THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 30, 1994 TAG: 9412290151
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JAMES FRASCA, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
When 13-year-old Lindsey Thomas was diagnosed with cancer last June, she told her doctor, ``No problem.''
Faced with a summer long regimen of seemingly endless chemotherapy, Lindsey again told her doctor, ``No problem.''
Painful treatments were endured with the help of a John Candy movie called ``Cool Runnings,'' the story of a Jamaican bobsled team. Lindsey watched the video 22 times over the course of her treatments, unaware that she would one day cross paths with the athletes she so admired.
She felt a certain kinship with the Jamaican bobsledders, a four-man crew who overcame adversity and stunned the naysayers on their way to the Winter Olympics. She cheered their determination to overcome all odds.
``I like the fact that they didn't even have snow and they put together a bobsled team,'' said Lindsey. ``They wouldn't let anything stop them, not even the judges.''
As her treatments dragged through the summer, Lindsey found herself competing against a distinctly different foe, an enemy of the darkest sort.
Neither her years of scholastic sports nor her position as Lynnhaven Middle School president had prepared her for the endurance test that lay ahead.
``What really made Lindsey's progress happen was that she's such a positive person,'' said her dad, Terry Thomas. ``She's filled with optimism. When she was diagnosed, she said it was a good thing that it happened to her and nobody else in the family.''
So when the Make-A-Wish Foundation heard that Lindsey's one wish was to meet the Jamaican bobsled team, Lindsey was told, ``No problem, mon.''
Lindsey, her sisters, Missy and Allie, and her parents, Terry and Fran Thomas, were picked up at their East Plantation Road home by a chauffered limousine Dec. 3 and whisked away to a Princess Cruise ship bound for Jamaica.
``We didn't have to do a thing. It was really a wish come true,'' said Fran Thomas.
Upon their arrival in Montego Bay, the family was met by none other than Chris Stokes, captain of the Jamaican team.
Their ship docked late that day, and so Stokes had waited six hours in the 89-degree terminal for the arrival of the Thomas clan.
``He's the kind of guy who really shocked us,'' said Terry Thomas. ``Tall and perfect, just a wonderful guy. We hugged each other, like we'd known each other forever.''
``He was cool,'' Lindsey said. ``He was just kind of laid back.''
Terry Thomas says his daughters picked up a thick Jamaican accent that proved tougher to shake than a summer cold. All three girls nod their agreement and break out laughing as Lindsey chimes in with ``Yah, mon.'' She proudly displays, in her own way, what she considers the gold medals of her fight against cancer:
A full but short head of hair, previously lost to chemotherapy, which Lindsey vows will once again grace the small of her back.
A doctor's prognosis, which now puts her chances of recovery at better than 90 percent.
And a 5-by-7-inch color photo of the Jamaican bobsled team, inscribed with the words, ``To Lindsey. Cool Running!'' Beneath the greeting is the signature of Chris Stokes. ILLUSTRATION: Photos by JAMES FRASCA
The Thomas family - (clockwise from bottom right) Fran, Allie,
Terry, Lindsey and Missy - was sent to Jamaica by the Make-A-Wish
Foundation to grant Lindsey's wish to meet the Jamaican bobsled
team. Lindsey, 13, is given a 90 percent chance to beat cancer.
by CNB