58 SIDELINES APRIL 2014
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
Continued on page 60
that point I had a brand new tumor on my arm that surrounded
my humerus. On November 19, 2013, I became the first human
to have the anaerobic (dead) center of the tumor injected with
clostridium novi, a bacteria,” said Mindy. “My body recognized the
tumor with its bacterial infection, and my immune system attacked,
eating through the outer aerobic part of the tumor in order to get
to the infection. Within 48 hours the tumor wrapped around my
humerus and rotator cuff had dissolved. All signs of cancer in my
right arm and shoulder were gone.”
It was a miracle. On December 5, 2013, several friends on
Facebook re-posted Mindy’s status update in which she described
the treatment, announced that the tumor was gone and shared
several statements of a very joyous nature.
Mindy wrote: “I still have my arm, the pneumonia had resolved
itself, no heart abscess, blood pressure back to normal, labs and
vitals good, I’ve no more fever nor hallucinations and the tumor
most threatening to my life has been resolved. Doctors from six
teams smiling … I have amazing friends, God is here and I have
been blessed with a Christmas miracle.”
“Blessed” is a frequently used word when it comes to how Mindy
describes her life since that fateful diagnosis – even after eight
surgeries, 17 hepatic artery procedures, three liver embolizations,
eight chemotherapy regimes which lasted up to 18 months each,
one 90-day radiation treatment and the stresses of the past eight
years.
Unless she’s in Houston, she gets up and goes to work.
She keeps on going. She is an inspiration to anyone who has
experienced adversity, especially a health crisis. “I look back and
I’m so blessed, and every day that I get to be on this planet is a
Mindy and John outside the Casa de Dom, visiting John of God,
in Brazil.
Photo Courtesy of Mindy Darst
Maddy Darst competes Lightning Z, a large junior hunter.
Photo by Shawn McMillan
In January 2013, Mindy’s students from the mid-to-late 1980s held a Lochmoor reunion for their old coach (seated center, front row).
Photo Courtesy of Mindy Darst
