They are friends and survivors. Five women whose children all attended Everett’s Immaculate Conception &Our Lady of Perpetual Help School now share a stronger bond. It was forged by battles with breast cancer.
One after another — in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 — each was diagnosed with the disease.
There were surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation appointments, and times of fear, pain and illness. During those hard times, they brought each other meals, offered rides home from school, and shared wisdom about the disease that no doctor could give.
“From the get-go, we were drawn together by our kids,” said Mary Scanes, 50, a teacher at Olivia Park Elementary School. Scanes said she learned she had cancer “in 2012, on Groundhog Day — they say you never forget the day you’re diagnosed.”
Scanes found support among friends who had experienced what she was facing. “We started out with cancer coffees,” she said, then with a laugh added, “We went to cancer cocktails.
“Now we’re all drawn together by the power of sisterhood. And we say it like it is,” said Scanes, who lives in Everett.
Shannon Pollock, of Snohomish, remembers the day in 2011 when she was diagnosed. Right away, she called Meagan Farrell, an Immaculate Conception mom who had battled breast cancer in 2010.
Pollock, 43, still recalls Farrell’s response: “Welcome to the club that nobody wants to belong to.”
“For me, that initial sense of not being the only one dealing with this scary disease was huge,” Pollock said.
She said she felt blessed that Farrell and another friend, Christy Franklin, “were there for me to lean on, with questions or just to talk, knowing they knew exactly what I was experiencing during my treatment.”
Franklin was first. The Everett woman didn’t have the camaraderie of close friends with cancer when she was diagnosed, at age 45, in January 2009. “I didn’t keep it a secret, but I didn’t feel like I had a whole lot of support.”
Franklin initially had a lumpectomy. Between her third and fourth rounds of chemotherapy, more cancer was found and she opted for a double mastectomy.
Through her treatment at the Providence Regional Cancer Partnership in Everett, Franklin coped by continuing to work as a dental assistant. She had a wig made from her own hair.
“I didn’t want people to look at me and feel sorry for me. You keep on going with life. That’s what got me through it,” said Franklin, who has participated in the Susan G. Komen 3-Day, a 60-mile walk to raise money to fight the disease.
Everett’s Molly Smith was the last of the friends to be diagnosed, in October 2013. She chose to have a double mastectomy, had four rounds of chemotherapy and 30 radiation treatments. In December, she is scheduled for breast reconstruction surgery. And with that, the women believe they will be finished with cancer for good.
“Everybody is all fine. Thankfully, I had this amazing group of friends,” said Smith, 48, who works at Everett High School.
On Saturday, they will walk together, as Team Survivor, in the American Cancer Society’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer fundraising walk, which starts at 10 a.m. at the Snohomish County Courthouse plaza. They were together recently for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Survivor Celebration, held Sept. 14 aboard Holland America Line’s MS Amsterdam cruise ship docked on the Seattle waterfront.
And at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 23, their friend, Holly Pohland, will host “Pink Runway — Fall Fashion for Breast Cancer,” a fund-raiser at Burkett’s clothing store in downtown Everett. Pohland, the store’s owner, also had children who attended Immaculate Conception. Laura Kendrick, another friend with children at the school, works at the Comprehensive Breast Center at Providence Regional Medical Center Everett, and is helping with the fashion event, which will benefit Making Strides Against Breast Cancer programs, Smith said.
Farrell, who lives in Monroe, said that although she was finished with treatment by 2010, it’s been important to be there for others. “All I could think of was how Christy was there for me,” she said. “It’s a matter of paying it forward.”
Farrell also shared something extraordinary about her cancer.
“It changes you forever,” she said. “I have to say, as horrible as it was, if I could go back and undo it, I would not. I feel it strengthened my family bonds. It’s like the wake-up to really grasp life.”
Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460; jmuhlstein@heraldnet.com.
Making Strides walk,
fashion fund-raiser
Making Strides: The American Cancer Society Making Strides Against Breast Cancer 5K walk is at 10 a.m. Saturday starting at the Snohomish County Courthouse plaza, 3000 Rockefeller Ave., Everett. Information:
Pink Runway: A fall fashion show and fund-raiser for the Making Strides program to fight breast cancer will be held at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 23 at Burkett’s clothing store, 2617 Colby Ave., Everett. There will be appetizers and desserts from the New Mexicans restaurant and raffle items. Tickets, $25, are available at Burkett’s or by sending a check made out to “Burkett’s” to 2617 Colby Ave, Everett WA 98201. Space is limited. Information: 425-252-2389.
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