After three bouts with Melanoma, tennis star returns to the courts

For NCAA athletes, finding the time to fit anything in their schedules other than classes and practices can be the ultimate challenge. But for senior Karie Schlukebir, tennis has been her escape as she faces an opponent with much more than a serve-and-volley attack. \nFor the past six years, Schlukebir has been playing the match of her life in a battle against cancer.\nThe Kalamazoo, Mich., native first picked up a racquet when her mother, a tennis instructor, introduced her to the game. As a multisport athlete in high school, it was tennis that sent her to IU. But when she signed as a member of the Cream and Crimson, she had no idea tennis would act as her support group through her most difficult of times.\nAfter an exciting first semester and fall season of her freshman year, Schlukebir returned home over the winter vacation for a routine doctor's appointment. One month later, after her first collegiate match, Schlukebir's parents broke the news that she had been diagnosed with Melanoma.\nThe diagnosis meant she would be forced to devote all her attention to recovery, beginning with a leave of absence from the team and school in order to undergo surgery to remove the cancer. Followed by a month-long treatment of the drug Interfuron, Schlukebir was forced to sit out her freshman season and follow her teammates from hospital beds and home. Additional injections three times a week for a period of 11 months brought positive results, and not long after her diagnosis, Schlukebir was back roaming the baseline.\n"After (the treatment), it was such a relief to get back to playing," Schlukebir said. "I never knew how much I would miss it, and it truly made me realize how much I love to play."\nReturning to school and the team, Schlukebir began the fall of her second year at IU reenergized and eager to play. Unfortunately, her fight with the disease was not yet finished.\nSchlukebir was notified the cancer had spread to three spots in her lungs. Yet again, after a Christmas-time check-up, she was forced to suspend her IU career to receive additional treatment.\nBeginning a program of bio-chemotherapy, a treatment available in only two locations in the country, Schlukebir split her time between a California treatment facility and her home in Michigan. Schlukebir completed six rounds of treatment in approximately six months while her teammates were on their way to a 16-10 record.\nInitial scans after the bio-chemotherapy showed that Schlukebir's body had eliminated the cancer spots on her lung. \nStill, Schlukebir's problems were not over. Just as she had learned to gut out wins in three-set matches, in February of 2003, she would be forced into a third battle, as a cancerous mass on the back of her arm and a additional spot on her lung were detected during a treatment scan.\nSince then, Schlukebir has been cancer-free, allowing her to focus on the 2004 tennis campaign. \nShe still adheres to a regular maintenance program of self-injections and treatment in California every two months.\nWhen asked if her time away from the team has hindered success between the lines, Schlukebir said she does not look at it that way.\n"Honestly, I don't ever look back and think that I could have been a better tennis player if this hadn't happened to me," she said. "If anything, it has probably made me want to play more just because I couldn't, and it made me really appreciate when I could play."\nEven though tennis was forced to the backburner, Schlukebir has held an amazingly positive attitude and is finishing out her senior season of eligibility. With all Schlukebir has had to overcome, the NCAA has granted her eligibility for the seasons she missed, and her presence on this year's squad could not be more important, said IU coach Lin Loring.\n"Now, we're just glad everything is okay," Loring said of his standout senior spending time away from practice. "It was really tough the two times she had to take leave from the team, tough on her and tough on the team. But now when she leaves every couple months, it's all part of the routine. She's a real trooper, and it usually takes a day of hitting to get going again, but she bounces back quickly."\nAnd according to Schlukebir, tennis, her coaches and her team have been integral in bouncing back so quickly.\n"Being on (the team) helped me through everything because (my teammates) are one of my biggest support groups.\n"I'm of the attitude that everything happens for a reason. While I haven't figured out why, it really has made me appreciate life more. And maybe this was meant to happen because it makes me want to play tennis more. I'm just taking it day by day. And I guess when adversity hits, it makes you realize what you really want."\nIn addition to lending its physical and moral support, the IU squad took time away from its fall tournament season to participate in the Hoosiers Outrun Cancer event, a 5K run event with all proceeds benefiting the Bloomington Hospital's Olcott Center for Cancer Education.\n"I don't think the team looks forward to running it," Schlukebir said. "But the fact they sacrifice the time and put forth the effort for me means a lot."\nSenior Linda Tran, a longtime friend and Schlukebir's doubles partner, said she is one of those who dreads the run but participates in the event every year for her teammate and the philanthropy.\n"I suffer through the run every year," Tran said. "But it's not about the run. It's about supporting Schlukebir and the charity, so we have fun with it and do it for her."\nThis spring, Schlukebir is healthy, feeling well and on her way to improving on a 5-1 singles and 4-2 doubles record. In her last semester wearing cream and crimson, she maintains her positive outlook and cheery demeanor, with the next of her life's challenges coming in the form of the powerhouse Duke Blue Devils, who invade the IU Tennis Center this Sunday.\n-- Contact staff writer Jeff Fuldauer at jfuldaue@indiana.edu.