She wears a fitted wool cap to conceal the scars where her long, brown, curly locks once hung. She has lost all peripheral vision, and after 14 radiation treatments her motor skills are not what they used to be. But she sports a purple-and-gold jacket because the LSU softball game starts in less than two hours, and she is not letting anything stop her from cheering on the Tigers. Vickey Barrett, social work doctoral student, was diagnosed with four brain tumors and lung cancer Jan. 5. “It was like this curtain just closed,” she said, remembering the day she was told the news. “I didn’t hear anything or see anything at that point. Everything just closed and got dark.” She said God told her “I’ve got you,” and she has not been afraid since. “It was the most beautiful experience I’ve ever had when God spoke to me,” she said. “I felt it.” She said at that moment, she was able to be as strong as anyone in the world. But she said the room filled with a sea of voices when her friends began talking to her. “You can only be so strong,” she said. Barrett said she started losing peripheral vision in her right eye in late December. On Jan. 4, doctors diagnosed Barrett with two brain tumors. It was not until the next day she learned of the other brain tumors and lung cancer after checking into Pennington Biomedical Research Center. “It was Jan. 4, and I was walking around the LSU lakes,” she said. “I couldn’t see out of my right eye unless I looked straight ahead. I knew something was wrong. You get a gut feeling.” Barrett called her opthamologist at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center. Barrett said the doctor never asked a patient to be checked for brain tumors on call, but something told him to have her come in. “The opthamologist told me I would be dead in six weeks if I had not gotten treatment,” Barrett said. “I would have never known.” Barrett said the past two months of her life have moved fast. She underwent a craniotomy to remove the largest brain tumor – 1 and 1/4 inches in size. She said she had 14 radiation treatments to destroy the other tumors located deep in her brain. She finished treatment Feb. 14 and took home a radiation mask that now sits prominently in her living room for visitors to see. Barrett said she has big plans for the mask. “We are going to make a Halloween mask and then a Mardi Gras mask,” she joked. Though the radiation destroyed all four brain tumors, Barrett began chemotherapy Feb. 25 to treat the lung cancer that caused the brain tumors to develop. She will undergo chemotherapy for three hours a day every Monday for the next six months. Barrett’s lung cancer is in stage four. She said stage four lung cancer usually does not have a good prognosis. But Barrett said she is very optimistic she will beat the cancer. “Sometimes it is scary though,” she said. “If I fall apart, will I be able to pick myself up?” Barrett paused and said so far, she has been able to pick herself up. Though Barrett’s situation led her to seek outside help, she said she ultimately wants to help other people through her career. Barrett received her bachelor’s degree in psychology in 1988, her master’s in social work in 1991 and her master’s in public administration in 2004. She is currently a full-time doctoral student enrolled in independent study courses. She said she works one-on-one with a professor in the School of Social Work each week. Barrett said she was scheduled to finish her general exams this semester but will finish them in the fall. She said she hopes to begin her dissertation in spring 2009 and may do it on oncology. “Education is very important to me,” she said. “This will give me the opportunity to be in a position to make changes. I want to teach and do consulting work on the federal level.” Barrett’s diagnosis forced her to quit her job as a licensed clinical social worker. She did consulting work for the Department of Social Services and provided assistance to substance abused women who suffered physically, mentally or emotionally. While Barrett said she is fortunate to have health insurance, she said she has no source of income. She said her savings account will take a hard hit because of the radiation treatments and chemotherapy. “Financially I have taken a little slap in the face, but you deal with what you get,” she said. Student Government President Cassie Alsfeld’s position on the Board of Supervisors allowed her to award Barrett a tuition waiver this past Friday. Alsfeld said the Board verified the waiver for Barrett. “Vickey has enough to worry about in regards to fighting cancer, so paying tuition should be the last of her worries,” Alsfeld said. Alsfeld said Barrett has come forth to the University for help, and she said that is not an easy thing for a person to do. “As a person, not as president, I felt like I had to do this,” she said. “People are only as strong as the support around them.” Alsfeld said she finds it inspiring Barrett is still a student. “She is still attending classes and facing this challenge bravely,” Alsfeld said. “It is one of those things where you have an opportunity to give back and make someone’s life better. And that’s what it means to be a contributing member of society.” Student Sen. Matt McEntire, Finance Committee member, lives next door to Barrett and said he has been impressed with her attitude. “Now that her medication has stabilized, and she has finished her radiation, I think she is doing much better,” McEntire said. “She has the most amazing and positive attitude I could ever see from someone in this situation.” McEntire brought Barrett’s situation to Alsfeld’s attention. He said Alsfeld has made it her personal cause to help Barrett’s financial situation. Eric Monday, interim vice chancellor for Student Life and Academic Services, is assisting discussion between Alsfeld and the Office of Student Aid and Scholarships. Monday said the office is trying to find financial aid that may be available for Barrett. Alsfeld said students interested in helping Vickey can come to the Student Government office.
—-Contact Natalie Messina at [email protected]