Support for LateToSchool

[ADad]

<p>

The secret of success is constancy to purpose.

</p>

<p>–Benjamin Disraeli</p>

[epistrophy]

<p>and another</p>

<p>

“Lung Cancer Survivor Steve Malcolm Makes the Most of His Second Chance” </p>

<p>As Steve Malcolm likes to say, “Life is about choices.”</p>

<p>At 53, Steve is a strong, lean warehouse operations manager who is justifiably proud of a choice he made in recent years. He has chosen, finally, to make health a priority.</p>

<p>Sporting a new attitude and nickname, Steve “Lance” Malcolm has put 5,000 miles on his bicycle. He rides 10 to 25 miles a day, every day.</p>

<p>This is a remarkable choice for Steve. Though he had not ridden a bicycle since childhood, Steve took up cycling after losing half a lung to lung cancer just four years ago.</p>

<p>As a cancer survivor, Steve has seized his opportunity for a second chance. In every way, it is a chance that came in answer to his prayers.</p>

<p>Steve and his wife, Nancy, agree that the difference between the old Steve and the new one is striking. The old Steve was unconcerned about health and fitness. If he played a little basketball or football with their sons, he tired easily. Like too many men, he avoided going to the doctor. And, like one in five Americans, the old Steve smoked.</p>

<p>Nancy, a non-smoker, couldn’t help worrying that tobacco might eventually take her husband’s life. Those worries intensified in 2000 when Nancy’s mother, a smoker, died of cancer and emphysema.</p>

<p>One morning in March 2002, Steve called Nancy at work, gasping in alarm, unable to catch his breath. He’d ignored a similar, shorter spell a few days before, thinking it must be the flu. Nancy advised medical care. This time Steve agreed.</p>

<p>Steve’s family practice physician, Steven Osborn, MD, of Methodist Physicians Clinic, examined Steve and promptly took an X-ray. This wasn’t the flu. The mass on Steve’s lung was nearly 3 inches in diameter, about the size of Nancy’s fist. The CT scans and biopsy that quickly followed confirmed Steve and Nancy’s fears: lung cancer.</p>

<p>Steve calls the diagnosis an answer to his prayers for help in breaking his 30-year smoking habit. “So be careful what you ask for,” he adds with a grin.</p>

<p>At the time, Steve smoked a pack a day. That week he quit cold turkey.</p>

<p>Cancer quickly reminded the Malcolms not to take any moment of life for granted. Drawing upon the faith that is so central to their lives, Steve and Nancy prayed for strength in facing the journey ahead.</p>

<hr>

<p>Steve was pleased that the three months of chemotherapy did not cause him to miss even a day of work, although, he admits, “I did lose what hair I had.”</p>

<p>For Steve, the more troubling side effect was weight gain. To lose pounds, he began to walk, jog and cycle a little.</p>

<p>Meanwhile, chemotherapy shrank the tumor — dramatically. The new X-rays were stunning. To the untrained eye, the tumor had vanished, prompting Steve to ask if he might skip surgery altogether. When his doctors advised him this was not a medical option, Steve allowed his wish to become a prayer.</p>

<p>That afternoon, after running an errand, Steve was struck by a message stamped on his sales receipt: Don’t miss out on a blessing just because you don’t like the way it’s packaged. Steve realized he was ready for surgery.</p>

<p>In August 2002, Dr. Dorheim removed the upper lobe of Steve’s left lung and a lymph node. Steve and Nancy were thrilled to learn that the cancer had not metastasized.</p>

<p>Steve was eager to recover, reduce his weight and rebuild his strength. Walking a bit further each day, he pressed his doctors to allow him to exercise even more. When Steve finally climbed on the bike, his first post-surgical ride was no more than six blocks long. It felt like a
victory lap.</p>

<p>Today, Steve and Nancy are avid cyclists who ride up to 40 miles at a time. Steve has lost nearly 60 pounds, and he revels in his improved health. Because he knows firsthand what tobacco can do, he cautions others about the very real dangers of smoking.</p>

<p>“It feels good to be able to breathe, get a good workout and really enjoy the outdoors,” says Steve. He has taken up golf, and he and Nancy have a new outlook on life.</p>

<p>“We don’t sweat the small stuff,” Nancy explains, “and we treasure all the days.”</p>

<p>“Being diagnosed with lung cancer has turned out to be a blessing,” Steve says. “I’ve been given a second chance, and we’re choosing to live life in a whole new way.”

</p>

<p>[Welcome</a> to Methodist Health Connections](<a href=“http://tmc.methodisthealthconnections.com/archive/Fall2006/subFeature_Steve.asp]Welcome”>http://tmc.methodisthealthconnections.com/archive/Fall2006/subFeature_Steve.asp)</p>

<p>(P.S. I will likely be posting here less often for a while, as I’m going to be traveling.)</p>

[latetoschool]

<p>Epistrophy, these posts will be so terribly missed, I have become so addicted to them…thank you so much…I hope you are able to return soon…</p>

[SouthJerseyChessMom]

<p>epistrophy- many will miss you,
and, all are wishing you a wonderful vacation (you so deserve it)</p>

[mominva]

<p>Safe journeys epistrophy!</p>

[latetoschool]

<p>I seriously don’t know what I am going to do. I am not kidding. I have become addicted to the uplifting posts.</p>

[mootmom]

<p>One suggestion might be to go back and re-read the uplifting posts. What’s old may become new again.</p>

[latetoschool]

<p>^^ That, and/or I can resolve to beat this thing finally, and then maybe we can morph the thread into something else…I sure wish I felt better…I am in my office today, but, so out of it from the massive import of drugs…but each day is an incremental improvement, so…</p>

[mythmom]

<p>latetoschool: Must go out to see my mom who’s in the hospital, but when I come home I vow to find uplifting posts. I am no epistrophy or ADad, but maybe I can fill in a bit.</p>

<p>Keep your spirits up. Sending love your way.</p>

[epistrophy]

<p>Well, in the department of how-can-I-miss-you-when-you-won’t-go-away (a wonderful old Dan Hicks song), and while I wait for a call from a client (who’s serving a 20-year sentence for attempted murder; I’m representing him on appeal; clients who are in prison call you [collect] - you don’t call them - after you’ve jumped through the hoops to arrange an “attorney phone call”), here’s another:</p>

<p>

“Whole lotta hollerin’ going on”</p>

<p>For 40 years, people have gathered in a field near the Spivey’s Corner Fire Department in June to determine who could holler the best.</p>

<p>They called in the hogs, bellowed the start of a new day and greeted their neighbors. It’s something that farmers have done for long time. For the 13 people that competed Saturday at the annual National Hollerin’ Contest, it was about winning and carrying on a tradition.</p>

<p>Participants competed in conch shell blowin’, junior and teen hollerin’, ladies callin’ and the men’s national hollerin’ contest. Each person has four minutes to do their best hollers.</p>

<p>Past winners have appeared on “Late Night with David Letterman” to demonstrate their skills.</p>

<p>This year’s event was free to enter in recognition of 40 years of great hollerin’ and as a thank you to patrons who have supported the event.</p>

<p>Hundreds of people braved the steady rain to watch the competition. They were not disappointed as several returning champions competed in the men’s competition. Previous winners were allowed to compete this year. In years past, winners had to sit out a year before they were eligible to compete again.</p>

<p>Larry Jackson, a six-time winner from Dunn, hollered his way to another championship with his signature “Amazing Grace” holler.</p>

<p>“I want to thank the judges. I don’t know if they made the best decision, but I love it,” he said.</p>

<p>Jackson said it meant a lot to win on the event’s 40th anniversary. He also expressed the importance of keeping hollering alive and passing it on to future generations.</p>

<p>The runner-up was Kevin Jasper of Mocksville, and third place went to Tony Peacock of Carrboro.</p>

<p>Sheila Frye of Lillington won the women’s contest in 2003, 2005 and 2007. She added the 2008 title to her belt on Saturday. Frye prepares herself by listening to a hollerin’ compact disc a few months before the contest. Her hollers included calling the midwife, calling people to dinner and greeting neighbors.</p>

<p>“I am very proud of this tradition and to be able to hold this trophy,” she said. “I am happy to be able to help keep this tradition alive.”</p>

<p>Hollerin’ was on Cornelia Collins’ bucket list. Collins, of Lillington, said she didn’t think she would place in the competition. She took home the runner- up trophy.</p>

<p>“I learned a lot,” she said. “Maybe I can perfect it next year.”</p>

<p>**Competing in the contest had special meaning for Gene Jackson, the 1990 champion from Goldsboro, who has been diagnosed with lung cancer. He didn’t think he would be able to holler again, he said.</p>

<p>“I thought my hollering was over, but I am a survivor and I am here today to holler again,” Jackson told the crowd.</p>

<p>“I am going to dedicate my hollering today to hope. Because someone you know and someone you love will be affected by cancer. I am going to stand up here and tell you that there is hope.”**</p>

<p>Michael Croland drove from Norfolk, Va., early Saturday morning to compete. He said he loves fun competitions.</p>

<p>“I was really impressed,” he said after the contest. “It is an art form. It is a rich tradition and I have the utmost respect for these people and what they have done today. I don’t think I will ever be an “A” list contender, but it is an honor to be in their presence.”</p>

<p>Jimmy Tyndall of Spivey’s Corner said the hollers varied from traditional hollers.</p>

<p>“Some of the singing hollering and the different things, I guess you have to be inventive in order to keep it interesting,” said Tyndall who has attended the event for several years.</p>

<p>“But it has strayed away from the old style.”</p>

<p>He said the fact that the event has lasted this long is “pretty awesome.”</p>

<p>Ermon Godwin Jr., the president of the National Hollerin’ Contest, was among the group of people who started the event 40 years ago. He thanked everyone for helping to keep hollering alive.</p>

<p>“Forty years ago, when we had the first contest, people made fun of it,” he said. “They said, ‘Who do you think would come to Spivey’s Corner to hear a bunch of people holler.’ I said it was a tradition that we had years ago and we wanted to bring it back to life. I wouldn’t have thought 40 years later we would still be hollerin’.”</p>

<p>David Edwards, the chief organizer, said the event was a huge success. Organizers tried to make this year’s contest more family-oriented by adding a children’s zone and live music. Edwards said to look for more to come in the future.</p>

<p>“Before it’s over with, you will see an international contest,” he said. “We are already working on a few changes. We are planning to become the event in the Southeast.”

</p>

<p>[FayObserver.com</a> - Current Article Page](<a href=“http://www.fayobserver.com/article?id=297409]FayObserver.com”>http://www.fayobserver.com/article?id=297409)</p>

[BunsenBurner]

<p>We’ll have to use our collective CC wisdom and skills because we have some big shoes to fill while Epistrophy is on vacation! I remember seeing this last year (please excuse me if this has been posted):</p>

<p>[Nation</a> & World | 75-year-old cancer survivor skis to North Pole | Seattle Times Newspaper](<a href=“http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003696398_northpole07.html]Nation”>http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003696398_northpole07.html)

75-year-old cancer survivor skis to North Pole
By MEGHAN BARR</p>

<p>The Associated Press
RICHARD DREW / AP</p>

<p>Barbara Hillary, 75, didn’t know how to ski when she decided to ski to the North Pole. She took skiing lessons and hired a personal trainer, who determined she was fit for the trip.</p>

<p>NEW YORK – The bone-numbing trek to the North Pole is riddled with enough perils to make a seasoned explorer quake: Frostbite threatens, polar bears loom and the ice is constantly shifting beneath frozen feet.</p>

<p>But Barbara Hillary took it all in stride, completing the trek to the world’s northernmost point last month at the age of 75. She is one of the oldest people to reach the North Pole, and is believed to be the first black woman to accomplish the feat.</p>

<p>Hillary, of Averne, N.Y., grew up in Harlem and devoted herself to a nursing career and community activism. At 67, she battled lung cancer. Five years later, she went dog sledding in Quebec and photographed polar bears in Manitoba.</p>

<p>Then she heard that a black woman had never made it to the North Pole.</p>

<p>“I said, 'What’s wrong with this picture?”’ she said. “So I sort of rolled into this, shall we say.”</p>

<p>In 1909, Matthew Henson made history as the first black man to reach the Pole, though his accomplishment was not officially recognized for decades – it was overshadowed by the presence of his white colleague, Robert Peary.</p>

<p>Ann Bancroft, a physical-education teacher from Minnesota, was the North Pole’s first female visitor in 1986 as a member of the Steger Polar Expedition, which arrived unassisted in a re-creation of the 1909 trip. Various scientific organizations said no record exists of a black woman matching Bancroft’s feat, although such record-keeping is not perfect.</p>

<p>“It’s not like there’s a guest book when you get up there and you sign it,” said Robert Russell, founder of Eagles Cry Adventures Inc., the travel company that leads thrill-seekers like Hillary to the farthest corners of the globe. Russell conducted six months’ worth of research, interviewing fellow polar expedition contractors and digging through history books, but failed to find a black woman who had completed the trek.</p>

<p>Russell’s paying customers can travel to the North Pole in various ways, from 18-day cross-country ski trips to simply being dropped off at the Pole via helicopter. The trip costs about $21,000 per person.</p>

<p>Hillary insisted on skiing. Only trouble was, she had never been on skis before.</p>

<p>“It wasn’t a popular sport in Harlem,” she quipped.</p>

<p>So she enrolled in cross-country-skiing lessons and hired a personal trainer, who finally determined she was physically fit for the voyage.</p>

<p>“She’s a headstrong woman. You don’t tell her ‘no’ about too many things,” Russell said.</p>

<p>Her lack of money didn’t stop her, either. Hillary scraped together thousands of dollars and solicited private donors.</p>

<p>On April 23, Hillary set off on skis from a Norwegian base camp with two guides. Russell, fearing for her health, had convinced her to take a daylong ski route in lieu of a longer trip.</p>

<p>As the sunlight glinted off the ice, distorting her vision, Hillary struggled beneath a load of gear and pressed on. In her euphoria at reaching the Pole, she forgot the cold and removed her gloves, causing her fingers to become frostbitten.</p>

<p>Standing at the top of the world, she couldn’t have cared less. The enormous expanse of ice and sky left Hillary, for once in her long life, speechless.</p>

<p>Hillary says she hopes her journey will inspire hope in other cancer survivors. She is already planning a new adventure: that of a global-warming activist.</p>

<p>“I’d like to go and lecture to different groups on what they can do on a grass-roots level (to fight global warming),” she said.

</p>

[epistrophy]

<p>

We’ll have to use our collective CC wisdom and skills because we have some big shoes to fill while Epistrophy is on vacation!

</p>

<p>I would be more than happy - as I’m sure LTS would be - if other CCers were to “fill my shoes” and find worthwhile things to post on this thread.</p>

<p>And with at least 2/3 of the stuff I’ve posted, finding it has been no more complicated than this:</p>

<ol>
<li>Go to Google News.</li>
</ol>

<p>[Google</a> News](<a href=“http://news.google.com/nwshp?hl=en&tab=wn]Google”>http://news.google.com/nwshp?hl=en&tab=wn)</p>

<ol>
<li>Do a search for the following (limiting it, when given the opportunity, to the last day or week): </li>
</ol>

<p>“lung cancer survivor”</p>

<ol>
<li>If that doesn’t turn up anything interesting, try another search with the following:</li>
</ol>

<p>“lung cancer” survivor </p>

<p>(The point of the quotation marks is to limit the search to items in which the quoted words appear together.)</p>

<ol>
<li>And if that doesn’t turn up anything interesting, try doing the same thing with Google’s blog site.</li>
</ol>

<p>[Google</a> Blog Search](<a href=“Google”>Google)</p>

[aibarr]

<p>

Jessup native Tina Jezuit was diagnosed with bone cancer in 1988 at the age of 11. As a result of the extensive chemotherapy, she also suffered heart failure when she was 24 and a stroke in February of 2007. Despite being unable to walk or talk after the stroke, she is almost fully recovered now. Thanks to her remarkably rapid recovery, the 31-year-old Valley View and University of Scranton graduate has been able to organize Cancerpalooza 20, a fundraising event at Montdale Country Club on Sunday, July 13 from 2-7 p.m. The event, which will feature food, entertainment, games and more, celebrates her 20th cancer-versary, but more importantly, she says, will benefit cancer and heart health awareness organizations.

</p>

<p>

**So you have a name for the defibrillator that was installed in your heart. Tell me about that. <a href=“Shows%20a%20scar%20on%20the%20left%20side%20of%20her%20upper%20chest”>/b</a> There’s Charlie. The reason we named him Charlie is because my sister and our first cousin, we always tease that we’re like Charlie’s Angels. We teased that we should name him Charlie because I’ll wake up in the morning and say, “Good morning, Charlie.” And he says, “Good morning, angels.” He’s watching over me. I also have a CareLink monitor that is next to my bed. From 1 to 4 every morning, it monitors my heart and sends that information to the University of Pennsylvania. So we call him Bosley - Charlie’s righthand man.

</p>

<p>

Also, I’m really excited about our Golden Boy, Mason (Dantone). The reason we call him Golden Boy is, first of all, it sounds better than poster child, and second, he was diagnosed right around Halloween last year with Wilms’ Tumor, which is apparently formed in utero. He was lucky that they caught it early enough. … He’s our Golden Boy - gold is the official color of pediatric cancer. </p>

<p>How old is he?
Four. He’s from Pittston. A cool story about him is he loves Spider-Man. His grandma bought him a Spider-Man costume that he wore for every chemotherapy treatment. After the chemo, he told his grandmother that he didn’t need the costume anymore because his battle was won. He’s just an amazing kid.

</p>

<p>[Electric</a> City/Diamond City - Northeast PA’s free entertainment weekly. Find events and restaurants in Scranton, Wilkes-Barre and NEPA.](<a href=“http://www.ecweekend.com/features/story.asp?id=47111]Electric”>http://www.ecweekend.com/features/story.asp?id=47111)</p>

[latetoschool]

<p>Not to whine, but, Epistrophy, do you plan to return at some point …</p>

[timely]

<p>^^^LOL! Well, Epistrophy, in case you were wondering if you were appreciated, I guess now you know!</p>

[epistrophy]

<p>

LTS wrote:</p>

<p>Not to whine, but, Epistrophy, do you plan to return at some point …

</p>

<p>Yes . . . .</p>

[epistrophy]

<p>Oregon seems to have a very dark sense of humor</p>

<p>

“Ore. offers woman death, not cancer drugs”</p>

<p>Barbara Wagner discovered recently her state would not cover chemotherapy for her lung cancer but would underwrite her death by physician-assisted suicide.</p>

<p>Wagner, 64, received notice in May that the Oregon Health Plan, which provides health-care coverage for about 380,000 low-income residents monthly, had refused to cover the drug prescribed by her oncologist when her cancer recurred, according to The Eugene (Ore.) Register-Guard. She was told, however, it would cover assisted suicide as part of palliative, or pain relief, care.</p>

<p>The notification the health plan would cover assisted suicide especially disturbed Wagner. “To say to someone, we’ll pay for you to die, but not pay for you to live, it’s cruel,” she told The Register-Guard. “I get angry. Who do they think they are?”</p>

<p>Bioethics specialist Wesley Smith said this should come as no shock in Oregon, where assisted suicide has been legal since 1997.</p>

<p>“We have been warning for years that this was a possibility in Oregon,” Smith wrote on the weblog Bioethics.com. "Medicaid is rationed, meaning that some treatments are not covered. But assisted suicide is always covered.</p>

<p>“This isn’t the first time this has happened either. A few years ago a patient who needed a double organ transplant was denied the treatment but would have been eligible for state-financed assisted suicide.”</p>

<p>Fortunately for Wagner, another institution came to her aid. A representative of the pharmaceutical firm that markets the drug she had been prescribed called June 2 to tell her the company would provide it without charge, The Register-Guard reported.

</p>

<p>[Ore</a>. offers woman death, not cancer drugs](<a href=“http://www.christianexaminer.com/Articles/Articles%20Jul08/Art_Jul08_15.html]Ore”>http://www.christianexaminer.com/Articles/Articles%20Jul08/Art_Jul08_15.html)</p>

[lorelei2702]

<p>While I support the concept of assisted suicide for those with unbearable physical problems, this is awful. Certainly one should not be encouraged to do it by default…“if you do not want to suffer, here’s what we can do for you…” Outrageous!</p>

[jym626]

<p>Thanks for the b’day wishes, LTS. You are so thoughtful to think of others, with so much on your plate. Have you replaced all the damaged stuff from your apt? have you relocated to avoid any possible mold exposure?</p>

<p>Not to worry-- many , many of your cyber friends will happily step up to the plate with posts in epistrophy’s temporary absence. Just keep reading and keep posting!</p>

[ADad]

<p>

To confine our attention to terrestrial matters would be to limit the human spirit.

</p>

<p>–Stephen Hawking </p>

<p>(Hawking’s ALS diagnosis occurred in 1963, when he was 21. Doctors said he would not survive more than two or three years.)</p>