August 10, 2016

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Two wheels & memories:
Beto Unit employee finds solace as she bikes to work each day

Christy Hoisington and her brother Greg both began working for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in the mid-1990s after serving in the United States armed forces. Just three years after his employment began, Greg was diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukemia but it went into remission in 2001. At that time he signed up for a defensive tactics course offered by the department at the Goree Unit because his sister showed interest in it, too. Christy was the first woman to successfully complete the course.

A short time later, Greg's cancer returned and TDCJ employees rallied around him with benefits and blood donations. But unfortunately at the age of 29, he died after serving 8 years as a Correctional Officer. Then, a year and a half later, Christy suffered a massive seizure that was diagnosed as Stage 3 Astrocytoma (brain cancer). She was 31 years old and feared she was on the same path as her brother.

Christy underwent brain surgery and was back at work in the Grievance Department of the Beto Unit within four days! With a new lease on life, she was determined to live a healthy life. Christy decided to reach back into her childhood when she enjoyed riding her bicycle so much. Living nine miles from her job in Palestine, she began riding to work daily by loading up her backpack and wearing protective gear in every imaginable kind of weather. She's now in her ninth year of bicycling to work every day and averages about 2,500 miles annually. She also rides on the weekends but not competitively. It's merely for sentimental reasons.

"You have to smile when you're riding," she said. "After Greg's death, I felt like I had lost my best friend. So riding was one way to feel like I was still a kid with him, riding around town with a sandwich and a drink, like we were on the run."

Beto senior warden Norris Jackson has high praise for Christy. "Her attitude about life is a positive influence with other employees," he said. "She's always smiling. Nothing seems to bother her."

Christy's doctor has told her that she is one in a thousand who have survived the kind of brain cancer she was diagnosed with and that she should now be out of the danger zone. Christy is 44 years old and will be "cancer free" for 12 years in November.

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