Cancer Survivors

If you can bear the pun, these breast cancer survivors are all in the same boat. And they are paddling as if their lives depended on it. Cheryl Brower, three years out from being diagnosed with cancer, has organized a group of women with breast cancer from Baltimore, Annapolis and Washington to take up the oars of a huge dragon boat. The women will be competing in Saturday's dragon boat races at Tide Point Waterfront Park near the Domino's Sugar plant. "It is the best team sport ever invented, and I've been in team sports all my life," said Brower, an Ellicott City attorney and mother of four who has competed in dragon boat races internationally.

Colleges Terps ' Vellano named to IMPACT watch list   Maryland defensive lineman Joe Vellano was named to the Lott IMPACT Trophy watch list, which honors the top college defensive player in the country. The list of 42 players, including seven from the Atlantic Coast Conference, was announced at a luncheon Monday held by Ronnie Lott, the NFL Hall of Fame safety, and the Pacific Club IMPACT Foundation. Vellano, who will be a senior in the fall, was a second-team All-American and a consensus first-team All-ACC choice last season.

Being seen.That was the point yesterday at the Fifth Regiment Armory. Being seen walking and talking and smiling and enjoying a muggy Sunday afternoon in Baltimore.In other words, being alive.For two hours, the armory showcased defiance to a deadly disease. In Baltimore's first celebration of National Cancer Survivors Day, 1,000 survivors and their families assembled under red, white and blue bunting to munch on hot dogs, listen to music and thumb their noses at an illness too readily perceived as unconquerable.

Linda Read was kind enough to send me information about this season's Port Paloozas. The event is a monthly street festival, held on the first Saturday of each month from May through October. Crafters and vendors set up shop in the town square and live music is provided. This Saturday, May 5, an exhibit will be on display in the historic Bank Building from noon until 4 p.m. featuring photos from Exelon's Annual Bald Eagle Photo Contest. The photos were taken at the Conowingo Dam in December 2011.

The terrifying discovery of the lump in their breasts. The surgery, the chemo, the radiation. All of that was behind them, maybe six months behind them, maybe five years behind them. But behind them. The women had taken up life where it had stopped, suddenly, with the devastating diagnosis of breast cancer. Taking care of husbands, kids, aging parents. Working, cooking, cleaning, volunteering. And everyone around them was so happy to see them back. But these women weren't back. Dr. Kathy J. Helzlsouer, breast cancer specialist at Mercy Medical Center, was hearing whispered complaints of fatigue.

In January 1984, Hodgkin's disease ripped like a cyclone into the lives of Edward Mehl, then 24, and his wife, Valerie, who was 22.Lymph cancer was a force that threatened the young couple's marriage, then bonded it tighter than before and changed the direction of Mrs. Mehl's career from banking to communications.The impact cancer had on the Mehls' lives after the disease retreated is typical of what many cancer survivors find. Coming eyeball to eyeball with mortality jolts some survivors and their spouses into a deeper realization of what is important in life.

When Raymond Bencak came to John Hopkins Hospital for treatment of leukemia in 1989, he and his wife, Eleanor, spent the first week in a hotel room. It was a comfortless place to face the prospect of grueling treatment and possible death.So they jumped at the chance to move to Hope Lodge, a haven for cancer patients and their families on West Lexington Street. For more than three months, while Mr. Bencak underwent a bone marrow transplant and extensive follow-up treatment, he and his wife lived with others who were dealing with the ravages of disease and the side-effects of chemotherapy and radiation.

Doug Ulman was a sophomore at Brown University when he was diagnosed with cancer in 1996. His mother looked for a support group for people his age, but the only ones she could find were for young children and older adults. So Ulman, a Howard County native, and his family launched a support program for cancer survivors in the 15-to-35 age group. Since then, the Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults, in its seventh year, has gained national recognition for its wide-ranging programs, including an information-exchange network, support groups around the country, a documentary film and a course for pre-med students at Brown.

A band of some 40 cancer survivors wearing purple ribbon sashes gathered on the oval running track at Owings Mills High School yesterday evening to kick off the American Cancer Society's "Relay for Life."The group walked the first lap of an 18-hour fund-raiser for cancer research, in which teams of 10 to 15 were to walk or run around the track -- one person at a time -- until noon today.Georgene Batz, 59, of Reisterstown was among the survivors. As she rounded the first turn of the track, she said she was reminded of just how much cancer had changed her life.

When Nancy Slaterbeck came out of anesthesia after her cancerous left breast was amputated at Johns Hopkins Hospital three weeks ago, all she wanted to do was sleep and get rid of the "unbearable" pain in her arm.But the main concern for some members of the recovery room staff seemed to be getting rid of her, the 51-year-old Towson woman told a Maryland Senate committee yesterday."

Torrey Smith's doing it. Dane Cook's doing it. Your esteemed representatives in the Maryland House of Delegates are probably doing it, too.  “Zaching,” Zach Lederer's defiant strongman pose in the face of two brain tumors that have nearly cost him his life, has become Maryland's answer to “Tebowing,” and the wave of biceps-flexing mania is even finding its way overseas. Lederer, a freshman at Maryland who joined the Centennial High football team just six years after undergoing brain surgery and having to re-learn motor skills as basic as walking, posted yesterday on his Twitter that “Zaching is spreading like crazy through Russia and Greece.

As the sun rose Sunday on the 19th Komen Maryland Race for the Cure, it illuminated a makeshift city nearly the size of Annapolis, all decked out in shades of pink ranging from the palest pastel to the hottest hue. And for one day, everyone looked fabulous in it. Cherub-cheeked toddlers. White-haired grandfathers. Rambunctious teenaged girls. Beefy men with hairy legs. "We are a community. We all have something in common," said all-in-pink Susan Willingham of Baltimore as she bounced up and down trying to stay warm.

Country music superstar Martina McBride will sing the national anthem before Sunday's Ravens-Jets nationally televised game and she will be joined by breast cancer survivors and those undergoing treatment. It's part of the Ravens' effort to help promote Breast Cancer Awareness Month. McBride's new single, “I'm Gonna Love You Through It,” offers hope and inspiration to those who have been affected by breast cancer, according to the team.  Ravens staff, family members and volunteers from the American Cancer Society will distribute 40,000 pink ribbons to fans as they enter the stadium Sunday.

After months of chemotherapy and radiation, Susan Faber had finally finished breast cancer treatment and conquered the disease. It should have been a happy occasion. But Faber felt at a loss earlier this year as she rang the gong at Johns Hopkins Hospital, a ritual all patients who finish cancer treatment at the facility take part in. Suddenly a rush of emotions exploded from inside. Faber, 48, had been so preoccupied with treatment for her stage three cancer that she never really had a moment to truly think about the experience.

Nora Lee Scanlan, a retired Howard County public school guidance counselor and newspaper columnist, died Sept. 22 of breast cancer at Gilchrist Hospice Care in Columbia. She was 71. Born in Seattle and raised in St. Paul, Minn., Ms. Scanlan was a 1958 graduate of Our Lady of Peace High School. She entered the Sisters of Charity that year in Belrose, N.Y., and remained in the order for a decade before leaving in 1968. She earned a bachelor's degree in 1963 from Mundelein College in Chicago and a master's degree in 1967 from Queens College in Flushing, N.Y. Ms. Scanlan taught at schools in Minnesota and New Jersey before joining Howard County public schools.

Mark Gregory pauses as he relives the time when he nearly died. His gaze trails off into the distance and words fail him as he ponders a past he prefers to keep behind closed doors. Yet, he's willing to dredge up those painful events for a purpose. The River Hill resident is marking a huge cancer-survival milestone by throwing a party Sept. 30 at the Ellicott City VFW Post for dozens of his closest friends and business associates. But it won't be just any party. It will be a fundraiser to benefit the American Cancer Society's Hope Lodge in Baltimore, a temporary residence for adults receiving outpatient cancer treatment, where he stayed decades ago. Maybe it was the realization that he's beaten incredible odds — it's been 20 years since doctors handed him a death sentence — that finally spurred him to take action.

Country music superstar Martina McBride will sing the national anthem before Sunday's Ravens-Jets nationally televised game and she will be joined by breast cancer survivors and those undergoing treatment. It's part of the Ravens' effort to help promote Breast Cancer Awareness Month. McBride's new single, “I'm Gonna Love You Through It,” offers hope and inspiration to those who have been affected by breast cancer, according to the team.  Ravens staff, family members and volunteers from the American Cancer Society will distribute 40,000 pink ribbons to fans as they enter the stadium Sunday.

When Tina Beerman was diagnosed with breast cancer in November 2001, her life changed and so did her career. Beerman, a nurse for 25 years and an independent physician consultant, became clinical manager at the Center for Breast Care at Howard County General Hospital. "[My diagnosis] is the complete reason why I do what I do now," Beerman said. While working at the hospital, Beerman organized a Celebrate Life reception last May for breast cancer survivors, complete with food, a DJ, a magician, games and prizes.

Six faculty members at Gilman School are participating in Swim Across America's "open swim" Sept. 18 to raise money for cancer research and to honor family members who are fighting or died of cancer. The faculty members are Carl Ahlgren, director of college counseling and a history teacher; his wife, Kristin Ahlgren, a lower school library assistant; Ned Harris, academic dean and a history teacher; Patrick Hastings, an upper school English teacher; Rob Heubeck, an upper school history teacher and technology coordinator; and Jim Morrison, an upper school science teacher, according to Gilman spokeswoman Jodi Pluznik.

Since moving to Carroll County last fall, Terry Pitt has found herself immersed in pastries and books. As the founder of The Stone Soup Foundation, a nonprofit that provides meals for the homeless and people in need in Carroll County, Pitt raises money for the organization by combining two of her hobbies - baking and reading. "When I moved here to Carroll County last October, I decided to take a different direction," said Pitt, a professional caterer for more than 11 years.