Carson, Ray, Amanda and Sebastian Lanier, from left, all wear #TeamLanier T-shirts with the verse Matthew 19:26.LaFayette High School cheerleaders are cheering on LHS teacher Amanda Lanier in her fight against cancer. Literally.
“The cheerleaders came out and cheered for me in my front yard,” said Lanier, of LaFayette. “They performed a cheer they wrote. It was so nice. They said, ‘Just keep pushing through, Mrs. Lanier. We are cheering for you.’ They said, ‘You’re gonna win. We love you.'”
After taking a semester off and having the summer off, Lanier plans to go back to teaching Honors English to seniors and freshmen at LHS this fall.
“My students respond well to me because I tell them I love them and show them I love them,” Lanier said. “The LHS students and faculty wore blue shirts in the school gym and formed a ribbon for me. Principal Mike Culberson is a good guy. I like working for him.”
Lanier’s cancer journey began Jan. 22 with a diagnosis resulting from a colonoscopy she had that day. On Feb. 8 she had surgery to remove the cancer mass from her colon. It was then that doctors discovered the cancer had spread to her liver, evidenced by three spots, so the surgeon closed her back up, leaving the tumor in her colon, she said.
“They wanted me to start chemo,” said Lanier. “I got a second opinion from Emily Chan at Vanderbilt. Dr. Chan does a lot of research on immuno therapy trials and we hoped she would recommend that. Chan told me to have surgery first, but she recommended chemo too.”
So on Feb. 19 Lanier went back to Vanderbilt and met the two surgeons who would do her colon colectomy and liver hepatectomy. During the numerous tests they ran that day, they discovered a spot on her thyroid. A needle biopsy did not clearly show whether it was cancer.
“So then I had three surgeons. One to work on the colon, one to work on the liver and one to work on the thyroid,” said Lanier.
After a nine-hour surgery, the cancer had been removed from her colon and thyroid and 37 lymph nodes had been removed, three of which were cancer. The thyroid spot was not cancer.
Since it was Stage 4 cancer, doctors encouraged her to do chemotherapy, but Lanier said she found an alternative, since there was only a 20 percent chance the chemo would help her due to her specific mutation.
“We are doing a natural alternative,” Lanier said. “We prayed a lot and talked to lots of people. I feel like it’s what the Lord wants us to do. I became a complete vegan. I eat a lot of green stuff. I can eat all fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. I take about 32 pills a day. I take 10 or 11 vitamins and minerals. I drink green juice. I juice broccoli, carrots, cabbage and kale every day.”
So far, so good, she said, but it comes with a cost.
Lanier said her vegan lifestyle costs about $400 monthly. And then there are all the supplements she’s taking.
“The Lord is paying for it,” she said. “We came home one afternoon and there was a note with an envelope with Bible verses and someone left $1,000 on my front porch. People have rallied around us in the whole thing. Through support from my school, my church and unknown people, the Lord is taking care of us.”
Gilbert Elementary School is one of those entities. The school has a Giving Garden and the school’s staff made a list of the vegetables Lanier needs and planted those for her. GES staff bring her beets, cabbage, lettuce and carrots from the school garden.
“I was praying one day and said, ‘Lord, I don’t know how to be a vegan,'” said Lanier. “And five minutes later a lady calls me and said, ‘You don’t know me, but I went to a health conference about nutrition and I want to research for you what to eat.'”
Formerly employed part-time at the Melon Patch Restaurant, Lanier said restaurant owners Trey and Karen Deck have been helping her in her fight too. Trey Deck is supplying her with organic tomatoes.
“It’s amazing the number of people that want to help you,” Lanier said, adding that she feels blessed.
Email Katie Ward at kward@timesfreepress.com.