STAYING IN THE GAME
With chemo pump in tow, fan still makes it to NRG
Karen James’ chemotherapy pump doesn’t meet the requirements for the NFL’s clear bag security protocol.
When she showed up to a Texans game with the pump — in a black fanny pack strapped around her waist — she learned she now belonged in a different security line, where she would repeat the pack was “medically necessary” several times.
She laughs at the memory from the Texans’ preseason opener this season against New Orleans.
She has been attending Texans games at NRG Stadium for years, but that was the first time she’d arrived while receiving chemo treatment.
“It was pretty funny,” she said. “I got a few strange looks from people wondering what I was trying to bring inside.”
James, a season-ticket holder, hasn’t missed a home game since 2006.
The diagnosis
In July, she was diagnosed with Stage 4 colon cancer that had spread to her liver, but that wasn’t going to hold her back from showing up to see her team play.
The 50-year-old had to give up a lot for her illness, but she won’t give up going to games.
And she won’t give up hope that her beloved Texans are going to make the playoffs so she can attend another home game this season.
She’s currently on her third round of chemotherapy.
Cancer cells cover 75 percent of her liver. The hope is the chemo will bring that number to under 50 percent. Then she’ll have another surgery that can help her battle to beat the disease.
It hasn’t been easy, but James is optimistic as are her doctors at MDAnderson. She has a long road but a lot of hope.
A Houston-native, James was an Oilers fan and was devastated when the team left town. When the Texans started, she was on board immediately. To be in the building at games, she worked selling souvenirs in section 114.
By 2006, she had season tickets.
“I love the beginning of football season,” she said. “And I hate the end of it. I am so happy at games. I love being there, cheering them on. I love that they are a part of the city.”
Even after James found out about her illness there was no way she was giving up her tickets.
The diagnosis was shocking. She hadn’t been in any pain. She’d had some stomach problems the previous September but thought it was acid reflux. She went for blood work because the company she worked for — Cintas First Aid and Safety — encouraged it for their employees.
She got a call a week later and had more blood work done. In mid-July, she found out that she had advanced colon cancer that already had spread.
Her doctor and husband insisted she stop working.
“I had another full-time job now,” she said. “I needed to take care of myself.”
At the end of July, she had surgery on her colon. When she recovered from that, she started chemotherapy.
James was told how hard the treatment would be. She’d be sick, tired, exhausted. They’d hook her up one day a week with the chemo pump through a port in her chest. It would administer the medication for 46 hours then she would be disconnected and need the next couple of days to recover.
“I asked if I could start on Fridays,” she said. “Since I would already be at the stadium on Sundays, it would be easy for me to stop by after and get disconnected.
“My doctor thought I was crazy.”
A fellow football fan —“poor guy, he’s a Browns fan,” James said — Dr. Sunil Patel made it happen.
In addition to changing security lines, she had to make other adjustments. She planned to take each of her three grand- children to a game with her this year, but she couldn’t because they are too young to help take care of her.
She takes her husband or her mother, sometimes a good friend of hers.
“I need someone there if I get weak or sick or something bad happens,” she said.
Texans coach Bill O’Brien heard about James through MD Anderson. As someone who has seen cancer up close in his own family — his mother battled breast cancer — he was touched by James’ journey. He sent a field pass and took time before the team’s home game on Oct. 30 against the Detroit Lions to visit with her.
An inspiration
“What stood out to me the most was her battle, her toughness and how she is fighting to beat this, to survive,” O’Brien said. “And to know how much she loves the Texans is special. We think about that a lot as a team. Fans that are going through tough times like Karen — she’s coming to the game hooked up to get chemo just so she can be here for us.
“It’s an incredible story to me. She’s really inspiring to me.”
James has good days and bad but has been feeling well this week. She visited with her grandchildren, will spend time with her family on Christmas and of course, watch football.
And she will hope that her Christmas wishes come true — that she will continue to battle and beat cancer.
And, of course, that she gets to watch the Texans in the playoffs.