Katie Pfeiffer was determined to graduate with the Siena College Class of 2023, and she wasn’t going to let cancer stand in her way.
Katie will proudly receive her bachelor’s degree in marketing at Sunday’s Commencement. With family and friends cheering her on, she will walk across the stage knowing she not only successfully completed all the requirements for her diploma, but that she waged a successful battle with Hodgkin’s lymphoma while she lived the life of an (almost) typical college student.
Toward the end of her junior year, Katie felt occasional pain in her left shoulder that wasn’t responding to over-the-counter meds and didn’t feel like one of the run-of-the-mill aches she had sustained during years studying dance. Then, strangely, she developed intense itching all over her body. When everything intensified over the summer to the point where she lost mobility in her arm, she went to an orthopedist for an X-ray. He ordered an emergency MRI for the very next day.
“That was my first sign that something was wrong,” said Katie.
The MRI revealed a malignant tumor near her shoulder blade. When Katie called her doctor for test results, rather than returning Katie’s call directly he called her mom, Christine, at work to share the news. When Katie drove home that day, her parents greeted her in the driveway. In tears.
“When they told me, I just went into shock,” she said. “I went numb. I couldn’t cry, I couldn’t scream. I was just silent.”
Medical tests had resulted in a diagnosis of Stage 2 Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which as Katie explained with calm positivity, was a cancer diagnosis not uncommon in people her age, and one that could be beat. Her doctor said she could make Katie well again.
She was faced with several rounds of chemotherapy followed by radiation, but she didn’t want to lose her place in the Class of ’23. She made the decision to stay at home in Newtown, Connecticut for the fall ’22 semester, and take classes online while undergoing treatment. She would have the best of both worlds: the comforts of home, family and friends, with her Siena education continuing online.
“Siena was very accommodating, and Dean [Mike] Papadopoulos was incredibly helpful about working with me so I could complete my courses,” she said.
Her study-from-home set-up continued until partway through the spring semester, when she felt she was ready to come back to campus and finish out her senior year. (And her fall semester grades? Dean’s List.)
Katie said the love from her family, home friends and campus friends kept her going. That, and a college diploma that served as a light at the end of a dark tunnel.
“I needed something to look forward to,” she explained. “I wasn’t going to let cancer take my goal from me. I would have bad days and good days, but the thing that kept me going was being able to graduate on time with my class.”
Seth Coluccio ’23 has been a huge support, and Elizabeth Mattison MSA ’23 was a Zoom tutor and good friend to Katie during her months of treatment.
“She is very dedicated. Even when she didn't feel well, she would power through and finish each assignment,” said Elizabeth. “I'm proud of her for not only passing, but excelling in those hard business classes.”
Katie’s parents, Christine and Mel, and her brother Andrew were also behind her every step of the way, with Dad serving as her “chemo buddy” by accompanying her to treatments. She said her Dad held her hand during treatments, and treated her to McDonald’s fries afterwards.
“He was a rock for me,” she said. “I know it was very hard for him because he lost two sisters to cancer.”
Her parents gave credit right back.
“She has been an inspiration to us through her determination to complete her goal of graduating despite her major health setback,” they said. “She not only accomplished it but she even made the Dean's List. We are so proud of her.”
During her four years at Siena Katie has sung with the a cappella group Lost in Sound (“we became like a family”), took part in Hip Hop Club, and was a member of the Admissions Pathfinders, all of which she said “really made me feel a part of the Siena community.” She has spent her last weeks on campus making last memories with friends, and working with the Career Center to polish her resume and amp up her presence on LinkedIn. With a Siena degree in marketing, she’ll have a lot of career options.
“I didn’t want to let cancer take away my life,” she explained. “Not my actual life, or my day-to-day living. Knowing that I could graduate took my mind off of my medical issues.”
Katie is now in remission. When she walks across the stage at Commencement on Sunday, she’ll be thinking about everyone who helped her through the past months.
“I just want to live my life to the fullest. You don’t appreciate what you have until you’ve lived in a state of fear, worrying that you might lose it all. I’ll have to keep an eye on my health for the rest of my life. But I just want to tell everyone: never give up on your dreams and goals. It sounds cliché, but if I had given up on graduating, I don’t think I would have been able to make it through. Life is short, and anything can happen, but it is so precious, and you can do anything you can put your mind to.”