“Just Relax and Be Calm.”
People often ask, “How’s Fern?” I want to let Fern answer that question herself, with a little help from her mom and me. If you are new to Fern’s story, read the backstory here. We hope you have as much fun reading this interview as we had talking. ~ Theresa and Fern
Theresa: Thank you for agreeing to do this interview with me. Please introduce yourself.
Fern: All right. My name is Fern Wise. I’m 12.
T: Many people in our TriYoga community know you and your family, your brothers Cypress and Sylvan, and your mom Heather. This community also knew your dad Will before he passed away from cancer four years ago. [Read about my husband and me parenting her brothers when Fern and her mom had to stay in Scotland to begin Fern’s cancer treatments.] For the people who don’t know you, could you tell us a little bit about yourself?
F: I’d love to. So I like reading because I really like having my own book [to read]. Sometimes I get to read. I get to swim. I get to see my mom. And I get to do art. I get to stretch like this. [Fern puts her feet up to her face in Butterfly. As someone with Down Syndrome, she makes even the most adept yogi look limited.]
T: You’re very flexible, and your legs are very long.
F: Yeah! And I like having this house because it has everything like a new deck.
T: So I have a question for you. It’s been more than a year since you were diagnosed with cancer.
F: Yes.
T: What kind of cancer did you have?
F: Leukemia. [Acute lymphoblastic Leukemia or ALL]
T: Tell me about the treatments you had to go through.
F: Spinal taps. Bone marrows. I fast for the spinal taps. The bone marrow is in my back, but they don’t really happen often. That only happened once.
T: Did you have chemotherapy?
F: I don’t really remember. [Fern had many rounds of chemotherapy over 10 months. Each treatment made her very ill for a few days. She lost her hair and a lot of weight.]
T: Did you have Blina [short for blinatumomab, an immunotherapy that is greatly improving the outcomes for kids with ALL] ?
F: Yes, a couple of times. First time, second time, third time. And plus one of those times, my [Blina] tube broke, and blood got in my coat and got all over everywhere. And the other time I got Blina the tube also broke off a little bit. No blood came out, but my mom fixed it.
T: Yes, I remember that. [Each time there was a Blina incident, the stakes were high. If the Blina was not administered for more than four hours, Fern would have to start the treatment cycle all over again. Luckily, each snafu was resolved within the allotted time.] So how are you doing now? Do you still have cancer?
F: I still have it. I still have a port. That’s for when someone needs to put some medicine in me, they put it in my port. Like sleep medicine, for spinal taps. It makes you go to sleep.
T: Last year for 6th grade you had to stay out of school and be taught at home because you were immunocompromised. What was that like not to go to school?
F: It feels good. But I kind of missed my friends. And I get to see them now because I’m going to school now. And I get to be at a new school, at the high school, for 7th grade. And I am basically going to math, reading, and I have a calendar for my classes.
T: A calendar? Because the schedule is different on different days?
F: Yeah. Every day we have a calendar, for me, Noah, and Sapphire. Miss Rob is helping us. And Mr. C, and I’ve got Miss Elizabeth. We’re at school, and every Friday we have movies. We cook food.
T: Tell me about Camp Dost, the highlights of being there this summer. [Camp Dost is a camp for kids with cancer, sponsored by the Ronald McDonald House. Fern loved her experience there this summer.]
F: I would probably say…we had a cabin. We had a cabin for reading. And there’s beds, bunk beds and single beds too. I got to sleep on a single bed. And I got to read. I got to basically play games. We had cabin check every night.
T: What did they do at cabin check?
F: Basically we answer questions. If somebody’s talking, like this [Fern picks up a pillow] then they are talking.
T: I see. Like a talking stick.
F: And so the teacher [counselor] says, what is your rose, bud, thorn? And the person who’s holding the thing gets to talk.
T: Rose, bud, and thorn? I don’t understand.
F: So basically, you have to give me a question. And I would say what my rose was like today [something that was sweet], and something that was a bud [something to look forward to], and a thorn [something you don’t really like].
T: And everyone goes around and answers the question?
F: Yeah.
T: I understand. Are you still in treatment?
F: Not sure. [Yes, through November 2026]
T: Do you still have to take medicine?
F: Yeah.
T: Tell me about the medicine.
F: I don’t know the names.
T: Do you take pills?
F: Yeah.
T: Do the pills make you feel bad?
F: Not too much, but the steroids. Steroids make me grumpy. I take Valtrax for the sores in my mouth. And there’s a new pill I need to take.
T: And do you still have to go to the hospital?
F: Yes. Probably each month. They do blood draws. And they put a 3000 sticker on. [It’s a dressing called IV 3000, for kids with sensitive skin. Fern is a tough cookie but she really does not like bandaids and tape on her skin.] It’s this big [Fern’s hands show me]. It goes on top of your port. They put a needle in it. And then I wake up and I lie there for a while. Then I get three snacks, every day.
T: What kind of snacks?
F: Healthy snacks. Sometimes crackers, cheese. I have oranges and beef sticks.
T: Beef sticks?
F: Yeah.
T: Ok, I might leave that out because it’s not vegan.
F: Yeah, and cheese.
T: Ok, cheese.
F: And sometimes she [Mom] puts oranges in there. Sometimes apples. Something that my mom likes too. Then probably nuts. Healthy snacks. And she feeds me. I get to watch TV lying down like this [Fern slides down the chair]. And my doctor puts sticky stuff on my back and I don’t really like it because it is super sticky. Not stickers like nice stickers with pictures on them. He does that every day and I don’t ask him. And I have to fast.
T: The whole day? Or just in the morning?
F: Just in the morning like until 12 or 1. I have to wake up at four or six in the morning to go to the hospital and then I have to wait to seven or eight, to nine to twelve to work, so I wake up a couple of hours in the hospital and then I have to wait for a reasonable time. I have to fast for a reasonable time.
T: What has been something positive that has been like your rose about having cancer?
F: Um, I don’t know. Probably lying on the couch after my spinal taps.
T: And what has been the hardest part about having cancer?
F: The treatments. Since I start treatments it’s basically hard on the day because you can’t do what you want because you have to go to treatment.
T: What do you want people to know about cancer?
F: Um, probably Blina. They have backpacks and stuff. You just carry it wherever you go. [Although Blina had been a standard treatment for pediatric leukemia patients in Scotland for about a year when Fern was diagnosed, it was only approved by the FDA for use as the first line of treatment in the USA just after Fern returned from Scotland. Fern was one of the first patients in the USA to receive Blina as a first line of treatment.]
T: What else do you want our community to know about you?
F: Um, I’m smart.
T: Yes, you are.
F: And kind.
T: You are.
F: And loving. And cute. And flexible.
T: Yes, you are very, very flexible.
[Fern shows a few more of her bendy moves.]
T: If someone gets cancer what is your advice to them?
F: Um, just relax. Be calm. Relax and be calm.
T: I think you have another year or two of having to take chemo orally. When that’s over what are you looking forward to?
F: Swimming in pools. And travel.
T: You can’t swim in public pools?
F: Right. Because I have a port. If I jump into a public pool I don’t know what’s going to happen to my port. So I’m just not able to swim in public pools any more.
T: And travel?
F: Yeah. I can travel. I get to travel far and wide, so I can go further. [Fern was required to stay within a few hours of Danville, where she received treatment over the past year, so she and her family could not travel.]
T: I think you’re traveling soon.
F: To Florida. We get to see Grandma Vicky and Deuce. He has a beach house. We make castles and big holes. Big big holes. We sometimes bury people in the hole, like Cypress, up to here. [Fern points to her chin.] Not all the way up to his head.
T: Well, I hope you have a great time in Florida. Thank you very much for letting me interview you, Fern Maya Wise. I’m proud of you for the cancer treatment that you’ve handled so well. You’ve been very strong, and you’ve been very patient. You have not been overwhelmed by it. You’re just very steady. It’s a joy to watch you getting better and better and stronger and stronger. Oh, and we forgot to mention that your hair is growing out now. You look good. It’s nice to see your face so shiny, and nice to see you all dressed up today in pink and stripes. Thank you for letting me interview you.
F: Can you stay here now?
T: Yes, I’m staying. Let me close this computer up and we’ll play. Wave at everyone! Ok, we’re done. Thanks, Fern!
Watch the family’s Halloween presentation on how Blina works:
Theresa Shay is the founding director of TriYoga of Central Pennsylvania, where she teaches weekly yoga and meditation online and trains others to teach TriYoga®. Each week, she shares wisdom cultivated from decades of TriYoga study and practice.
Learn more about her here. Theresa can be reached at Theresa@PennsylvaniaYoga.com. Find her on Instagram @theresa_of_triyoga for more inspiration and light.