Wyndmoor resident Betsy Wallace on her deck overlooks the home of her neighbor and friend, Ella, who died of ovarian cancer . Ella guided Wallace through her diagnosis and treatment. (Photo by Barbara Sherf)

by Barbara Sherf

PART TWO

Betsy Wallace, 66, of Wyndmoor, who was diagnosed in 2010 with ovarian cancer (OVCA), bristles at the term “cancer survivor” but admits that there is no other suitable phrase to replace it. “I didn’t ask for cancer. It came to me, and I did the chemo and even went a step beyond with maintenance chemo. Anyone would have done the same under the circumstances.

“But here’s the deal; you do try to put yourself and your life back together, but cancer is not something that disappears,” Wallace shared on her back deck, overlooking the home that her dear friend and neighbor, Ella, lived in before dying of OVCA in 2011.

Ella was among seven women with ovarian cancer, including Wallace, who met as an informal support group to discuss their fears, symptoms and treatments and bear witness to each other’s stories. Four of the seven women in the group died in 2011 and 2012. Wallace and the other two survivors still stay in touch.

“I’m one of the lucky ones,” Wallace said. “I’ve not had one recurrence after chemo, and I’m still here after eight years. You come to terms with having cancer, and your priorities change. Those deep conversations you have had with loved ones make you stronger, and at some point you just get back to living.”

Wallace said through all of it, people were sincere and helpful. When she had used up all of her sick time, her co-workers — and even workers she did not know — donated their sick time to her. Wallace, still believing that she only had two years to live at best, was feeling like she wanted to concentrate on spending quality time with her husband and doing only those things that fundamentally mattered to her. So in July of 2011, she and her husband left the 9-to-5 work world and never regretted it.

Since her retirement, Wallace has been volunteering with Fair Districts PA, a non-partisan anti-gerrymandering organization associated with the League of Women Voters. She continued volunteering for Weaver’s Way Food Co-op and started an ad hoc committee on elder life planning at Chestnut Hill Quaker Meeting. She is also an active Trail Ambassador with Friends of the Wissahickon. She and her husband took trips to England for fun and out West to see her family and old friends. As she put it, “This is not the time to drink cheap wine!”

During her treatment at the University of Pennsylvania, Wallace participated in a clinical trial focusing on counseling for newly diagnosed ovarian cancer patients. “The one-on-one counseling was so helpful to me because it made me realize that I had to grieve my mother’s death before I could deal with my own,” said Wallace, “and the free weekly Mindfulness Meditation class at the Wellness Center in Fairmount Park gave me a way of staying centered and of accepting my diagnosis.”

She also sought out a good nutritionist while she underwent chemotherapy. The nutritionist, who worked with many cancer patients, advised her to stick to an anti-inflammatory diet; little to no dairy, drastically reducing sugar and only organic meat in small portions. “Of course, fruits and vegetables and nuts were and still are good for me. I also started exercising and still maintain the diet and workout program to this day.”

In 2012, Wallace started volunteering for the Survivors Teaching Students® (STS) program sponsored by the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund Alliance. The program targets third-year medical students, and its goals are to increase the number of healthcare providers who recognize ovarian cancer symptoms and refer women suspected of ovarian cancer to gynecologic oncologists to diagnose and treat the disease in its earliest stages. STS is currently in more than 90 medical schools in the U.S. and elsewhere.

Once every five to six weeks, Wallace and several local OVCA survivors share their stories in a classroom setting with third-year medical students at certain teaching hospitals in Philadelphia, followed by a dialogue between the women and students. At the July 27 class at Thomas Jefferson University’s Sidney Kimmel Medical College, Wallace spoke to more than two dozen medical students.

“You know, every one of us told the students today that we ignored or tried to self-treat our symptoms because they were so vague. By the time we saw a doctor, some of us had been living with the symptoms for as much as nine months … There were a lot of good questions, and I do feel that we got through to the next generation of physicians, so for me, that is a success.”

For more information on ovarian cancer symptoms, risk factors, STS and how you can get help, visit www.sandyovarian.org. This article is reprinted, with permission, from Milestones, the monthly publication of the Philadelphia Corporation for Aging.