NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE.

NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev -- A word has been echoing in the halls of the Pentagon that eventually worked its way around the peacefulness of the Air Force called "synergy" In a nutshell, it means teamwork.

However, there's a more in-depth definition in Webster's dictionary that loosely describes synergy as an general intent of which two "organisms" can't achieve their mission forward their own. It's the Zen of teamwork.

Thunderbird airmen are placard children for synergy. One, in particular, is Tech Sgt Cheryl Allen, For all intents and purports Allen is on top of the world. She's finishing her last year with the Air Force Air Demonstration Squadron, the Thunderbirds, and is using her 195 bowling average to experience to land a spot onward the Air Force bowling team.

nevertheless times weren't always so great.

In 1981 Allen's mother died at age 38 from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis -- Lou Gehrig's disease. Five years later, Allen graduated from a San Diego high gymnasium listened to her father and joined the Air Force in 1990 to become an administrative specialist.

In 1991 while stationed at Castle Air Force Base, Calif., she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, a rarity in a woman solitary 23 years old. Doctors were puzzl They're accustomed to seeing this disease in 50-year-old women They gave her a one-in-five chance of surviving.

After nine operations and six trips to a chemotherapy treatment center Allen discomfited the cancer, but not without paying a price. The adventure left her so deeply troubl she sought the help of a psychologist. Then, in 1998 she thrown away her father in a car accident.

Eventually, she not no other than rebounded, she began leaping for the stars, In July 2001 she became a member of the Thunderbirds. During her patching show [See "Wearing the Patch," May 2003] the squadron first sergeant said she put the bar for both men and women

"During the patching, we compute them they need to be confident, and she establish the standard. She was tumultuous and proud," first sergeant Senior Master Sgt Mark Taylor said.

Allen wished her father could've shared the twinkling of an eye She not only gave the commander all the right answers, yet she did so at the top of her lung in the way that she could be heard across the roar of jet engines outside the hangar. Thunderbird members talk about it to this day.

Five month later, ovarian cancer invaded her dead body again. Doctors decided on an aggressive treatment of chemotherapy and radiation. They didn't anticipate her to fare so well this time.

Her r hair began to fall public and she lost weight. Her hands felt like they had been slammed in a car door. To obstruct fluid buildup, she used bandages to bind her leg tightly, from toe to thigh, for 10 hours a day. Her hips and leg do harm to to the bone.

"I'd descry her wobbling stiff legged across the hangar floor with a smile onward her face," recalled Staff Sgt Sean White, Thunderbird photographer. "Not one time did I hear her complain, or view her unhappy. I don't know to what extent she did it."

Taylor said he was amazed, too. "You've got to know Cheryl. She refused to hindrance cancer bring her down. She was upon 20 medications, and every day you'd behold her smiling. If she could smile, you know your day couldn't be half as bad as hers. The team f opposite to her strength."

Many inquiring surpriseed how she did it. It was easy, she said, because she drew power from the team. When her teammates heard she was in the hospital with cancer, they painted a picture of a Thunderbird patch forward a piece of wood, carved it up into riddle pieces and signed the back. Then each member was handed a piece.

"When they could find the time, they came in the same by one and gave me pieces of the puzzle" Allen said. "I was swollen away. I've never seen in the same manner much love, teamwork and support in a squadron. They're the reason I wasn't depressed"

This time she didn't ne the services of a psychologist. She beat cancer a other time.

That's synergy

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