Sludge Watch ==> Industrial waste dump on farm - farm wife very ill - cancers

[Maureen Reilly]

Dear Friends of Safe Food and Fertilizer:



Marilyn DeYoung – wife of Dennis DeYoung, a local farmer who stood up 
against the illegal use of hazardous wastes in fertilizer and on his farm – 
is very ill.  Marilyn bore the brunt of industries’ dumping on their farm, 
first experiencing several miscarriages, then surviving breast cancer and 
now is fighting for her life against myelogenous leukemia.  She is currently 
at a hospital in Seattle.



Keep in mind as you read this article that Marilyn is a victim of a crime 
against her family, and yours.  A crime supported by the State of Washington 
who chose to legalize the use of hazardous waste in fertilizer rather than 
to stand with these farmers and a small town mayor fighting to protect her 
community.



I have three things that I would like you to do:  1) consider a contribution 
to Marilyn’s family to help with medical expenses and travel costs; 2) send 
this article to your state legislator and remind them they CHOSE not to 
stand up to protect Marilyn or her family, and 3) send a copy to Governor 
Christine Gregoire, who as Attorney General for the State of Washington 
misled the Washington State Legislature into believing that they did not 
have the power to stop the use of hazardous waste in fertilizer, a patently 
false statement.  Through the Commercial Fertilizer Act of 1998 the 
legislature, in fact, repealed statutory language which prohibited the use 
of hazardous waste in fertilizer.



Thank you for making this a priority.



Patty



+++++++++

Cancer turns strangers into friends
A Wasilla hairstylist's leukemia unites volunteers in fundraising at salon

http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/matsu/v-printer/story/8742694p-8644446c.html




Rachel Calderwood has her hair done by stylist Amanda Solis, right, as Misti 
Kershaw, left, works on Sherri Schroeder, Mar. 25, 2007, cut-a-thon at The 
Loft. The event was a benefit for Marilyn DeYoung, a stylist who is 
undergoing leukemia treatment in Seattle. Money raised will go toward 
helping her family be with her. (BILL ROTH / Anchorage Daily News)


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Marilyn DeYoung's daughter Heidi said her family members stay positive and 
don't press each other to talk about her mother's illness. "We know how 
we're feeling, because we're all feeling the same way." (BILL ROTH / 
Anchorage Daily News)


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By KATIE PESZNECKER
Anchorage Daily News

(Published: March 27, 2007)

Wasilla hairstylist Marilyn DeYoung beat breast cancer, but the euphoria 
that followed her triumph was short-lived.

Now DeYoung has been diagnosed with the same leukemia that killed Iditarod 
legend Susan Butcher. She waits in a Seattle research hospital, where 
doctors will start the long, painful process of a stem-cell transplant to 
try to cure the 47-year-old of acute myelogenous leukemia.

"She's not doing well right now," said Sarah Sonnentag, Young's friend and 
former co-worker. "Her chances of surviving this are not really good."

One of the diseases is devastating enough, Sonnentag said. To watch her 
friend suffer through both is almost unbearable. And while she and others 
have spent plenty of time lying around crying, she knew she also had to get 
organized and do something to help.

Sonnentag rallied the troops -- hair stylists, in this case -- and staged a 
"cut-a-thon." Stylists flocked to The Loft in South Anchorage on Sunday, a 
day when the trendy salon is usually closed. Instead, it was a flurry of 
activity, and every dollar earned went to DeYoung, her husband and their 
four children.

"They're so broke from the breast cancer," said Sonnentag, now a Loft 
employee. "The reason I'm trying to raise money is so her family can be with 
her and pay for as many plane tickets as they need -- whether they need one 
or 100."

Outside The Loft on Sunday, a bouquet of colored balloons bobbed near the 
entrance. Inside, the salon swelled with well-wishers forking over at least 
$50 for a haircut. The air grew warm and humid from the plugged-in flat 
irons, hot water gushing from sinks and whirling hair dryers blowing stylish 
cuts into place.

Charly Masters had changed her regular appointment so her money would go to 
the DeYoungs' cause. She's never met Marilyn DeYoung, but her grandfather 
and a childhood friend both died from leukemia.

Donating to cancer societies is good, she said, but an event like the 
cut-a-thon "does feel a little bit more meaningful, when it goes to 
something personal."

Masters, also a mother, says it's hard to imagine DeYoung in Seattle and her 
children unable to afford a visit.

"I would want my family surrounding me," Masters said. "It just pulls at 
your heart."

DeYoung's husband, Dennis, stopped by with daughter Heidi at his side 
carrying a massive bouquet of flowers.

"It's amazing," he said, eyeing the activity around him. "It's really just 
awesome."

The disease seemed to appear from thin air, he said. One Monday in October, 
Marilyn was at work at Modifications, a salon in Wasilla, her husband said. 
She came home with what she thought was a cold. Soon, she could hardly get 
out of bed.

At the hospital, alarmed staff immediately got Marilyn medevacked to 
Anchorage, then flown to Seattle.

"She almost died," Dennis DeYoung said. "It was that close. Everything was 
happening so fast. They had to give her blood transfusions just to get her 
strong enough to fly. It was really tough. It came out of nowhere."

Family members have taken turns flying to Seattle to visit. Youngest son 
Lorin, 17, went during his spring break. Daughter Heidi, 22, flew there 
Monday. Marilyn's children Seth, 19, and Sara Sivertsen, 24, have also 
visited.

His wife, Dennis said, "is resilient. When you see the treatment, it's 
seriously bad. It's horrible."

Marilyn DeYoung will get chemotherapy. Her white cells will be removed and 
replaced with healthy blood stem cells from her brother -- he's an ideal 
donor, since he's a blood relation whose tissue is a close match.

Best case scenario: She is recovered and cancer-free by the end of summer.

Worst-case scenario: Only about one in five people with this form of 
leukemia survived between 1995 and 2001.

Heidi DeYoung said family members stay positive, and they don't press each 
other to talk about it.

"We know how we're feeling, because we're all feeling the same way."

She set up a photo collage of her mother and displayed it at the salon 
Sunday. It shows a vibrant, smiling woman -- holding her first grandchild, 
in one photo.

Friends and family say Marilyn DeYoung is giving and sweet-tempered.

"If you are lucky enough to be touched by her, you understand why people are 
giving," Heidi DeYoung said. "She's everything. She's awesome."

The sudden diagnosis of DeYoung's disease and the swiftness of her departure 
from Alaska hit the tight-knit group at Modifications hard, said Megan 
Toomey, a stylist there.

"She was at work one day, gone the next," Toomey said.

Some of the volunteer hair-cutters had never met Marilyn. They were moved by 
the plight of a woman in the prime of her life, a wife and mother of four, 
beating one terrible disease only to get slammed with a worse one.

"I have cried so much," Sonnentag said, "that I almost don't even have 
another tear to give."


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Daily News reporter Katie Pesznecker can be reached at kpesznecker at adn.com.


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DeYoung family's fight with cancer

• A problem: Breast cancer survivor Marilyn DeYoung has been diagnosed with 
acute myelogenous leukemia. It is one of the most common types of leukemia 
in adults, according to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, with about 12,000 
new cases a year nationwide. It's a cancer of the bone marrow and blood that 
stops the body from producing red blood cells and platelets. While 
treatable, it has historically been a deadly disease. It's the same type of 
leukemia that killed musher Susan Butcher in August 2006.

• A response: To donate money or Alaska Airlines miles to the DeYoung 
family, contact Mark Sivertsen at Wells Fargo and ask for the donation 
account for Marilyn DeYoung.