Destrehan Student Reaches Out to Patients With Rare Form of Cancer…
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Destrehan High School senior Katelyn Ryan chose to research Carcinoid Cancer for her senior project. After learning more about this rare form of cancer, Katelyn decided to hold a Pastalaya Dinner Fundraiser to help support the “Zebra House” Fund at Ochsner. The money raised from this event provides housing for patients who come from out of town seeking treatment for this unusual type of cancer. Plans are to develop a “house” where these patients and family members can stay while they receive their treatment. Through the event and solicitations Katelyn raised over $2,400.
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Pictured left to right are Paolo Zambito, CEO of Ochsner Medical Center-Kenner; Katelyn Ryan; and Dr. J. Philip Boudreaux.
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Her Gift to Ochsner is a Gift to Women Everywhere....
Life Called and She Answered: Meet Lieselotte Tansey
Lieselotte Tansey of Celle, Germany is a survivor. She survived Nazi Germany, and she survived breast cancer. Mrs. Tansey is fit, energetic, witty and beautiful. She appears to even be beating the effects of age. She is, in a word, remarkable.
What makes her remarkable is far more than her external attributes, and it is even more than her courageous, persevering spirit. What makes Lieselotte Tansey unique includes all this, yes, but her signature-her legacy-is her generosity.
This generosity has led her to establish a private foundation in her mother's name in Germany, which provides funding for a variety of needs in that country. She has also given extensively from her world-renowned collection of portrait miniatures to the Celle Museum of Art. Her generosity was also demonstrated by a very generous gift to the Ochsner Clinic Foundation, to aid the establishment of the new state-of-the-art breast center.
Unveiled at a ribbon-cutting ceremony in the Fall of 2001, the Lieselotte Tansey breast Center at Ochsner features a multi-disciplinary approach to breast care. No where else in the Gulf South are women able to receive care from all members of their medical team-radiologists, surgeons, oncologists, mammograhers and nurse specialists-in one location. This type of treatment enables women to get diagnosed faster and more accurately, which increases survival rates for breast cancer. Yet, when asked about the lasting significance of her gift, Lieselotte Tansey was characteristically humble. "What I have done isn't anything special. I am just happy women will get good medical care," she demurred.
Of course, it is something special, and it will impact the lives of countless women in Louisiana and the Gulf South. For a lifelong resident of Germany, this gift traveled far, and it was motivated by her own personal and medical history.
"I started coming to Ochsner in the 1970s at the urging of my dear friend Joan, wife of Dr. John Ray [of Ochsner]. I love it here, and I got my treatment for breast cancer here. So when I was asked last year if there was anything I could do to help with the breast center, I knew just what I wanted to do," says Mrs. Tansey.
Making decisions quickly, and without regret, is another refreshing character trait of Lieselotte Tansey. Soon after meeting Ernest Tansey, an American serviceman, at a cocktail party in Germany in 1957, she deemed him the "best thing that could happen to me." The two were married on her mother's birthday in 1958, embarking on an exciting life of travel, friends, and artistic pursuits.
"Every country has something amazing, and so we've tried to see all that we can," says Mrs. Tansey.
Her ability to embrace life has kept her young, and it helped her choose a revolutionary treatment for her breast cancer. "I was offered traditional radiation, or brachy therapy, which involved a radiation catheter inserted directly into my breast. I was secluded away, and when Ernest would come in, he'd have to dress all up, covered head to toe. I used to say, ‘Here comes the mummy' as he walked in," she says with a laugh.
The treatment worked, and Mrs. Tansey's enjoyment of life is evident in her every breath. Yes, Lieselotte Tansey is a remarkable woman. As her friend Christiane Werner of Germany describes her, "Everything she does, she does with heart and conscience. She is very serious and likes to take care of everything." With her magnanimous gift to Ochsner, she is indeed taking care of thousands of women facing the same frightening diagnosis she once faced with aplomb. May Lieselotte Tansey's courage and generosity help women everywhere embrace life with the same gusto she has.
