Sebastien Cosyns was near the end of his 12-hour shift when the call came. He was summoned north to transport a little girl to Riley Hospital for Children at IU Health. For a moment he hesitated – knowing that he could not exceed the maximum duty of hours. Would he make it there and back before the end of his shift?

After using the flight planning systems available to him, he decided the flight could be completed safely and within all regulations. The medical crew worked quickly to prepare the little girl for transport and they made it to Riley where Cosyns ended his shift with five minutes to spare.

The next day Cosyns was assured he made the right call. The little girl was stable. A delay may have come at a price.

Thinking fast and acting fast are traits Cosyns has learned over the years.

Born in Montreal, Cosyns migrated with his family to New Jersey when he was a teen. After high school, he studied aviation at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University and eventually enlisted in the Army.

“I’ve wanted to be a pilot pretty much since I was a little kid,” said Cosyns, 46, who works for Metro Aviation. “I loved going to the airports and watching the planes taxi off and land. Then we’d go to the river where there was a sea plane base and I’d sit for hours just watching the planes.”

He remembers the thrill of his first passenger flight when the flight attendants let him visit the cockpit of a former Sabena Airlines craft.

But the real adrenaline rush came in the military when Cosyns was trained as a helicopter pilot. Over the course of more than two decades he completed tours of duty in South Korea, and the Middle East – including a Persian Gulf overwater mission and flights that had him navigating 11,000-foot mountains.   

“On each deployment I’d sit in the cockpit of the chartered plane and ask questions. I was curious and I wanted to learn more,” said Cosyns. “You never knew what you were getting into. One of the scariest times was flying from Kuwait to Iraq. No one taught you what it was like to be shot at or what to do if bullets are coming at you. You learned on the job. You learned to adjust air speeds and altitudes and to keep moving because if you stopped you could get shot. We learned to adjust to the situation like flying just above the treetops or landing on ships over the Persian Gulf at 2 a.m.”

Working as an air attack pilot meant different duties on different days for Cosyns who was part of a 24-craft unit. Some days he provided watch for ground troops keeping a look out for any surprise attacks and other days he escorted ground convoys transporting everything including food, fuel, mail and supplies. Other days they were escorting VIPs – some who were there to perform for the troops – such as country music icon Toby Keith; others were there with political agendas – such as former US Secretary of State John Kerry and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

How did his military experience prepare Cosyns as a LifeLine pilot?

“It’s about being ready to react and respond to the call,” said Cosyns. “My job is to fly the medical crew safely from point A to point B. Whether it’s a baby, or a 70-year-old man, I can’t let anything influence me to rush and make a decision that could cause a mishap.”

— By T.J. Banes, Associate Senior Journalist at IU Health.
   Reach Banes via email at T.J. Banes or on Twitter @tjbanes.

How do you date with an ostomy bag? How do tell a potential spouse that you may not be able to have children? How do you explain multiple surgical scars?

Two high school friends – Shanea Brodhacker and Gwen Brack – know how life changes after a diagnosis. They know how illness can limit and even prohibit some activities typical to most young adults. They also know how to make the most of life as they know it – living with a serious illness such as cancer.

Broadhacker’s brother, Dax was 21 when he was diagnosed with Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors (GIST), a rare form of cancer.  He spent his 20’s living with the disease while trying to navigate a “normal” young adult life.  Six years older than Shanea, Dax graduated from Indiana University with a double major, pursued his career and continued to live life to the fullest while fighting cancer. He passed three days before his 31^st birthday.

Shanea met Brack – both 30 – when they were students at Martinsville High School.  Back too was 21, and a junior at DePauw University when she was diagnosed with stage IV rectal cancer. Now in remission, Brack remembers Dax’s struggle and his will to fight for 10 years.

So when Broadhacker approached her friend with an idea to honor her brother’s memory, Brack was on board. Out of that friendship was born – Dax’s Dream Fund, an effort to cultivate big and small joys for young adults living with cancer.

“We have experienced both the best and worst times of our lives together, and that isn’t something you can say about many people,” said Brack.  “I held Shanea at her brother’s funeral, and Shanea held me when I found out I had cancer. And we’ve held each other on the edge of a sailboat, on the Mediterranean Sea, with the most incredible sunshine in the background, as we laughed and smiled endlessly, counting our blessings – each other.”

The two friends recently kicked off Dax’s Dream Fund by meeting with social workers and delivering goodie bags to IU Health Simon Cancer Center along with surveys for patients ages 18-35.

Two fundraisers –“Dax-a-paloozas” – have created a start up fund for the effort, supporting specific patient requests.

“We’re trying to hit a patient demographic that is often overlooked,” said Brack, who has been through chemotherapy, radiation and multiple surgeries.

 “This group of people are going in to such a transitional point in their lives and then they have the disease and the hospital thing put on them. So, if concert tickets bring small joys then, we want to get them concert tickets. For others, that joy may be going to a Colts game, or having someone sit with them through infusion, or bringing them a bowl of soup or talking to them to them about anything but their health.”

The women know the importance of family support but they say they also recognize the importance of continuing a life that is just beginning as an adult – marked by independence.

“The illness adds a new dimension to that stage of life,” said Broadhacker. “It’s difficult to talk about the illness and symptoms related to the illness with just anyone. Our hope is to create socials where people can foster friendships with others who understand, relate and laugh over dinner or coffee.

To generate interest, the two have created a Facebook page “Dax’s Dream Fund.” A bumble bee is their symbol for making dreams come true, accompanied by a quote from A.S. Waldrop: “According to the laws of aerodynamics, the bumble bee cannot fly; its body is too heavy for its wings, and that is the simple reason why. But the bumblebee doesn’t know this fact, and so it flies anyway for all to see. Remember this when you’re losing faith or hope . . . God’s proof that the impossible can be.”

— By T.J. Banes, Associate Senior Journalist at IU Health.
   Reach Banes via email at T.J. Banes or on Twitter @tjbanes.

The baby’s name, if she is a girl, will be Elliott Ann.

Elliott – her grandma’s maiden name. Ann – her grandma’s middle name.

The baby will be born at IU Health West Hospital. The hospital where, one year ago, her grandma died. The hospital where, one year ago, her mom and dad were married.

This baby on the way for Kristin and Brian Powers is a remarkable, insistent sign that life is most certainly a cycle. That life is a battle, full of defeats and of victories.

That life is happy and life is devastating.

Kristin (Owens) Powers has lived all of that in one year. And today, as she and her husband celebrate one year of marriage, she feels a bittersweet wave of emotions.

Her mom, Cheryl Owens (formerly Cheryl Ann Elliott), would have loved to be here, a bright ray of sunshine and cheer to celebrate with them on their one-year anniversary.

She would have reveled in her daughter being pregnant, with a baby on the way.

A baby that would be her namesake.

***

When Kristin Powers was married Jan. 3 inside a hospital room as her mom battled Stage 4 cancer, she suspected the honeymoon would be a funeral.

They didn’t talk about it. Her mom hated talking about dying. She despised it. The road to her death had come so rapidly. 

Cheryl Owens started coughing in June of 2016. The doctors, at first, thought it was allergies, then an upper respiratory infection, then pneumonia, then a fungal infection. The coughing got worse and it persisted.

In early October, doctors found a 5-inch tumor on Cheryl’s kidney. It had spread to her lungs. On Nov. 1, Cheryl had surgery to have her left kidney removed. By mid-December, she had started chemotherapy.

And then, on Jan. 3 of 2017, Kristin Powers got the early morning text from her mom as she lay in a hospital bed. It was filled with emojis of crying faces. There was nothing else doctors could do. Her mom didn’t have much time left.

Kristin Powers’ wedding was set for February. That date dissipated. Her mom had to be there. She made the decision to ask the hospital to get married there – right in her mom’s room.

Together, they concocted a whirlwind wedding. And it was beautiful.

It’s still hard to believe that Powers describes her wedding as the “perfect wedding ceremony” — given that her mom lay there with days to live. And yet, it was the perfect ceremony.

And it was the perfect way for her mom to spend her final days on this earth, celebrating her daughter’s marriage.

***

Cheryl Owens died at age 55 on Jan. 8 of 2017  – just five days after the wedding. 

“I’m thankful it happened that way,” Kristin Powers says. “It gave everybody something really to look forward to.”

Her mom did not want to discuss her fate. So, as dozens of friends and family members came to her room, Cheryl Owens could talk about the wedding.

The day after the wedding, when the photographer dropped off the photos, she could talk about those. 

“She was able to just enjoy people talking about that,” Kristin Powers says, “instead of the big elephant in the room.”

It’s a good way to remember her mom, smiling and with tears of joy. And it’s a wonderful thing to think about how she would feel with the latest turn of events for her daughter.

Kristin and Brian Powers found out they were expecting a baby in November. It gave the couple something to feel happy about as they approached the first holiday season without Cheryl Owens.

The baby is due Aug. 3.

Kristin Powers believes that is no coincidence. Both she and her brother were born in August.

“I am pregnant the exact same time frame mom was pregnant,” she says. “I am going through the exact same cycle.”

And she is sure her mom is somewhere smiling.

Read more about Kristin Powers’ hospital wedding here.

— By Dana Benbow, Senior Journalist at IU Health.

   Reach Benbow via email dbenbow@iuhealth.org or on Twitter @danabenbow.

The flu season is off to an early and strong start. Flu activity has been reported as widespread across 36 states, with 21 of those states―including Indiana―reporting a high number of flu cases. To protect patients and prevent further spreading, IU Health is limiting visitors to many of its healthcare facilities.

See the list below for IU Health hospitals that have implemented or will implement visitor restrictions. Other facilities may be added tothe list, so please check back for the most current information.

Temporary visitor restrictions mean:  

• Only essential adults (18 or older) will be allowed to visit patients.
• Visitors who have flu-like symptoms, such as fever, cough, chills or muscle aches, will not be allowed to visit patients.
• Patients with flu-like symptoms will be asked to wear a surgical or isolation mask.

IU Health recognizes the role that family plays in a patient’s recovery. Exceptions to the policy may be made under special circumstances. 

What do you like best about the gynecological surgeries you specialize in?

“First and foremost I like it because it provides treatment for female patients who need surgery in a manner that minimizes post-operative discomfort, maximizes the speed of recovery, and minimizes the scaring which I think are all important to women.”

What do you tell patients who come to you uncertain or afraid of their diagnosis or treatment?

“It’s a journey – the whole process – I’d like my patients to feel this is journey that we’re all on together from when they come in and talk about concerns and symptoms and we give them a management and treatment. It’s important that she make it with her provider as opposed to be dictated to what needs to be done.”

You celebrated your 20^th anniversary on October 11, to Dr. Gregory Raff, also and OB/GYN. You have two children, Taylor, 16, and Gavin, 14. What’s it like being married to someone in the same profession?

“It’s both good and bad – mostly good. When I have late night in OR, he gets it. He’s been there. If you have complications, or heaven forbid, lose a patient, it’s nice to go home to someone who is sympathetic and empathetic.”

How do you unwind?

“My daughter runs cross country and track and my son plays soccer and lacrosse. We do a lot as a family.  We like to hike, ski, SCUBA dive and spend time walking our three dogs.”

You are a fan of yoga and became an instructor. Tell us about that.

“When our kids were young, I had sort of given up hobbies. But as they began sleeping through the night, I found a yoga class I could take after they were in bed. It was perfect because it was after bedtime and it still gave me the exercise and stress relief I needed. I became hooked. I did one teacher training and went back for a second one. I was doing some weight training and injured my back and ended up with a ruptured disc. After surgery, yoga was instrumental helping me heal.”

Any reflections on women’s healthcare in general?

“I really enjoy treating women with fibroids. In part because for women – either due to a lack of time or denial of symptoms – they don’t always address enlarging masses that can cause pain, or bleeding. It’s always invariably a patient who has been told she has to have it removed with a large incision or hysterectomy who learns that we can do minimally invasive surgery and preserve her uterus. I just had a young patient come in recently who had a procedure that preserved her uterus and she can still have a chance to have a family.”

Advice for women about caring for their health:

“Unfortunately, a lot of the ailments that occur in women especially in gynecological health – have no symptoms or only subtle symptoms. You can feel wonderful and not know anything is going on. Getting it early is the key. Give yourself time to see a healthcare provider that can do an assessment. That’s one of the best ways to assure good health.”

–By T.J. Banes, Associate Senior Journalist at IU Health. Reach Banes via email at

 T.J. Banes or on Twitter @tjbanes.