Pepperdine student Amy Dilbeck has the perfect internship. But it’s not because the senior, who is originally from Santa Paula, is betting the position will turn into a plush job after graduation.
It’s a dream internship because she knows she’s fortunate to be healthy enough to apply for the spot.
Dilbeck was recently selected as the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) Communications Intern. It was only five years ago that she was a patient at CHLA, diagnosed with an aggressive form of bone cancer.
“Coming back to CHLA is almost like a sign of completion,” said Dilbeck. “I came to CHLA first as a patient, because my family and I had confidence that they could help me to get better. Now I am well, and I come to CHLA hoping to be a part of helping others to get better.”
Communications director Steve Rutledge knew Dilbeck when she was a patient, and now coordinates projects and events with her at CHLA.
“She’s been a breath of fresh air,” said Rutledge. “She brings a new perspective to what’s going on here.”
An athlete all through high school, Dilbeck competed as a swimmer and cheerleader. During her junior year she began to feel pain in her left leg.
“I thought it was a pulled muscle,” said Dilbeck. “At the time I wasn’t imaging anything worse.”
In early spring of 1996, after repeated visits to the doctor with limited diagnostic success, an x-ray was performed to discern whether or not the seemingly healthy young teenager needed arthroscopic surgery. According to Dilbeck, when the radiologist viewed the x-ray he thought he was looking at the bone of an 80-year old woman with acute osteoporosis. When informed of Dilbeck’s age, the radiologist advised she be admitted to CHLA immediately.
Dilbeck was diagnosed with Osteogenic Sarcoma, a rare type of bone cancer. Remarkably, the brittle bone did not break or overly swell, otherwise her leg would have had to be amputated.
“They were really the only people who could take care of what I had,” said Dilbeck. “I was one in 5 million. Most oncologists would never see what I had. No one in my area had any idea what even to do.”
The junior class president, who was due to get her license in just a few months, saw her world turned around in a heartbeat.
“It’s kind of one of those weird things, you know. I was active and excited to get my license and you’re life changes in ten minutes,” said Dilbeck. “There are stark contrasts between one day and the next.”
She began chemotherapy treatments in March 1996, which would last for just about a year.
“Of course chemotherapy is never fun, never something you want to have to deal with,” said Dilbeck. “But kids get three or four times the amount adults do because their bodies bounce back better. That also means they are dealing with three and four times the amount of fatigue and sickness.”
Out of school for the duration of the semester, she spent her time between CHLA and her home an hour away, in Santa Paula.
Dilbeck had an exceptional support system consisting of family members and community and church members.
“My mom promised me that I would never be alone,” said Dilbeck. “She slept with me in my room. But I never wanted my dad to stay because he snores.”
In June of 1996, an eight- and a-half-hour operation was performed at CHLA to repair the emaciated bone.
“They totally removed the bone,” said Dilbeck. “It was the consistency of Swiss cheese with the thickness of eggshells.”
Because it is a teaching hospital, 45 people were present in the operating room when doctors inserted a metal rod to replace four inches of Dilbeck’s femur and removed 25 percent of her quadriceps muscle. She spent the summer trying to catch up on her schoolwork while still undergoing chemotherapy and beginning physical therapy to learn how to walk again.
“By my senior year my hair was growing back and I was starting to put weight back on,” said Dilbeck. “I was back on the swim team and I was my high school mascot. I was just getting really involved.”
She graduated on time, and matriculated to Pepperdine just six months after she finished her last chemotherapy session. Now in her last year at the Malibu campus, Dilbeck is aware of how blessed she is and is grateful for the chance to return to a place where she received quality care.
“I think anyone who is ever a patient there feels an extreme connection because you know that you’ve been in a place that’s unlike any other,” said Dilbeck.
She is happy to be interning in a place where they are interested in doing incredible things to improve children’s lives, and is ready to give back to CHLA.
“Although it’s not something I’d want to do again, cancer has been a gift because it’s given me a sense of purpose,” said Dilbeck.
This year at Pepperdine, she organized her sorority’s Philanthropy Drive, which raised more than $2,000 to benefit charity. After graduation, Dilbeck hopes to continue to help children and adolescents with cancer.
“My vision is to head up a nonprofit organization that will make cancer a priority in people’s minds,” said Dilbeck. “Or maybe I’ll just be a mom and raise kids.”