A trip to the ER is not on anyone’s vacation itinerary. But Barb Skurdahl, 75, of north central Minnesota, was forced to take such a detour during a trip to Kentucky, where she and her husband wanted to explore Ark Encounter, the Bible history theme park featuring a life-size Noah’s Ark. Unexplained pains in Barb’s arm led to a stop at urgent care. The cause turned out to be pleurisy, an inflammation of the lung. But during the exam a “very astute ER doctor ordered several vials of blood be taken,” Barb recalls. “The tests revealed that my white blood count was at 282,000, and a normal range is between 4,000 and 11,000. Yikes! He announced that I had chronic lymphocytic leukemia [CLL].”
That was in 2021. Today, Barb is a retired flight attendant and executive assistant who works part-time as a bank teller and enjoys life with her husband in Crosslake, a recreational resort community. She keeps her CLL in check with daily pills—a BTK inhibitor, which blocks a protein called Bruton tyrosine kinase that is known to promote cancer growth—and regular checkups with her care team. “Keep those appointments,” Barb advises. “Fortunately, over the course of this strenuous journey, I have been asymptomatic,” she adds. “I learned that my paternal grandmother also had CLL, living to her late 80s. Even though there is no cure for CLL, the good news is that it can be managed. I won’t die from it—praise God!”
Cancer Health interviewed Barb for the latest installment of our Can Heal column—the empowering phrase “Can Heal” is right there in our title. She shares more of her experiences and insights.
First off, did you and your husband get to visit the Ark replica before your vacation was cut short? …