Past Tense: Local canneries were part of farm life ► PAGE 4
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Dunwoody mother gains support in fight against deadly condition Pharmacist recognized onset of leukemia By CATHY COBBS newsroom@appenmediagroup.com DUNWOODY, Ga. — Lauren Cessna didn’t feel well. “I was so tired, I couldn’t get out of bed,” she said, recalling a sevenday period in early July when she felt worse and worse with each passing hour. “I was short of breath and also had bruises all over my body for no apparent reason.” Cessna, 32, told her husband, Chris, that she had leukemia, which he denounced immediately. But Cessna, a pharmacist at Northside Hospital, felt otherwise. “I used to work in the bone marrow transplant unit, and I saw patients that had the same symptoms as I did,” she said. “I went to the urgent care, told them I thought I had leukemia, and begged them to do a CBC (complete blood count) on me.” The results weren’t going to be available for several days, and Cessna continued to feel terrible, so she drove herself to the emergency room at Northside Hospital on July 6. Because of restrictions put into place by the hospital in connection with COVID-19, she had to go in alone. “While I was sitting in the waiting room, I got a phone call from the urgent care, and the person said, ‘Are you sitting down? You have leukemia
CATHY COBBS/CRIER
From left to right, daughter Marka Pearce, granddaughter Shannon Pearce and son Mike Pearce are carrying on Camelot Jewelers in the wake of founder Helen Sher’s death in late October.
SPECIAL
Lauren Cessna was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia, a rare and deadly type of cancer of the blood and bone marrow with excess immature white blood cells. and you need to get yourself to the nearest emergency room as soon as possible,’” Cessna said. “I said, ‘Well, I’m already there.’” Cessna was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia, a rare and deadly type of cancer of the blood and bone marrow with excess immature white blood cells, an illness that usually strikes men who are 65 years or older.
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Store owner brought sunshine to everyone she encountered By CATHY COBBS newsroom@appenmediagroup.com DUNWOODY, Ga. – Camelot Jeweler’s owner Helen Sher never had a bad day. According to her son, Mike Pearce, who worked with her at the Jett Ferry-area shop since 1993, Sher always had a cheery smile and positive attitude that never wavered, even when she was battling cancer. “Everyone, I mean everyone, has to have a bad day once and awhile, but my mom never did,” Pearce said. “It was always, ‘Welcome to Camelot,’ no matter what was happening to her.”
Sher, 93, who had been battling and beating cancer for more than two decades, died in her sleep Oct. 24. She had opted to quit chemotherapy a year ago because “it had taken such a toll on her,” Pearce said. “She was doing great for a year after she stopped treatment, but then the last few months, her health declined,” he said. “Up to a month before she died, she was still driving to work. She was just as sharp as she had ever been.” Camelot Jewelers, located in the
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