What do you do when you find out you have stage III malignant melanoma? You seek treatment and try to stay positive through the storm. For Joanna Dennstaedt ’04, the sociology graduate and former college athlete, a cancer diagnosis meant serving others.
An assistant women’s lacrosse coach at Messiah from 2006-2010, Dennstaedt received her diagnosis in 2014.
“Cancer changed my life, my perspective and my role as a mom,” she said. “My children were 18 months old, 3 years old, 5 years old and 7 years old [at the time].”
As a member of the field hockey and lacrosse teams at Messiah, Dennstaedt had faced four knee surgeries as a student.
“I believe the injuries and setbacks I faced as a student athlete prepared me for the real battle I’d face 10 years later: a battle for my life,” she said.
After her diagnosis, Dennstaedt endured two surgeries — one to remove the melanoma tumor and another for a complete lymph node dissection where the cancer had spread.
Her husband Kevin ’04, an assistant coach to the Messiah men’s lacrosse team, was a strong source of support—and continues to be. “Joanna went into survivor mode, often saying, ‘How am I going to beat this?’ She researched, received multiple opinions and became an advocate for herself,” he said.
She attended weekly treatment of an immune therapy drug at the University of Pennsylvania for a year. During that time, family, friends and her church community cooked meals, took care of her children and provided support.
A bright spot during this period arrived in the form of a box. A woman in Ohio had heard Dennstaedt’s cancer story through a mutual friend and sent a “hope box”—a package of items to lift one’s spirit.
Inspired, Dennstaedt started making hope boxes for other cancer patients in 2015, creating the nonprofit Radiant Hope. She and her team now mail 80-90 boxes monthly. While the packages are the main part of the nonprofit, Radiant Hope is involved in many other activities in the community to support and encourage those whose lives have been impacted by cancer.
“We started as a team of three,” she said, “but have grown to a team of 10 and many volunteers over the years. As the executive director and founder, I’ve had my hand in every aspect of this ministry. It has been a great challenge going from full-time, stay-at-home mom of four to surviving cancer, to running a large and growing organization.”
Volunteers, who donate the items for the boxes, hold “pack parties,” where they meet in various locations to assemble the boxes. In three years, more than 1,500 hope boxes have been sent to cancer survivors and caregivers.
Radiant Hope has become a calling for Dennstaedt, allowing her to inspire others through her story. “My greatest privilege is having the gift of being able to say, ‘I know, too,' to the people we are called to serve,” she said. “God’s kindness has allowed me the opportunity to sit at a place where I can see Christ using my life for His glory, and for others around me.”
Today, Dennstaedt is classified NED—no evidence of disease.
“Melanoma at an advanced stage is a hard cancer to face,” she said. “Although I believe I am healed, there are still constant appointments and scans to keep close watch over my health.
—Emily Koontz ’20