Welder claims more than one win

By LYNN MONTGOMERY | East Texas Edition

Lana Davidson has not only won with her welding and livestock projects, but has also won a battle against cancer. -- Staff photo by Montgomery

Dec. 8, 2005 -  With a steady hand, 18-year-old Lana Davidson of Gilmer has what it takes to design, weld, and win the gate category at the East Texas Yamboree.

��I like to weld,� she simply said.

�A member of the Upshur County Winner�s Circle 4-H club, Lana spent weeks designing and welding the gate before she entered the Yamboree�s competition which not only featured livestock, but also ag mechanic projects. For her winning effort, the gate was sold for $1,200.�

�Lana began welding around the age of 14, when she expressed an interest to her dad Greg. (The family owns a farm and welding supply equipment shop in Gilmer.)

�He began to teach her the skill, starting with stick welding.�

��Lana has lots of potential,� Greg said. But he added, �I think if any kid has a desire to so something, all they need is the opportunity of learn.�

�Every afternoon and on Saturday mornings, Lana can be found at the shop. Currently, she is working on Christmas-related items to be sold in the store.�

�Her preference is stick welding which is one of the main reasons she didn�t take the welding class at school.

��I just didn�t want to do wire,� she said about the type of welding taught at school. �I also wanted to move at my own pace.

��I prefer using the stick because it makes a prettier weld and it holds up better.�

�Since her sophomore year, Lana, showing through 4-H, has had a project at the Gilmer Yamboree, held each October in Gilmer. That first year, she made a hay dolly. The junior year was difficult year for her, but she still managed a cross and a balancing cowboy for the competition. This year, her senior year, was the grand finale, and the gate was designed and built.

�Lana also showed a Simbrah heifer and won the Grand Champion title with it at this year�s Yamboree. Younger brother Cody won Reserve with his heifer. She will show Cody�s heifer at the two major shows this spring ... Houston and Fort Worth, and her heifer will enter the family�s herd at the farm.

�As mentioned, Lana had a difficult year in 2004. That spring, while playing on the Gilmer Buckeye Softball team, she suffered a concussion. She began experiencing fainting spells, but tests showed the fainting was not related to the concussion.

�In July, the family was attending a family reunion out of town, when Lana got �deathly ill.� She began to vomit and having severe abdominal pains. She was rushed to the hospital where the family was told she had a virus.

�Once home, Lana was taken to her own physician who sent her for a sonogram at an area hospital. The sonogram showed cysts across her pelvic region and the severe pains were caused from the �dying ovary.� The dying ovary was also the cause for the fainting spells.�

�Surgery was scheduled on July 22, 2004.

��The surgery was to take around 30 minutes,� Lana�s mom Lisa began, �but two hours later, they still hadn�t come out of the operating room. We feared the worse.�

�The surgeon found one cyst that was not detected from the sonogram. It was about �the size of end of your pinky finger� and it was cancer.

�One ovary was removed, and the doctor, who had been talking to onocologist in Dallas on the phone, left 15 percent of the other ovary. Thirty days later, that ovary had tripled in size.�

�Lana�s cancer, known as germcellteratoma, is 90 percent curable. It is made inside the ovary in a �yolk sac� and is similar to the cancer that Lance Armstrong had (but is the female version), according to the family.�

�As of Dec. 14, 2004, Lana has been in remission. She said the experience has left her �more thoughtful and I don�t stare at people who have something wrong with them. I live each day to the fullest.�

�On her 18th birthday in September 2005, Lana celebrated her survivorship by getting a green (ovarian cancer color) ribbon tattooed on her right foot with the July date and the word �survivor.��

��I knew I wanted a tattoo three years ago but I didn�t know what kind I wanted and when this happened, I knew,� Lana said. She did have to �work her parents into the idea.�

�Now, this 4-H county council representative, softball catcher and third baseman is ready for the final semester of high school. She stated she will continue welding, even though her steady hand is going to lead her into the nursing field. She will attend either Northeast Texas Community College in Mount Pleasant or Kilgore College in Kilgore in the fall of 2006.

��I will continue to weld for a hobby and maybe make some extra money,� she concluded.�