy. She goes in every three weeks for an infusion.
While chemotherapy involves putting strong, sometimes poisonous, chemicals into the body to kill cells, immunotherapy boosts your immune system so your body destroys the cancerous cells on its own. This type of therapy can remove the “invisible cloaks” that hide cancer cells from the immune system and allows the human body to do what it is supposed to do.
“This is considered palliative care,” Alanna said. “But I feel good. Spiritually, I am ready.”
Loren has been her biggest supporter – taking her to many treatments and always being there for her. Her mom, Dolly, sends her a text message with an encouraging word and a Bible verse before every treatment. The support from all her family and friends has been precious to her.
“Others can encourage, but no one can truly understand until you have been through it,” Alanna commented.
“At 27, I didn’t think I’d see my children through grade school,” she added. “I have been so very blessed.” She and Loren have eleven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
“The Lord walked beside me,” Alanna added. “I felt it many times.”
Her advice to anyone who is newly diagnosed with cancer or is in the middle of the battle: “Trust your doctors and know your Lord.”
