Hire power beat cancer
RUSCHELL Boone. Channel 1 street reporter since 2002, Channel 1 news anchor since 2010. Off the air since June. Back on air come spring. Chemo five times. The story: Her Jamaican mom emigrated to The Bronx 1956. Ruschell cashiered at a supermarket, then Lord & Taylor. 2005 she married TV techie Todd. They had two boys. Home was Astoria.
February 2022 she told “sister girlfriend” Cheryl Wills, “I’m usually so upbeat but I’m not feeling well.”
Next: Emergency. Local hospital, doctor, diagnosis, tough news, then ambulance to Sloan-Kettering. “My husband with me. Petrified, he stayed there two days. Friends watched our kids.
“Chemo, surgery, many months. I prayed. Before my first go-round I actually heard That Voice say, ‘Let go. Let God do His work.’ I sat in my chair and felt The Power.
Though terrified, I knew I’d beat this.
“I never asked, ‘Why me?’ I felt that would defeat me. I understood nobody picked on me. Knowing God would help me, I felt His strength. Understood I had to be an advocate for myself. My husband didn’t miss one chemo. He’d spend three hours at the hospital.”
Between us both hugging, wiping our eyes and her bringing me Jamaican rum and flowers, she ate tiny sandwich bites. “I can have six small meals a day. Nothing greasy. I’ve lost 50 pounds. I threw out my whole wardrobe. October I learned I was OK.” And her job?
“The second operation I refused to lie in bed. My co-workers sent gifts. Some overnighted. Our terrific reporters said: ‘Don’t worry. Your time table. We’re here for you when you’re ready.’ Pat Kiernan kept calling, Frank DiLella stayed in touch, Annika Pergament sent flowers, Errol Louis repeated phone calls, Jamie Stelter wrote cards, Lewis Dodley also.
“And management gave me strength. They paid me. They sent food. They even came to chemo.”