■ Middle school color guard coach, 20, in treatment for leukemia

By Keri Luiz
Assistant Editor

Cara Hansen has a smile that lights up a room.

Her family and many friends want Benicia to keep seeing that smile for a long time to come.

Hansen, a 2009 Benicia High School graduate and coach of the Benicia Middle School Color Guard squad, was diagnosed with leukemia in February, and has been undergoing treatment ever since.

The Diablo Valley College psychology student continues to face a harsh battery of tests and treatment in her battle against acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), which causes malignant white blood cells to continuously multiply and overproduce in the bone marrow.

And even with insurance, Hansen, who turns 21 on Aug. 16, faces mounting hospital bills — a year of leukemia treatment costs an estimated $225,000. 

And that’s where her community comes in: Family and former classmates are organizing a fundraiser for Hansen on Friday.

Benicia resident Peggy Sue Harris said in a way, her daughter is fortunate. That’s because her daughter was at home when the full impact of the disease hit.

“If she had been away at school, it would have been really serious because we wouldn’t have watched her decline,” Harris said.

That decline was very fast.

“She had an ear infection. She went to a doctor, they gave her antibiotics, but she didn’t get better. She kept getting worse.

“I thought she had mono. She had really dark circles under her eyes, no energy whatsoever, bruising all over. Of course as a mom you would never allow yourself to think she had leukemia.”

Still, Harris encouraged Hansen to get a blood test. She took it on a Thursday, and her white blood cell count was 60,000.

By Monday the count had tripled to 180,000.

“She was on the verge of stroking,” Harris said. “She fainted in the bathroom.”

Hansen spent the next seven weeks stabilizing in the hospital. She spent the seven weeks after that in chemotherapy.

She’s currently back in the hospital for a five-day stint of inpatient treatment, but Harris hopes her daughter will be out by Friday, in time to attend the fundraiser.

Classmates Michael Nasr and Annabelle Prasad helped organize the event, which will include music, dance and other performances. “A lot of us have been following what Cara has been going through since we found out that she had been diagnosed back in February,” said Nasr, now a bioengineering major at UC-Berkeley.

“Annabelle and I contacted each other. We decided we wanted to do something.” They came up with the idea for the “alumni showcase,” “where we could get a lot of people together who wanted to help out and show some support for Cara.”

The effort is very much appreciated, Peggy Sue Harris said.

“One bottle of chemo pills is $57, and that is with insurance. Her prescription costs are outrageous — all of her costs are outrageous.

“But like I tell everyone, I would mortgage the farm to get her better.”

To keep up with Cara Hansen’s fight against ALL, visit her Facebook page or www.carascure.bbnow.org, which also has a direct link for donations.

If You Go
The Alumni Showcase Benefit for Cara Hansen will take place Friday in the Performing Arts Building at Benicia High, 1101 Military West, from 6-8 p.m. Admission is $5 at the door.