Mosman benefit set for July 21

By DELANIA TRIGG, Register Staff Writer

Many times, a bad thing happens to a person when everything else seems to be going well.

That’s the way it was for Shanna Mosman.

When Mosman learned she has cancer, she was startled. Like many other people who are diagnosed with a serious illness, she felt she had always had good health.

“When you find out you have cancer, it gives you a whole other outlook on life,” Mosman said.

Although both Mosman and her husband, Brian Paske, work full-time, the couple does not have health insurance coverage.

Mosman’s friends and family are trying to help the young family survive financial hardships and the physical and emotional ravages of Shanna’s disease.

They are set to host a benefit for Mosman at 5:30 p.m., Saturday, July 21 at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Gainesville. The hall is located at 1725 N. Interstate 35 near the intersection of Highway 82 on the frontage road in Gainesville.

A truck dance, meal and auction are scheduled.

At the time of her diagnosis, Mosman was doing well. She is a young woman with a husband, a three-year-old son, a job, a home and, according to her friends, a bright outlook on life.

The former Gainesville resident moved with her husband, Brian Paske, and the couple’s son, Brandon, to the east Texas town of DeBerry to help run Shanna’s father’s trucking company.

Although she has been gone a few years, Mosman said she still considers herself a Gainesville girl.

She asked that her maiden name — Mosman — be used for this story so locals will know who she is.

“People will know me by ‘Mosman,’” she pointed out.

Earlier this year, the couple received some unwelcome news when Mosman was diagnosed with an aggressive form of bladder cancer.

Receiving the correct diagnosis was a drawn-out process made more complicated, Mosman said, because at first, her doctor did not consider her illness to be anything other than a urinary tract infection.

Precious time was wasted while she completed regime after regime of antibiotics.

“The doctor thought I was too young to have that type of cancer,” said during a telephone interview recently.

Finally, after consulting five other physicians about her symptoms which included blood in her urine and a persistent pain in her left side, Mosman got the correct diagnosis.

“He (her doctor) ran some tests and did a biopsy and it came back as cancer,” she said.

Mosman said her faith remains strong despite the devastating diagnosis.

“If God brings us to it, He will bring us through it,” she said.

Mosman’s family and friends are also behind her.

“She is a just a sweet, bubbly girl,” Mosman’s uncle, Jim Mosman said of his niece.

Mosman was at home, recovering from a barrage of chemotherapy treatments which she said leave her violently ill when she called the Register to talk about her disease, her treatments and the fund raiser that is slated for later this month.

She said she hopes to be well enough to attend the event, but she isn’t sure she will since the fundraiser falls very near one of her treatment days.

The fund raiser is a chance for Mosman to express her gratitude for the efforts many are making on her behalf, but she said her doctor does not intend to postpone her treatment for any reason.

Doctors believe the timing of the treatments is vital to her recovery, she said, and she cannot afford to miss or to delay a treatment, she said.

The day she talked to a Register reporter, Mosman said was one of her better days.

“Right now, I feel okay. I’m good,” Paske said when asked how she is holding up.

She was trying to deal with the pain of a mouth full of ulcers — another side effect of her chemo treatments.

Her doctor prescribed a soothing mouthwash to heal the ulcers, but even with the medicated rinse, Mosman said eating anything is difficult.

The chemotherapeutic agents doctors are using for her treatments are older generation drugs with brutal side effects, she explained.

Mosman said after a treatment it takes her a few days to recover. By the time she is feeling fairly well again, it’s time for another round.

She has undergone a series of tests and evaluations and has endured countless hospital stays during the course of her illness.

Medical bills are adding up and the couple does not have health insurance.

Family members say Mosman is in a lot of pain but that she is undergoing the treatments to gain time with her young son.

There is the possibility the disease has spread to her colon, intestines, kidneys and reproductive organs, according to a press release her friends and family put together.

Earlier this year, Mosman said she was scheduled to undergo a procedure to remove her bladder and construct a replacement for it when her doctor made a second heartbreaking discovery.

“We were already in Houston, and the doctor called and canceled my surgery because it had metastasized to my back,” she said.

She said she was uncertain whether or not the surgery will take place. Doctors, she reported, have not yet decided.

Since mid-May Mosman has undergone chemotherapy treatment at Houston’s M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

Friends say the chemotherapy treatments were initiated to prevent the spread of cancer to other areas of Mosman’s body and to try to arrest the cancer that is already present.

But the treatments are expensive.

That’s why Mosman’s friends and family decided to hold the fund raiser.

Items already donated for the benefit auction include a “real slick 35 Massey Ferguson tractor and a handmade quilt,” according to Mosman’s uncle and aunt Jimmy and Barbara Mosman of Moss Lake.

Benefit organizers are also selling raffle tickets for a new Ford F-150 pickup truck or $13,000 cash, he added.

The money raised during the fund raiser will be applied to Mosman’s medical bills which are, according to her uncle, already extremely high.

“It’ll just be a drop in the bucket, but we’re still hoping to help her,” he said.

Friends also point out that the couple has been going to Houston for Mosman’s treatments and cannot work while they are traveling. Both work for Mosman’s father’s company.

Their son, Brandon, spends time with his aunt while she and Brian go to the hospital, Mosman said.

Organizers say they would appreciate any donations of items or gift certificates to the auction.

Shanna Mosman is the granddaughter of the late Ed and the late Faye Wardell and the late Leo and the late Bernadine Mosman.

For more information contact Jimmy Mosman at (940) 727-2940, Joanie Raley (940) 736-0977 or Monica Laux at (940) 665-8330.

Meanwhile, Mosman’s attitude is bright.

“It’s gonna be okay,” she said without a hint of self-pity.

At the time of her interview, Mosman said she had just had the chance to talk to Gainesville resident and pediatric cancer patient, Krista Brewer.

The experience left her thinking about her own illness.

“It’s hard when you see a child that is sick. I’d rather have it myself than any kid. She (Krista) is the happiest little thing I’ve ever seen. But it’s horrible for a child to go through this,” she said.

It’s almost as if Mosman is more worried about those around her than she is about herself.

During her interview, she laughed frequently and expressed hope for her eventually recovery.

“I told my dad this is just a detour in my life, and I know there’s gonna be an end to this,” she said.

Reporter Delania Trigg may be

contacted at dtrigg@ntin.net

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