September 2021

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Flagstaff Business News // SEPTEMBER 2021 flagstaffbusinessnews.com

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Taking the Next Brave Step Warrior spirit keeps young Flagstaff mother outpacing cancer

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By Betsey Bruner, FBN

or more than two years, Alexandra Wolf, a popular Flagstaff hairdresser, had been wondering why her left leg hurt so much. On June 19, 2019, at age 33, she found out: She was diagnosed with a cancer called leiomyosarcoma. “Sarcomas are extremely rare cancers, making up less than 1% of cancer in adults,” Wolf explained. “They are hard to catch and diagnose. Being diagnosed with my type of cancer was extremely scary because we see and hear so much about cancer so often in our daily lives, but no one I knew had heard of my type of cancer. I had only ever heard of the regular carcinoma cancers people usually get. It was a huge fear of the unknown.” She learned that sarcomas can grow anywhere in the body, and leiomyosarcoma starts in an involuntary muscle. As a wife, a mother and a daughter, the young woman had many important reasons to be motivated to wage a furious fight with her cancer. Wolf was raised in Tucson and moved to Flagstaff when she was 21. “Shortly after I moved up here, I met Jacob Wolf,” she recalled. “We pretty quickly got married and started a family.” The Wolfs, who have been married for 12 years, have a son, Dexter, 12, and a daughter, Acelyn, 9. “My parents decided to move up here after I had my son,” she said. “I still have lots of family in Tucson, including my younger brother and my niece.” Prior to her diagnosis, her family, including their dogs and her parents, had been enjoying a healthy and happy lifestyle, which included regular hikes on mountain trails and climbing rocks and trees. Her current passion, running, was not part of

Top: A year ago in August, Wolf ran her first 5K on a custom-built blade. Photos courtesy of Sonya Malkhassian Bottom: Alexandra Wolf’s prosthetic leg allows her to enjoy hiking with her husband, Jacob, daughter Acelyn, 9, and son Dexter, 12. Photo courtesy R2 Studios

her exercise regimen. “I actually never wanted to run before my operation,” Wolf said. “I was always very active and [spent time] outdoors, but never running. I did yoga and took other classes (like aerial silks) to keep active.” The summer of her diagnosis, the family focus shifted to a rapid scramble to find medical solutions. After first consulting with Dr. James Warneke, a sarcoma specialist at the University of Arizona, Wolf came back to Flagstaff and sought help from Dr. Peter Mathern at Arizona Oncology. “They had both treated this type of cancer almost the same number of times,” she said. “I Continued on page 37


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September 2021 by Flagstaff Business News - Issuu