THE JOURNAL & TOPICS NEWSPAPERS | FRIDAY, MARCH 21, 2008
Foundation Created Out Of One Woman's Challenges
By DENISE FLEISCHER
Lifestyle Editor
Pamela M. Smialek remembers the day the doctor's office called.
"I'm sorry, but you have cervical cancer."
The words that caught her in mid-heartbeat.
Smialek moved to Des Plaines with her family when she was just under a year old. She went to Orchard Place Elementary School for Kindergarten, attended Our Lady of Hope School in Rosemont for eight years and graduated from Maine West High School. She has worked in the trucking industry since she was 19. She currently works in Elk Grove Village.
For six years, Ken Miller has stood beside her offering his love and support. She also has her mother, Mary, who lives in Des Plaines, a brother and sister in Arlington Hts. and her dogs, Maggie Mae and Brewster. Home is now in west-suburban Bloomingdale.
With her medical history, she has to remain alert.
On her foundation's website, www.mydaylooking.org, she writes:
"I'm sorry, but you have cervical cancer. These words will haunt me the rest of my life. As my fiancé held my hand my insides went numb. I seemed to have also lost my hearing, because I could see the doctor talking but I couldn't hear her (Dr. Susan Orhan's) voice. When we walked out of the doctor's office we sat on a brick wall that lines the parking lot. It was warm and breezy, my eyes were tearing, yet I was feeling nothing. He held me and said we'll get through this. That's when the pity party began. Why me, why always me? Let's just say I've been medically challenged throughout my life, Dr. P. (Dr. Ronald Pawlowski) always told me to pull the books out whenever I got sick because it was never anything simple. But Cancer, it's just a scary word. Some people will not even say the word itself, they refer to it as the 'Big C.'
"As I lay in bed that night I had already given up. Ok, God, you want me, then take me, I'm not having surgery, what will be will be. Then I woke up in the morning terrified. Was I dreaming all this? I had just gotten two Puggles, my babies. A brother and sister I named Brewster and Maggie Mae, they were 3 months old and needed me. I had wanted them for so long and now this. As the days and weeks went by, I wanted to absorb as much information about Cervical Cancer as I could. The doctor had also suggested removing my cervix as another option, but then the concern of vaginal cancer would follow. Great! Keep the cervix, have surgery and continue to be tested every three months and let the cervix be a sponge for the cancer, or have it removed and face another cancer that I couldn't really control. If the cancer keeps attacking the cervix it can be removed and new cells will replace it, hopefully healthy ones. So, back to the Internet I went. As I went from site to site there was information galore, but one site said one thing, another site said another thing, and Dr. Orhan said yet a third thing. This was not going to be an easy journey. Sometimes too much is really too much. If you trust your doctor, you need to let him/her guide you into the right decisions for you as an individual. I trusted my doctor entirely. So, on Aug. 31, 2007 it was off to surgery. Cancer out, cervix in! The first couple days after the surgery are a little blurred due to being medicated, but I physically healed. So now I go every 3 months, that anticipation of watching the calendar, having the pap screening done, and then waiting. Tick tock tick tock, those 3 months fly by, but waiting for those results seems like a lifetime. For now, my energy, will, determination and strength are focused on this foundation by raising awareness of the importance of regular Pap screening; early detection and helping women and their loved ones understand they are not alone."
The foundation, Smialek speaks of is "My Day Foundation - Looking For the Cure."
Smialek wants women to be aware of the statistics offered by www.cancer.gov, on cervical cancer.
Between 60% to 80% of women diagnosed with cervical cancers have not had a Pap test in the past five years and many never had one at all. Approximately 50% of those women who die from cervical cancer each year have never had a Pap test. HPV has been detected in 90 to 100% of all cervical cancer cases. (HPV stands for the human papillomavirus). In most cases HPV infections are not "active" long enough to cause problems, according to www.thehpvtest.com However, if an infection with a "high risk" type of HPV persists, abnormal cells may develop - and turn into Cervical Cancer if not detected and treated early, according to the website. It is estimated that in 2007 there were 11,150 new cases and 3,670 deaths from Cervical Cancer. Pap smears and the hpv test are a form of early detection and need to be conducted to save lives.
From Smialek's life challenge and hardships she created My Day Foundation, Inc.
"As with most things in life, you feel you are safe and protected from bad things happening to you. It's that old adage "It'll never happen to me," stated Smialek. "Then that summer of 2007 I was diagnosed and had surgery for cervical cancer. I will fight this battle the rest of my life because there is 'no' cure."
When Smialek was diagnosed she wasn't sure where to turn to find more information about the disease. She felt blessed to find Dr. Susan Orhan who is compassionate, understanding and informed.
"She held my hand (literally) and told me everything was going to be okay," said Smialek. "I had personal support around me with my friends and family. But when I turned to the Internet, I couldn't find any organization that focused exclusively on cervical cancer. So I have done something about that. 'My Day - Looking for the Cure' is a non-profit foundation through which I will channel support, resources, facts and encouragement to those in need of this knowledge."
"We want to raise awareness and importance in regular pap screening and early detection. We want to help educate and inform women as to the magnitude of this disease. By coming together through various events we will find the support and raise the money to aid in medical research and specifically for a cure for cervical cancer."
On Thursday, Apr. 17, Shark City, 2240 Bloomingdale Rd. in Glendale Hts., will sponsor a fundraiser for "My Day - Looking For The Cure" foundation. The tournament fee entitles participants to a fun evening of competition, food and good cheer. A 50/50 raffle is also planned.
Smialek and the foundation will begin this campaign with a "Walk" set for May 4 at Busse Woods in Elk Grove Village. Check in is at 8 a.m. and the walk begins at 10 a.m. All proceeds will go toward medical research in an effort to find a cure.
"My hope is that through strength and determination that every woman affected by Cervical Cancer will wake up and say today is 'My Day.'"