Patient Stories 
Andrea Rutstein, BSN, RN, was just a teenager when she stared down cancer. Thanks to the Children’s Miracle Network and Rapid City Hospital, the experience would change Andrea’s life more than she could have ever imagined.
As a teenager, one of the last things on your mind is finding a sense of purpose. But when Andrea Rutstein, née Colhoff, Nurse Manger at Wound, Ostomy Care and Hyperbaric Medicine in Rapid City, looks back at her life, there is a period of time where a series of events came together to set her on a path that has become more meaningful with each passing year. As it turns out, she discovered her purpose during those teenage years.
An active highschooler who played basketball and volleyball, Andrea awoke one morning in 1997 with a pain in her abdomen. The night before she had played in a high-school volleyball match, and it wasn’t unusual to be sore following a game, so Andrea, then a 15 year-old sophomore, initially dismissed the discomfort as fatigue. “I just got up and kind of powered through, went to school. It was fine. I didn’t really notice anything other than pain,” she recalled. “And then the next morning, when I went to get up for school, I couldn’t even move. It was extremely, excruciatingly painful. So my mom took me to our family doctor.”
The doctor felt an abnormality in Andrea’s abdomen and determined the mass required immediate attention. Within 48 hours, Andrea was sent into surgery. “The doctors found a tumor the size of a softball in my abdomen — attached to half of my reproductive system,” Andrea explained. “I had emergency surgery to remove the tumor and the affected organs as well as they could. But, I did have some remaining tissue in the area that was malignant — which meant cancer treatment was the next step.”
Doctors were unsure exactly how to diagnose the malignancy, but they thought it most closely resembled rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS), a soft-tissue cancer that attaches itself to bone, muscles or organs. “As a teen, you’re invincible, or at least you think you are,” said Andrea. “You don’t think that something like this could or would ever happen to you. It was completely unexpected and really changed the trajectory of my life.” RMS is more common in children than adults.
And so ensued Andrea’s battle with RMS. “I kind of lived in the Pediatrics Department at Rapid City Hospital for an entire year. However, some of the chemotherapy that I needed was specialized, so I had to go to Minneapolis Children’s Hospital for half of the treatments,” she said. Andrea’s young life was filled with chemotherapy treatments, which were scheduled to take 3-5 days, but her stays in the hospital were much longer to accommodate for possible cancer complications such as immunodeficiency illness, infections, low blood counts, transfusions, or unexpected surgeries. Every time the three-day chemo was scheduled, Andrea and her family packed their bags and traveled the 570-plus miles to Minneapolis. “I would come in to Rapid City Hospital every couple of weeks, stay for a week, then go to Minneapolis for a week, come back. Just back and forth.”
The treatment and the traveling was costly, stressful and exhausting. That’s when Children’s Miracle Network (CMN) came to the rescue. At that time, CMN was a small part of a fundraising department at Rapid City Hospital (RCH). CMN is now a program of Monument Health Foundation and helps with equipment needs, financial assistance and making sure care is available locally to the Black Hills area. CMN also provides little things that let kids be kids throughout their treatment. “The cart they used to bring around during long therapy days were some of my favorite moments with the care team at Rapid City Hospital. There would be games, books, toys — a variety of things that would just help you forget the pain you were going through,” said Andrea.
Initially a local champion, Andrea’s story became well known throughout the region. She was later named a CMN National Champion — the first from South Dakota. One of the perks was a trip to Walt Disney World in Orlando, where she appeared in a nationally televised CMN Champions Broadcast and met celebrities like Marie Osmond and actor John Schneider who starred as Bo Duke on the television show “The Dukes of Hazzard.”
Each year, as a member of Children’s Miracle Network, Monument Health selects a local Champion to represent children treated at our hospitals. This ambassador spends the year advocating for the charitable needs of pediatric care within Monument Health. The Champion plays a key role in raising awareness about the ongoing need for donations to support children’s health. By sharing their personal experiences, Champions and their families highlight the critical impact of local, unrestricted fundraising, which helps our hospital meet the needs of the community.
Toward the end of her treatment, Andrea gradually began to realize that she felt she could make a difference in people’s lives the way her cancer treatment team was making a difference in hers. “I felt that I had a really unique perspective as a patient, where I could potentially excel as a nurse,” she said. And so, through her illness, Andrea uncovered a purpose and, at just 16 years old, she was inspired to set a long term goal to become a nurse at RCH and help see patients through the ups and downs of their own care.
Nearly a year later, Andrea’s treatments were completed and her tests came back negative. She was officially in remission. The next five years would require Andrea to undergo periodic scans to ensure the cancer didn’t come back — and it didn’t. But that’s not where the story ends.
Today, Andrea, now 43, is a mother of two children — Xavien, 9, and Miles, 14 — both boys who share her passion for athletics. She still plays volleyball year round. However, the most noteworthy outcome is that, for the last fifteen years, Andrea has worked as a nurse at Rapid City Hospital — the very same place at which she was treated all those years ago. On top of that, she was part of the first cohort to go through the RCH Nurse Residency program. And, to bring things full circle, Andrea’s mentor was none other than Peggy Leenknecht, a nurse who cared for Andrea when she was being treated in Pediatrics. “My interest in helping others definitely stemmed from the care I received while going through my treatments,” said Andrea. “I never forgot about the experience and how it made me feel, and now, I’m able to make a difference for the people I work with.”
Likewise, Monument Health has matured as an organization alongside Andrea. Only a minor department during Andrea’s illness, the Foundation is now a fully-staffed, official, organization-wide department at Monument Health, under which the Children’s Miracle Network Program continues to thrive. Monument Health also now has the Cancer Care Institute to treat adult cancer patients. Then, there is the upcoming children’s wing addition coming to RCH, funded in part by donations to the Foundation, not to mention the various improvements and new facilities that continue to be a focus of Monument Health throughout the Black Hills.
Throughout the years, Andrea has participated in many fundraising radio- and mediathons on behalf of RCH and is a cultural champion to help improve inclusion and belonging at Monument Health. She is still sometimes recognized from her days as a CMN National Champion and remains connected to Children’s Miracle Network. “It’s always been a part of me,” she said. “I’m grateful for organizations like CMN that assist during the times that are out of your control and ease some of the burdens parents and families carry during some of the most difficult times. I’m proud to continue giving my time as a volunteer and donating to Children’s Miracle Network.”
In 1979, the new Rapid City Regional Hospital (RCRH) opened on Fairmont Blvd. After its completion, two departments were formed under the operations of RCRH: the Community Development Department and the Fundraising Services Department. These departments managed and accepted all donations to RCRH. This remained the structure until 2004, when Regional Health was established to oversee all corporate services for the hospitals that were joining the network. During this time, the Board of Trustees formed a task force to explore the possibility of creating a stand-alone foundation to elevate fundraising efforts and provide greater identity. In June 2004, the Board of Trustees approved the establishment of the RCRH Foundation, and in October 2004, they officially began fundraising as a foundation. The first task was to raise funds for the inaugural capital campaign in the history of Rapid City Regional Hospital. This campaign aimed to build the first-ever Hospice House in Rapid City. Finally in 2015, the RCRH Foundation became the Regional Foundation supporting all market hospitals within the Regional Health System. We officially became a Children’s Miracle Network partner hospital in 1989. – Hans Nelson, Foundation Director