A group shot of Lindsey and her True North Treks counterparts during their Green River Utah trek in September 2017.
If you missed the first showing on True North Treks’ “To The Stranger (Who Has Loved You),” you can watch it on Friday, November 13, 2020, from 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. CST (8 – 9:30 p.m. EST)! Register to watch it here.
In 2013, just three months after graduating from Ferrum College with her Bachelor of Science in environmental planning and development, Lindsey Shelton Deitterick was diagnosed with cystosarcoma phyllodes, an extremely rare sarcoma of the breast. She was 22 years old.
“I was in shock,” she said. “Phyllodes tumors themselves are very rare, accounting for only about one percent of all breast cancers. It is even rarer for them to be malignant.”
But Lindsey’s was malignant.
As a student at Ferrum College, Lindsey had noticed a lump in her breast a few months before graduation. Upon evaluation, she was told it was a cyst; however, in just weeks, the lump had grown from the size of a marble or grape, to a the size of a bar of soap.
She initially underwent a biopsy which revealed a tumor so large that it bent the biopsy needle. Two weeks later, Lindsey had a lumpectomy which resulted in another follow-up surgery to remove even more tissue. She was offered chemotherapy and radiation but declined both because those treatments aren’t known to have high success rates for cystosarcoma phyllodes.
“It was actually more risky for me to take chemo or radiation,” she explained. “I might have gotten another type of cancer from the treatment.”
Lindsey eventually opted for a single-side mastectomy and then underwent reconstructive surgery, for a total of four surgeries at UVA.
After her surgeries, she went through a dark, deep depression for a while. “I lost a lot of friends during that time, people I had known since kindergarten, because they didn’t understand what I was going through and it scared them,” Lindsey explained.
She decided to temporarily relocate from her hometown of Nathalie, VA, to Roatán, an island off the northern coast of Honduras, where she lived with an aunt and worked on a tour boat for about two years. “It was a great relief,” she said.
Six months after returning from Honduras, she started trying to find other young adults who had battled cancer. She wanted to connect with people her own age who had undergone a similar experience. “At that point, I still hadn’t met anyone my own age that had been diagnosed with cancer,” she explained.
Lindsey found peace by practicing yoga and mindful meditation during the trek.
In her research, Lindsey came across True North Treks, a non-profit group who helps teens and young adults who have cancer or have survived cancer to connect with each other through backpacking and canoeing trips in the wilderness. She decided to sign up for one of the treks. There were only a couple of places left on a week-long trek to canoe the Green River in Utah. She read the qualifications: she had to be fit to do the trek, and she would need to be comfortable in front of a camera. This trek was going to be part of a documentary called To The Stranger (Who Has Loved You), which premiered in February of 2020.
“On a whim, I decided to go for it,” she said. “I was worried about putting myself out there, but I needed to do it at that point. I was one of the last people to get a spot on that trek.”
In September 2017, Lindsey joined a group of nine other survivors of various types of cancer to paddle 55 miles on Utah’s Green River. She was the youngest at 26 years old; the oldest was 34. “It was very rewarding,” she said. “I had never been that far out west. It was a great adventure.”
Even though she had prepared for it, having a three-person documentary crew follow her for a entire week was difficult. She was instructed to make video diaries and wore a mic the entire trip. Even her canoe was equipped with a Go-Pro.
“It was interesting, to say the least. As soon as we landed in Grand Junction, Colorado, we had a camera in our face. It was a little shocking,” she remembered.
While she was on the trek in Utah, Lindsey and the group delved into some very deep emotions. She said that sometimes the camera felt like an invasion. At one point, Lindsey and another survivor wanted to have a private conversation. “We found a bunch of huge boulders to scramble up. We were talking and we looked over, and there was a guy with a camera trying to creep over the side of the rock! Some of our conversation made it into the documentary,” she laughed. “I like having those memories now.”
After completing the trek, the documentary’s producers wanted to learn more about Lindsey, her life, and her backstory. Throughout the rest of 2017 and into 2018, she was followed and filmed intermittently, and completed her own video diaries for the documentary. In fact, one of the cameramen even attended her wedding to get more footage.
Once the trek was complete, Lindsey felt a renewal of herself and the return of confidence that cancer and treatment had initially stolen from her. “I felt more ‘me’ than I had since my diagnosis,” she explained. “I came into myself more.”
In fall 2019, Lindsey was able to bring her husband Ryan on the same trek she took in 2017.
That confidence inspired her to reconnect with Ryan, also from Nathalie, who had been asking her out for the last decade. She had always turned him down before, but in January 2018, she was the one to ask him for a date. “Among many other things, I also credit the trek to helping me step out of my comfort zone and ask Ryan out,” she said.
The couple married in September 2018 and are now expecting their first child in November, a son they will name Boone Avery. About a year ago, Lindsey was able to take Ryan on the same Green River trek she completed. “It was really gratifying,” she said. “My husband was able to see into the eyes of other survivors and hear their perspectives, not just mine. He is truly one of my biggest supporters.”
Now, Lindsey works at VIPKid teaching English as a second language. She’s been there since September 2019.
“I am good! I’m happier than I’ve ever been. Even though it sounds cliche, it’s the truth,” said Lindsey. “My health is good. I’m extremely healthy. I have yearly check-ups and now I’m seven years cancer-free.”
The documentary, To The Stranger (Who Has Loved You), will air again in the coming weeks. Check the True North Treks’ website to see air dates and times when they are announced.
