Lehigh Family Stands Alongside Allen in her Battle with Cancer
2/25/2021 2:01:00 PM | Women's Basketball, Support, Features
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Ahead of Sunday’s Pink Game presented by the LVHN Cancer Institute, check out this feature story and video about Christina Henry Allen ’00 and her battle with breast cancer. The Mountain Hawks are dedicating Sunday’s 2 p.m. game vs. American to Allen.
Just last month, Christina Henry Allen's life turned upside down.
She got diagnosed with breast cancer.
"I'm the type of person who after receiving the diagnosis, I take time to process it and cry. But the next day, I ask… what's my plan?
"Game plan is really what I call it."
The diagnosis arose from a routine mammogram.
"As I did further examination on myself, I felt the lump, so asked to move up the second mammogram, which goes a little deeper into the imaging," said Allen, a 2000 Lehigh graduate. "That's where they found additional details and ordered a biopsy. I live on the coast of Oregon and had to go to Portland for the biopsy in January."
Allen with her family
The former Lehigh women's basketball standout was going through this health scare without her husband, who is in the Coast Guard and was on patrol.
"In my head, I still thought it was just a cyst… it's benign," she said. "I didn't tell him I was going to do this [biopsy] because I didn't want to add worry. I said to myself that when I find out more, I'll tell him."
Unfortunately, the time came when the topic couldn't be avoided.
"The director of radiology did my biopsy," said Allen. "When he was done with the biopsy and they were cleaning up, he came over and said 'Christina, I am very concerned by what I saw.'
"I was able to call my husband following the biopsy."
That call came on January 7.
"Results the next day confirmed they were cancer cells," said Allen. "They then had to run further tests for the prognostics. I found out I'm stage 3 and HER2 positive, which is an aggressive cancer – typically found in younger women, but very curable."
The word curable stood out to Allen. That's all she needed to hear. She tapped into her competitive nature, which was sparked at a young age – including in her days as a student-athlete at Lehigh.
"You're going to give me a challenge, I'm going to figure out how to battle it and beat it," she said. "This is the biggest challenge I've had in my life so far. I'm going to fight it and do whatever I can to beat it."
A good example of doing whatever she can is her treatment plan.
"Normally with my diagnosis and prognosis, they do 12 weeks of treatment with four drugs given every three weeks for a total of four cycles," said Allen. "It's tried and true. It has worked and fights off the cancer."
Allen heard of something additional she could do, jumping at the opportunity to take part in a clinical trial.
"The treatment plan is 12 weeks," she said. "I get the chemo drug, Taxol, every single week. I go to Portland every week on Wednesdays. In addition, every three weeks, I get Keytruda (the trial drug) and Herceptin (which targets HER2 cancer)."
Allen could have taken the standard of care – which has been shown to work – but wanted to do all she could to beat this.
"When my oncologist mentioned the trial, she must have seen it in my eyes," said Allen. "I wanted to exhaust all options and find the best one for me."
Lehigh head coach Sue Troyan isn't surprised that Allen's competitive side has risen to the surface.
"Christina was always a competitor on the court; it's no surprise that she's focused on coming up with a game plan to win this battle," said Troyan. "That's what competitors do."
Allen actually has two larger tumors on the left side and another mass in her lymph nodes.
"The one tumor is grade three while the other one is grade two," she said. "The two larger tumors are in the breast tissue."
Allen's husband returned from deployment just in time for the beginning of chemotherapy on February 3.
"It ended up working out," she said. "We needed to process it together. We just needed to be together and I needed a hug from him."
Support has already proven, and will continue to prove, invaluable as Allen moves through the next several weeks and months of treatment.
"I'm going to lose my hair, but it will grow back," she said. "I'm just focused on getting this cancer out. My husband already shaves his head, so on February 14, he shaved mine as well. It was an empowering experience, but emotional. I heard that most of the hair will fall out by day 14 of chemo treatment, so I wanted to shave it before that happened."
Allen's treatment plan will feature multiple phases.
"I believe I can do the second phase locally, which will be another eight weeks with different drugs," she said. "I'm getting surgery, a double mastectomy and then a rebuild. I'm getting radiation after the surgery. The entire journey might be a year and a half, then follow-ups."
Allen's situation understandably brings anxiety, but something that help fights it off is the support and reassurance of those around her.
"I feel like I'm in really good hands," she said. "I've got some really good doctors who are all working together."
Allen is receiving support from her Lehigh family as well. The present-day Mountain Hawks are set to play their Pink Game this Sunday against American and are dedicating the game to her.
"Coach Troyan called to tell me about the Pink Game and I was overwhelmed," said Allen. "I feel so honored to know that the girls playing their hearts out on the court are dedicating the game to me."
"Christina and I have spoken a few times over this last month," said Troyan. "She's grateful for her Lehigh family and the relationships she established over 20 years ago. This love and support will be important as she moves through the next stages of her treatment. I know she is excited for an alumni Zoom call next week with her former teammates and coaches."
Two decades removed from playing at Lehigh, Allen has made another "game plan," this one to beat cancer. The plan features a number of steps, including a strong support system.
"It's important to take the time to process," she said. "Take the time to cry. Take the time to hug who you want to hug. Then, don't be afraid to reach out to people. The love and support I'm getting from all my family and friends has been the best part of this journey so far.
"You need your support group," Allen continued. "I need somebody to drive me to Portland every week. If I didn't reach out and talk to people, that would have been harder. My best friend from Lehigh – Kelly (Collins) Romanczuk – set up a caring bridge site for me."
Kelly Collins Romanczuk and family
A gesture like that may be simple, but truly goes a long way. It reminds Allen she's not alone in this fight.
"Kelly put together a video I watched when I started my first chemo infusion," she said. "The love pouring in was incredible. It brought me smiles, tears and I felt a ton of support."
Allen's overall positive perspective is an important step in her game plan to beat cancer.
"I heard a positive attitude makes a huge difference," she said. "That's part of the treatment."
On the flip side, it's also important to recognize any negative emotions and process them in a healthy way.
"There are people who can support you and there are people who have gone through it," said Allen. "You can vent to them and they understand. They get the fact that this really stinks.
"It's okay to say that."
The diagnosis has also added perspective to Allen about what truly matters.
"Previously, if one of my kids spilled something, I wasn't upset something spilled, but [frustrated] having to deal with it on top of other things that may have happened that morning," said Allen. "Now I'm like, it's fine. The small stuff is just not worth stressing over."
Allen keeps reminding herself that her current state is temporary.
"Modern medicine has come so far," she said. "I'm going to live a lot of years after this. Lots and lots of decades. It's scary, it's okay to be scared, but I just remind myself that I'll get through it."
Want another sign of hope and optimism?
"I was number 45 at Lehigh and got seated in chair number 45 on my first day of chemo," she said.
It was a sign that the Lehigh family was with her on day one, and will remain with her every step of the way.
