The following blog post originally appeared on Member J.B. Hunt’s LinkedIn Career page and being shared with permission.
When Christina Baggett was two years old, she began experiencing sickness after sickness.
Two-year old Christina on the day she was diagnosed.
Her mom took her big brother in for a check-up one day, and when the doctor came in, he went straight to Christina instead, concerned about her pallid appearance and grey lips. The family lived in Denton, TX at the time and was ordered to go straight to Cook Children’s Hospital in Fort Worth. After hours of tests, doctors confirmed that Christina had acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL).
The Baggett’s were faced with the devastating news that, in the 80’s, the survival rate for the disease was only in the low 20%. Christina was placed in an experimental group of 12 to 13 kids, who were either given a placebo drug (a drug with no affect and used for control purposes of an experiment) or were added to an experimental group, which included pumping radiated blood into the kids along with experimental chemotherapy. Christina was placed into the latter group and received blood transfusions and various chemo treatments.
One of Christina’s latest thrills–skydiving.
For three years, she underwent treatment after treatment, and on her third anniversary, rang the bell at the hospital signifying she was officially in remission.
On October 12, Christina celebrated 30 years since she was diagnosed. She still goes back to the children’s hospital every two years for testing to help determine any long-term effects from her treatment as a child.
Christina suffers from ADD and dyslexia as a result of her leukemia and also struggles with frequent illnesses. Even today, she may experience certain complications of sicknesses that can’t be explained, but she said J.B. Hunt has always been very accommodating.
Christina said her disease has made her appreciate life on a different level. She calls herself hard-headed and loves to live life to it’s fullest–including skydiving, traveling, and most recently, taking on running a marathon.
To celebrate survivorship, she decided to run a marathon in 2014 in Chicago, sponsored by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS).
Running the LLS Marathon in Chicago.
“I noticed the Chicago Marathon fell on my remission date. I knew I needed to do this–to run, to do something to give back.”
She had to raise between $2,000 and $2,500 for the race and her J.B. Hunt co-workers gladly helped her achieve that goal. This particular marathon was full of survivors, and every 5k, a new coach that she’d never met before would run alongside and encourage her.
At the end of the day, Christina wants to influence people for the better.