60 SIDELINES APRIL 2014
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
blessing,” Mindy said. “You have to look at cancer as a chronic
disease, not as a terminal illness. You have to stay on track and
keep working on it. There are four aspects. The physical is very
important: fitness and diet – what you eat. Mental: keep your brain
smart, stay on top of the world, watch George teach a lesson,
keep your mind working, keep learning. Emotional: get rid of your
stress, anger and resentment to your illness, keep your heart
open. The spiritual is the hardest one to accomplish and maintain,
but it’s the most important. If you learn to keep your heart open,
if you put love out into the universe, if you give love, you get love
back, and that’s so important to your healing and your health.
Be sure you appreciate your family and friends, Mother Earth,
everything that gives you joy.”
Mindy spent two weeks in 2012 and in 2013 with John of God
in central Brazil and credits that time for being a huge factor in
her spiritual healing. She’s planning another trip in 2014. “The
Mindy Darst you’re talking to now is very different from the Mindy
Darst of 1960-1990 without cancer,” she said. “I am so blessed
with the horses, ponies, children and the circle of friends I have.
It’s always hard to ask for help, but with the last few operations
and treatments I had to ask. Six friends took turns staying with
me in Houston at MD Anderson for a total of six weeks this last
winter so that my husband Greg could stay with the kids and keep
everything going. My children are such a joy. Maddy and John
were eight when all this started; they’re 16 1/2 now. They love
horses. They’re homeschooled. I adore my husband. We have a
wonderful relationship. I’m so blessed.”
Two and a half years ago, Mindy felt herself slowing down and
merged her business with Patty and Richard Rogers. “I can be in
Florida while Patty’s teaching and training her heart out at home in
Ohio in the cold weather, but it works for us,” said Mindy. “We kept
Patty and Richard’s colors and Lochmoor Stables. We had gotten
together in our 20s when we knew nothing and split up when we
thought we knew everything. Now we’re back together because
we have forgotten half of what we knew! We’re on the same page.
Too bad we didn’t figure that out in 1985.”
What they have figured out, however, is in place and Mindy
tries to make every moment of now count. “It isn’t really all about
John and Mindy
Photo by Cathrin Cammett/ShowFolio Photos
Some of Mindy’s favorite things: Time with kids, especially
watching them ride.
Photo by Cathrin Cammett/ShowFolio Photos
winning, which is nice when it happens – I’ll never turn down a
blue ribbon – really, it’s about living and doing,” Mindy said. “For
us it’s thrilling to watch the kids develop a passion for horses and
a passion for the sport. We have adults who are so appreciative;
they love to be taught. We don’t have a single customer who pulls
in the driveway and makes my stomach hurt. It’s a great club. It’s
more than just a stable. We are blessed with a lot of friendship.”
Mindy and the Rogers promote basic horsemanship. “We’re still
teaching riding, and the kids groom their own horses and play
games,” Mindy said. “They take three lessons a week and go to a
show and get pinned. It’s a steppingstone from the basics on up.
A six-figure horse does not mean you’re going to win. You have to
let the kids make mistakes. That’s how they learn to do it better.”
Mindy is involved in a new clinical trial at MD Anderson. The
goal of this trial is for the treatment to channel her body’s immune
system to go after the remaining systemic tumors. “The team of
doctors who care about me are trying to extend my longevity,”
said Mindy. “I’m right there with them. My children have been
through so much, my husband too – I’m doing well, I’m not doing
well – it’s been a lot of stress for them. I love my family and my
friends. I want to teach more, watch my children grow up and get
their children started on their first ponies. I have been blessed with
a lot of love and kindness. I want to be around for a long time. I’m
having too much fun. I love my life.”
Leiomyosarcoma (LMS) represents about two percent of all
sarcoma. It is a cancer of the smooth muscle cells found in most
parts of the body, including stomach, intestines, uterus, walls
of all blood vessels, and the skin – the involuntary muscles that
give you “goose bumps.” LMS can stay in one place or be very
unpredictable and move around the body. It can also be quiet for
months or years, then explode after 20 years of no symptoms. It is
a resistant cancer and does not respond well to chemotherapy or
radiation. All cancer is destructive to healthy cells, but LMS, by its
resistant nature, is devastating and can lead to amputations when
tumors invade extremities (arms and legs).
