Volunteer EMT is the one who needs help now

Michelle Wallace graduates from Big Bend Community College in 2011. She was set to transfer to WSU-Tri Cities this August.

by Royal Register Editor & Ted Escobar
| April 13, 2012 6:05 AM

ROYAL CITY - Michelle Wallace, whose been giving of herself tirelessly since becoming a volunteer firefighter/emergency medical technician for the Royal community, is now the one who needs help from her community.

Wallace, 28, learned recently that the leukemia she battled successfully seven years ago has returned. It's curable, her doctors say, but the battle will be, and has been hard. And it will be expensive.

According to Wallace's father, Wes Wallace, the community-minded young woman has no medical insurance. She has been on medical disability since the first cancer fight, but Medicare covers very little.

Wes noted the chemo treatments so far have come with a bill of $86,000. He doesn't know the cost of hospitalization, but Michelle's room cost $1,760 a day in 2005. A bone marrow transplant the first time around cost $250,000.

"It's extremely difficult," said Wes, who struggles to speak about his daughter's plight.

Like any father and daughter, Wes and Michelle are close. Michelle moved here from Federal Way to live with her parents - Kathie is her mother's name - in 2009, after the first run-in with leukemia. She still lives with them.

Wes and Michelle may be closer than most fathers and daughters, considering their devotion to community. They are the only such team to volunteer for the Grant County Fire District.

And Wes was Michelle's bone marrow donor the first time around.

Michelle has been an EMT for two of her three years as a member of District No. 11. Wes has been a volunteer for more than six years as a District No. 11 firefighter and District No. 10/11 EMT. They've worked together on some calls.

In a spotlight article on the Wallaces last summer in The Royal Register, Wes said: "Being on the fire department and ambulance is not always enjoyable. We're often helping someone who we may know as a neighbor (and) who is having the worst day of their life."

Wes had the worst day of his life on March 21, when it was confirmed by Michelle's Seattle doctor that the cancer had returned. The next time Michelle saw her dad, all she could say, wistfully, was: "It's back."

Wes's heart sank, and he continues to struggle even while maintaining a stoic decorum at work and about the community. It's really tough, he said, when a father believes he's supposed to protect his daughter and can't seem to do it.

Michelle learned of this new battle after she noticed swollen lymph nodes in her thigh. She went to the Royal City Clinic on March 15, and complete blood work was done.

On the 17th Michelle was told to contact Dr. Pamela Becker in Seattle. She sent Becker the blood results on the 19th. On the 20th she was in Seattle for testing.

Becker noted the leukemia was detected at an early stage, which was good. She suggested an aggressive treatment approach. From March 27-31, Michelle was on chemotherapy 24-7.

This treatment ordeal has been horrible, as most chemo patients will tell you. Michelle could not eat for days. Now that she eats a little, she has trouble keeping it down. Fortunately she spends most of her time sleeping at her grandmother's home in the Seattle area.

"This treatment is tough," Wes said. "You're like a baby all over again. She sleeps like a baby. Monday (April 2) she had a piece of toast."

Michelle has been studying to be a nurse. She became an EMT partly to get practical experience. For the second time, she's experiencing what it is to be a patient in crisis.

In last summer's spotlight, she said: "Everyone has rough times."