Models of hope
By BETH VRABEL for Smart
These women are warriors.
They might look like your neighbor, your child’s teacher, your pew companion when you worship.
That’s because they are.
They might seem just like you, your sisters and your mother — chasing grandchildren, planning vacations, picking up groceries.
They are.
These women also have — and are — waging a war on a disease that has crept into their bodies, disrupted their lives, altered their family.
They are cancer survivors.
Wanda Wandress
Age: 53
Town: Springettsbury Township
Occupation: Second-grade teacher at East York Elementary School
Family: Married, Cliff
Diagnosed with: Melanoma about 10 years ago
Kay RoddyAge: 60
Lives in: Spring Garden Township
Occupation: Full-time volunteer, former school teacher
Family: Married, Michael; four children
Diagnosed with: Breast cancer in July 1996
Michele Silverberg
Age: 62
Lives in: Springettsbury Township
Occupation: “Domestic goddess”
Family: Married, Barry; two daughters and three grandchildren
Diagnosed with: Breast cancer in 2005. Still in treatment after a 2007 exam showed the cancer spread to her lung and diaphragm.
Lettie Jackson
Age: 58
Lives in: York
Occupation: Director of OPEN program (Ordinary People Extraordinary Needs); ovarian cancer awareness activist
Family: married, Raymond; son and daughter-in-law
Diagnosed with: Ovarian cancer in June 2003
How has your life changed?
Silverberg: I’m more observant of other people and what they might be going through. Every ache and pain, I question. My back hurts, I wonder if it’s there. You really do live test to test.
Wandress: When I was growing up, I remember (sun)burning. My brother and I would burn so badly, I remember Mom pulling skin off our back. I would lay out like it was my job. I was a sun worshipper.
When I was diagnosed with melanoma, I knew I could die from it.
Now I use the sunless tanning all summer long.
How has your family’s life changed?
Roddy: Maybe it would be that they now appreciate the fragility of life a little more.
What was the hardest thing to face?
Roddy: The fear. I tell everybody that. The fear.
Silverberg: Losing my hair. The other day, my wig came off. My grandson, who is 3, said, ‘What happened to your hair?’ I told him I was doing it a different way.
What do you wish you would’ve done differently?
Jackson: I wish I had known what the signs and symptoms were of ovarian cancer. Really paid more attention to my body.
Those aches and pains mean something, if they’re persistent. It has nothing to do with age.
What advice do you have for women who’ve just been diagnosed with cancer?
Roddy: Move forward with your treatment as quickly as you can and try to remain positive and trust your doctors.
Jackson: I hope that they are grounded and rooted in their faith.
Silverberg: Take a friend to your appointments. When you go to a doctor, take a tape recorder. He might say something that you might have missed. I do that.
Don’t be afraid to ask any questions. It’s your body.
How did your family support you through treatment?
Roddy: Wonderfully. My husband went with me to every single chemotherapy treatment.
What was the nicest thing someone did for you during that time?
Jackson: A neighbor who we would just say hello to before became the best of friends. She cooked, she cleaned, she did anything possible for me that she could do.
How can families and friends support someone with cancer?
Silverberg: If you know someone who has cancer, you can drive them to treatments. My friends gave me gift certificates to Carryout Courier.
Jackson: Understand that there are times when they don’t want to be bothered. They don’t want to talk.
Just be there. Be available.
How has your life changed?
Jackson: I think my outlook has changed. I live day by day. It’s a new day and it’s a precious day.
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