Friends, family, and brain tumor prove it’s the simple things that count
Bobbi Mlynar, Special to the Gazette
Friday, October 21, 2011
It’s Cheryl Patton’s nature to look for the silver lining. She wasn’t long finding one after undergoing surgery in September for a malignant brain tumor.
Patton was diagnosed with glioblastoma, the most common and most aggressive cancer of the brain.
“This type of cancer is not a beatable kind of cancer. It’s aggressive,” Patton said. “My first outlook about this was maybe two years of quality time. Recently my oncologist said I was doing really well and they had some cases similar to mine at a clinic back east that were in their third and fourth year.
“I said, ‘If they can do it, I can do it.’ And he said, ‘I think you will.’ That made me feel really good. It just doubled my life expectancy. …
“If there’s a way, whatever I can do with this kind of cancer, whatever can be done with it, I know I’m going to fight to the max. I know in my bones that I’m going to do as well as I can.”
On Sunday, she intends to be at the Emporia Arts Council for a film festival fundraiser Jones has organized from 2 to 4:30 p.m. A large screen will be set up in the theater to show the six-part Ken Burns series “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea.” Filmed over six years at some of nature’s most spectacular locales — from Acadia to Yosemite, Yellowstone to the Grand Canyon, the Everglades of Florida to the Gates of the Arctic in Alaska — the series tells the stories of Americans who were willing to devote themselves to saving some portion of the land they loved.
Reservations are not required, but because of the size of the EAC theater, reservations may be made by calling 343-6473. Free popcorn and beverages will be provided, and donations will be accepted to help defray medical costs. Proceeds will go to a fund established for Patton at Lyon County State Bank.
The abrupt change
Until late this summer, Patton had no idea she even had a health problem.
“I was having small signs, maybe, three week or four weeks prior to finding it, but they were symptoms that I associated with migraines,” she said. “I’ve had migraines forever, so I thought I was just having different kinds of migraines.”
She noticed that she needed to look up telephone numbers that she previously had punched in from memory; there were a few problems with her speech and she seemed to be having trouble reading and comprehending.
“The day that I took myself to the doctor, I was confused with people’s names that I should have known really well, and I knew that there was something horribly wrong,” Patton said.
Two days later, she was in Topeka, meeting with a neurosurgeon for the biopsy and diagnosis.
“My son and I had a meeting with the doctor on Sunday, and they operated the next day because time was of the essence,” she said.
Patton briefly weighed the ongoing cost of treatment against the time it would buy. The decision was complicated by a change in insurance coverage. The cost had increased about six weeks before, and she had opted to go with a lesser policy for one year.
“One year, and then I would go back to the coverage I had before. It was six weeks later that this happened,” she said. “It was bad timing, is what it is.”
Insurance now pays 80 percent of the bills and Patton pays 20 percent.
“Twenty percent doesn’t sound like much, but when you have a $100,000 bill, 20 percent adds up quick,” she said. “And then I just had to let go of that and just concentrate on survival. I’ll figure out the details as I go along.”
Step by step
In the meantime, Patton is taking one day at a time, concentrating on getting through treatment and trying to stay healthy. She’s also fighting a bronchial infection that has lingered because of her weakened immune system and, while some of her symptoms have improved, she still struggles to read and her somewhat diminished vision may not return fully.
But the cancer has given her cause to set priorities in her life.
“It gave me a clear picture of how I want to spend my time – the things that are important and the things that aren’t,” Patton said. “We all say that and we all know it, but when it comes face to face with it … In a way, it’s made things easier for me, how I want to spend my days, how I want to spend my energy.”
Blessings, large and small
She’s gratified by what she terms an amazing response from her family, co-workers and friends, including some she “knew on a friendly basis, but not well.”
“(Son) Cody and his wife Angela and their kids have just given me the strength to march through this and do the best I can. I don’t know what I would have done without them,” she said. “My grandkids are my inspiration when I need it.”
Co-workers from L-CAT and the Lyon County Department on Aging have donated their vacation and sick leave so that Patton will not lose her health insurance and her job as director of the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program.
“That’s such a critical piece of my life,” Patton said of the donation. “Everybody in that department, they donated enough for me to get through treatment and have a couple of weeks to recoup before I get back to work.
“It’s so far beyond anything you can expect of your co-workers. They made it possible for me to go on, because otherwise, I don’t know what I would have done. And they just did it out of the goodness of their hearts and they have given generously.”
A friend, Linda Jones, has organized drivers to take Patton from Emporia to St. Francis Medical Center in Topeka for radiation treatment Mondays through Fridays. The chemotherapy comes in a pill that Patton takes seven days a week. She is now in the fourth week of a six-week protocol.
“People have just been stepping up in every way, seeing that I get everything I need,” Patton said. “Not everybody is as lucky as I am. … I can’t say enough about where I live and my support team. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else … and that is a blessing.”
And she’s learning to accept help instead of giving it; that, too, is a blessing in its own way.
“You never think you’re going to need that,” Patton said. “I’m always on the other end; I was always comfortable on the other end.
“It’s not as comfortable on this end, but I’m so appreciative.”
Merry_Carol (anonymous) says...
Cheryl is an amazing woman. She was one of the people who helped me acclimate to living in this area when we moved here.
She is vibrant, full of life, and has an amazing amount of internal power that I deeply admire.
And we've kept in touch all these years. I love you Cheryl and am forever grateful to you. Janet
October 21, 2011 at 1:57 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )