Cancer victim kept dream 'to help others'
Noble cancer victim kept dream 'to help others'

By John Greiner

Published: March 14, 2008

Those who knew Steffanie Collings called her a soldier, courageous and compassionate.

Fitting words for an 18-year-old who fought brain cancer the last five years of her life and still dreamed of the future and hoped to help others.

Steffanie, inspiration for legislation to require insurance coverage for routine health care costs for patients who undergo clinical trials, died Thursday, a day after the bill passed the state Senate.

She was told by her father Wednesday that the bill, called Steffanie's Law, had passed the Oklahoma Senate.

"Steffanie knew before she passed,” her father, Monty Collings, said.

Steffanie Collings had undergone care that was part of a clinical trial, but some of the routine health care costs — such as lab tests and doctor's visits — that normally would be covered by insurance were not covered in her case as well as other patients undergoing clinical trials that test new medical treatments.

Although battling a brain tumor that had left her weak and in a wheelchair, Steffanie came to the state Capitol in January and spoke in support of the legislation.

"Steffanie went to be with our Lord around 1 a.m. this morning,” her father wrote in an e-mail to family friends. "She was truly a soldier for Christ! She will be dearly missed, and we are comforted knowing that she is with God singing, dancing and hanging out with her grandparents in Heaven.”

"Her dream was to help others,” Collings told The Oklahoman. "She wanted to be a nurse. When she got sick, she was wheelchair-bound and then decided to be a counselor.”

Fond sentiments also came from the lawmaker who is seeking passage of the bill, Senate Bill 1521.

"The courage and compassion of the entire Collings family inspired us to seek help for them wherever it might be found. Steffanie in particular was one of the bravest people I've ever met,” said Sen. Andrew Rice, D-Oklahoma City, the author of Steffanie's Law.

Memorial contributions can be made to Truth Church in care of the McClain Bank in Noble or to the Oklahoma Brain Tumor Foundation, 820 NE 63.

Contributions to Truth Church will be used to build a playground, Collings said. Contributions to the brain tumor foundation will help others going through situations similar to his daughter's.

"We agreed it was to help others,” he said.

In February after speaking to a Senate committee that approved Steffanie's Law, Collings said his daughter was in the final stages of her illness.

The law's passage wouldn't help his family. But he said his and his family's efforts on the legislation would help others.

Funeral services will be at 1 p.m. Saturday at Truth Church, 4800 Etowah Road in Noble, under the direction of McMahan Funeral Home.

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