By Cheryl Sherry
Post-Crescent staff writer

Carrie LeNoble is one of those glass half full people. Though difficult to imagine her without a smile, tears have been plentiful in her 33 years.

"You don't realize how good the good times are until you've had the bad," the Clintonville woman said. "You may think, oh, I've had this terrible life, but I look at it as I've learned to really appreciate things. I feel pretty fortunate. I feel like I am ahead of the game."

LeNoble is one of five people recently honored at Fox Valley Technical College's annual Achievement Against the Odds banquet, which recognizes students who achieve academically despite obstacles in their lives. It was formerly known as the Most Improved Student Award when it began in 1989. Winners receive a plaque and a $1,000 cash award.

Twelve students were nominated for this year's awards by the people who know them best academically their teachers. LeNoble is a nursing student and was nominated by Ann Jadin, an instructor in the occupational therapy assistant program at FVTC who has known LeNoble for more than a year.

"Carrie's faith and view of life as possibilities with untapped potential, drives her with motivation and determination," Jadin said. "Free from guilt, anger and resentment, she has taken her experiences and desires to give back to the community as a nursing professional. She demonstrates a willingness to learn new skills, takes on new roles of leadership and advocates for others to be a voice of those less fortunate or struggle in life."

Age spared LeNoble from her first loss, the death of her father due to a motorcycle accident. She was 3. Four years later, her mother met and married the man she would come to know as Dad. Six years later he also died, from accidental carbon monoxide poisoning.

LeNoble said her mother couldn't shake the loss, often complaining of headaches and sleeping 15 to 20 hours a day. Thinking it was the flu, she went to the doctor who diagnosed her with inoperable leukemia. At 32, her mom wasn't ready for life to end. She received a second opinion and later a bone marrow transplant in 1987.

"I remember thinking I was going to start being a bad kid because I was mad at life," LeNoble said. "I was mad at my stepfather for dying. I was mad at my mom. I was mad at everybody and didn't understand why this was happening to me."

But LeNoble's life changed forever during a week's stay at Imago Dei Lutheran Church camp near Clover Leaf Lakes, a gift anonymously donated to the 14-year-old from someone at her church, St. John's Lutheran in Marion.

"I went there, and it was amazing. It was absolutely what I needed. I was looking for something, but I didn't know what. I always had a foundation of faith; I went to Sunday school and to church. But after (camp) I looked forward to going to church.

"At that camp I learned you're supposed to be thankful for the things you have, not for what you don't have. Everything around you is a blessing. It opened my eyes. It made me look at things differently and know I could handle it. I feel very blessed."

Her mother's cancer returned a year later. She underwent a second bone marrow transplant, which was rough on her body. Over the next three months, the family was told that she would die. But LeNoble's mom always pulled through, earning the moniker "miracle patient" from her doctors. Through all the turmoil, her mother continued to set goals for her daughter, one of which was for her to become a nurse.

Her mother and best friend died Jan. 30, 1997.

But LeNoble's trials were far from over. In fall of that same year her husband, Nick, was diagnosed with an acoustic neuroma, a benign, noncancerous, often slow-growing tumor of the nerve that connects the ear to the brain. It was removed in December but returned in 2002. Recovery was not as successful after the second surgery.

Already blessed with a son, Caleb, now 6, LeNoble was pregnant with twins at the time, which ended in miscarriage.

Nick's tumor grew back more aggressively a third time, this time in his brainstem. It was inoperable. Radiation and laser therapy have kept the tumor contained. Nick is on permanent disability, and LeNoble was forced to quit her job, only allowed to earn $50 a month in taxable income.

Through it all, God never left her side, she said.

"Whenever we didn't know where we were going to turn there was always someone there. I never actually read the Bible; I've read passages here and there. But our son got a 3-year-old Bible (when he was younger) and I read it to him every night. There was this one verse about how you shouldn't worry about clothing. Look at the flowers. They have the most beautiful clothing. Look at the birds. I remember reading that and thinking, we are going to be alright."

"She has that you-just-do-it attitude," Jadin said. "And faith is huge. She lives it, breathes it and represents it. Carrie certainly will be an asset to the nursing program and the health care field."

LeNoble, who will enter FVTC's associate degree nursing program in fall, is hoping to graduate in 2010 and may enter the field of gerontology.

If only experience counted toward educational credits.

"I have witnessed firsthand what makes a great nurse from a patient and family perspective," LeNoble said. "From my perspective you are scared and worried and you don't know half the words they are saying and you have all these thoughts in your head. (The nurses) all did their job, but there were some that were amazing. They would take the time and answer your questions those little things made you feel better. They treated the whole family, not just the patient."

Cheryl Sherry can be reached at the Appleton Post-Crescent Newspaper at920-993-1000, ext. 249