BY MECHELE COOPER

Staff Writer

Tracey Wing didn't have a cancer center near her home five years ago when doctors found she had Hodgkin lymphoma.

Hodgkin lymphoma is one of the success stories in modern cancer medicine. It's among the most treatable forms of cancer, according to the American Cancer Society.

The cure requires radiation or chemotherapy, or both.

Today, at the Harold Alfond cancer center -- a 59,000-square-foot-facility that opened last year in Augusta -- state-of-the-art radiation equipment allows the radiation to be given within fractions, split down to millimeters, so tissues around cancerous cells are not damaged.

Something that wasn't available when Wing was treated at MaineGeneral Medical Center's Augusta campus in 2003. John Begin of MaineGeneral Health said the hospital couldn't offer the same precision in treatment as the Alfond Center.

Debbie Bowden, director of oncology clinical practice at Alfond Cancer Center in Augusta, said the hospital treated six people with Hodgkin Lymphoma in 2007 and 37 people with non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, a cancer with 30 different types of lymphoma that can be more serious.

"One of the things we brought to the Alfond Center is the state-of-the-art radiation equipment, which is very precise," Bowden said. "The chemotherapy is pretty standard. Whether it's Boston or California, there's standard regiments for it. We are able to do that here so people don't have to go to Portland. It's miserable to have to travel when they already don't feel good."

Wing's treatment didn't include radiation. Instead, she underwent six months of chemotherapy followed by computerized axial tomography (CAT scans), X-rays and lab work.

After five years, Wing can officially say she is cancer free.

"For me, (cancer) was a good thing," Wing said. "I was a procrastinator, always putting things off. I used to live thinking I'd get to it tomorrow or I'll do something later. After I was diagnosed with cancer, there was no guarantee of tomorrow."

Hodgkin Lymphoma is a cancer of the lymphatic system, a network of lymph nodes and interconnecting lymph vessels. Lymph nodes are small, pea-shaped organs that make and store lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell that fights infection.

With Hodgkin Lymphoma, a cancerous tumor develops in a lymph node, usually in the neck or chest. It's a painless swelling in one or more of the lymph nodes.

Wing, a radiologic technologist -- X-ray technician -- at MaineGeneral's Augusta Campus, said cancer had a profound affect on her life.

She said it helped put her job in perspective. Finding herself on the examining table instead of running the X-ray machine made her realize that it's not about getting patients in and out quickly. But spending the time with them that they need.

During her treatment, the young mother had a toddler to care for and two teenage stepdaughters. She relied on her husband, Andrew, to help with the children, meals and housework.

"I wouldn't have be able to do that without this one," she said, pointing to her husband on the living room sofa.

Andrew Wing, who works for the Maine State Employees Association, said as soon as he heard Hodgkin Lymphoma was one of the most treatable forms of cancer, he vowed to do whatever it took to cure his wife.

But it took a toll on his emotions.

"If I had weak moments, I made sure she wasn't around," he said. "I went through the same gamut of emotions and exhaustion as she did."

Often there are no symptoms with Hodgkin Lymphoma. It was unusual for Wing to experience pain. But that pain in her back lead to a series of tests and a CAT scan.

She first thought her hiatal hernia was acting up. Then doctors thought it could be gallstones. It wasn't until the CAT scan that doctors knew she had a tumor on her kidney. They wanted to monitor it for three months, but Wing said the pain was so severe that she couldn't wait that long for the surgery.

Doctors first did a biopsy of the tumor to see if it was cancerous. That sample proved negative. But because doctors found the tumor to be more extensive than they realized she was told the kidney would have to be removed.

It wasn't until two days later that the official pathology report came back and doctors discovered she had Hodgkin Lymphoma.

Wing said her case was unusual because of the pain, and because the tumor was on her kidney instead of in her chest, where most tumors develop with Hodgkin Lymphoma.

"At the time I only had my 14-year-old in the room," she said. "My thought was, 'Don't cry because she doesn't know Hodgkins is cancer.' But then I looked across the room and she was wiping the tears from her eyes, so I was wrong. She did know."

Hodgkin Lymphoma is an uncommon cancer, said Molly Schwenn, medical director for the Maine Cancer Registry. She said the total number of cases in Maine per year has been steady -- 46 in 2000 and 45 in 2004. The incidence rate is 3.2 per 100,000 persons.

She said Hodgkin Lymphoma has characteristics that distinguish it from other cancers of the lymphatic system, including the presence of an abnormal cell called Reed-Sternberg cell, a large malignant cell found in Hodgkin Lymphoma tissues.

Beside her family, Wing had the support of her friends at the Augusta Orthopedic Associates. She worked there when doctors first found the cancer and throughout her treatment, when she felt well enough.

A friend and former Augusta Orthopedic Associates employee, Irene Brunelle of Brunswick, said cancer patients try to maintain a level of normalcy and don't like being made to feel like a victim.

"We didn't ask her how she felt, we just wanted to be there for her and listen," Brunelle said. "When she started to lose her hair we asked if we could buy caps employees could wear. We wore the hats so she would know we were part of her recovery team. Every time she came in, we put on the caps."

By far, diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma was the most shocking experience of Wing's life. And she said she dealt with it the only way she could. As she would the death of a loved one.

"There's different stages you go through," Wing said. "You're in denial and can't understand why it happened to you. And then you get really angry. Then finally you have to find the positive mental attitude that I found was key to my recovery: This is not going to beat me."

Mechele Cooper -- 623-3811, Ext. 408

mcooper@centralmaine.com