TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --
Bravery, hard work and determination. These words exemplify what it takes to be resilient.
When Carol Wagner was only 20, she decided to join the military to provide herself with a structured environment that she couldn’t create for herself, she said.
In her 21-year Air Force career, she was able to accomplish extraordinary things. Wagner paved the way for other female crew chiefs by becoming the first female dedicated crew chief for the F-22 Raptor. Hard work and determination were the staples of her career.
“She was seldom given menial tasks. Her time and effort were better suited for impossible or near-impossible tasks,” said Ron Wagner, her husband of 30 years.
Today, Wagner continues her service as an advanced program office personnel security manager with the 325th Fighter Wing at Tyndall. Her 10-year career as a Tyndall employee would present an unforeseen challenge.
In 2008, everything in her life seemed normal. Wagner was even planning to begin a new healthy lifestyle and break away from old habits. However, she was about to come face-to-face with an obstacle no one saw coming.
“I never suspected anything was wrong,” Wagner said.
Wagner thought she might have some of the classic symptoms of diabetes, a disease that runs in her family.
“I had the round belly and all of the suspecting markers,” Wager said.
This raised concern, because her father passed away from diabetes when he was only 61. To get her life back on track, she consulted a doctor and made an appointment for a health check-up.
Wagner had some blood work done as part of her routine care. It was just a simple blood test. Worst case scenario, she thought, she would have to consult a dietician to create a proper diet plan as a preventive measure for diabetes. The results from the blood test would, however, bring to light an unexpected and daunting truth.
Wagner received a phone call from her doctor. This was when the doctor first uttered the word “Leukemia.”
“I didn’t even know what Leukemia was,” she said with a puzzled look. “At the time I didn’t know it was cancer.”
Wagner began her journey by seeing a specialist to undergo more testing. This would give the doctors a clearer picture about what her disease entailed.
At this time, Wagner’s family still did not know about the bad news she had been dealing with.
“I didn’t want to scare my family until I knew for sure that this was real,” Wagner added. “Hiding what I was going through wasn’t easy especially when I realized my two sons started to pick up something was wrong.”
The day finally arrived a month and a half after her initial diagnosis. She decided to tell her children of the news about her Leukemia.
She told her two teenage boys to turn off the TV because they needed to have a talk.
“Ryan, my youngest, grabs the remote and says no,” Wagner said. “I replied to him by saying, ‘Son, I said to turn the TV off.’ He says back to me, ‘no, TV-off talks are always bad.’”
Wagner puts her mind at ease by telling herself, “It is going to be fine, it may not be fine now, but it will be.”
“It wasn’t easy to tell them, but we are a practical family,” Wagner noted.
Kyle, her oldest son, said, “I was in shock for the first five minutes, but deep down I knew she would fight hard and be alright.”
The family wasn’t going to give up without a fight. Her strength and resiliency came from her upbringing, faith and family by her side.
“I’m not exaggerating when I say it was a physical blow to the gut,” said Wagner’s husband. “I wiped the tears away from my eyes and told her that was the last time she would see me cry about it. I told her my new goal was to help her know more about it and defeat it.”
Her husband goes on to explain how her spiritual fitness helped in the healing process.
“She not only had faith in God’s plan, but faith that she would beat it,” said Ron. “Setting aside those fears has helped her set an example of strength to others.”
The alternative for taking targeted gene therapy, a form of chemotherapy, is a bone marrow transplant. That surgery, however, comes at a risk, a 15 percent mortality rate, Wagner said.
Even though her medication causes her a lot of pain, what’s most important to her is that she is alive and with her family, she noted.
“I have never felt limited,” Wagner added. “There isn’t anything I can’t do.”
Her positive outlook is infectious. She tells others instead of asking “why me,” you should ask “why not me.” She continues to be a light to her family and friends.
There is no cure for Leukemia, but Wagner said, she lives a happy and fulfilling life in remission, waking up every day ready to fight.