By B. Scott Mohr
Editor

Cancer is indiscriminate to the age of its victims. Just ask Clara Belle Brownlee, 95, who discovered a lump on her breast two years ago.

Brownlee’s daughter, Peggy Schaub, remembers the day well. “Mom came to me and said, ‘I’ve got something to tell you, and I am worried. I found a lump on my breast.’

“Although this was a really scary moment for me, I told her in a comforting way, ‘It will be OK. We need to get this looked at. We will get this taken care of.’ ”

And they did.
An ultrasound revealed a tumor, but at Brownlee’s age, surgery, chemotherapy and radiation treatments were out of the question. “She probably wouldn’t have survived surgery,” Schaub said.

Dr. Anuj Agarwala, who practices out of Community Hospital South, decided that Brownlee’s best chance would be to take tamoxifen, which has turned out to be a godsend.

“The tamoxifen keeps shrinking the tumor, and it’s not spreading,” said Schaub, who has nothing but praise for Agarwala.

“He has been great with my mother; he is wonderful. We absolutely love him to death.”

Brownlee continues to get regular exams, and everything looks so promising that Schaub mentioned her mom will be 100 in five years. “We threw her a big party for her 90th birthday. I don’t know what we’ll do when she turns 100.”

Brownlee remains upbeat and is so thankful because she knows this could have gone another way. All four of her siblings died of cancer. “She knows how fortunate she is; she knows that many women with breast cancer are suffering.”

Despite her age, Brownlee continues to live on her own in her Perry Township home.

“She doesn’t cook anymore, but she walks with the aid of a walker,” her daughter said. “After getting up every morning, she washes her face and watches TV until someone comes over to make her breakfast. And someone is there to make her dinner. She can always get a snack if she gets hungry before a meal.
“Oh, Mom will call us to let us know when she needs something. Sometimes it can wait until someone is going over. 

“I have some angels – and they know who they are – who help me take care of Mom. And her neighbors are great about looking out for her well-being.” 

Clara Belle Graf was born March 28, 1922, in Oakford, Ind., near Tipton. She later married to William Brownlee, now deceased, and they adopted Schaub, their only child. Mrs. Brownlee has two grandsons, Paul (Kellie) and Patrick (Brittanie) Schaub, and seven-great-grandchildren. She worked in factories and retired from Wavetech in Beech Grove and volunteered at the Children’s Guardian Home.

Before osteoporosis slowed her, she read a lot and enjoyed going places with her daughter, grandsons and their families.

“It’s a shame that she is in so much pain from her osteoporosis,” Schaub said, “but she still enjoys family functions, and she’s there mentally. We can still have conversations and talk about what’s going on in the world.”

Schaub and her husband, Greg, own E.M. Co., which has built a solid reputation for providing electrical/mechanical construction and services.
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Longevity runs in the family; Greg’s mom, Louise, is 94. Looks like a couple of centennial birthday celebrations could be on the horizon. 

​By Steve McClure
Southsider Voice correspondent

“Pretty in Pink,” the title of a 1986 movie starring Molly Ringwald, is one of many reminders of Sylvia Dennis McClure and one of her and our multiple-layer stories of faith, determination and perseverance.

One year and three days after this writer married Sylvia Marie Dennis Oct. 3, 1987, we learned – through a routine examination – that breast cancer would be our primary topic of discussion over the next 30-years.
Initial questions? 

How and why did Sylvia, a vibrant, healthy second-grade teacher become a victim of breast cancer?
It was heart-stopping. It was dumbfounding.

But together, we quickly became educated and devised a step-by-step game plan to remain who we always have been –  positive, forward-thinking people. No looking back.

After learning of Sylvia’s diagnosis, the same week of her birthday (Oct.5), I called a group of our Indianapolis Ski Club friends, who we planned to travel to Buffalo, N.Y., to see the Indianapolis Colts play the Bills, to bring them up to date on Sylvia’s diagnosis and inform them we would not, unfortunately, be going.

But then, Sylvia stepped in.

“We’re going,” she said. “This thing isn’t going to stop us.”

And it was right then and there that I knew which train I was going to board.

Would it be a train filled with anger, with pessimism and no hope? Or would it be a train filled with determined positivity?

We made that trip, and it was just the precursor of how Sylvia and I overcame breast cancer to extend our lives and our marriage over the next 30 years.

Through the initial stages of treatment, which required a lumpectomy, a mastectomy, grueling chemotherapy and reconstructive breast surgery, Sylvia was in the winner’s circle each and every time.

Her chemo treatments – by personal design – always came on Friday, the week’s last day of school.

And even though the chemo took its toll through a weekend, she would rally herself to return to the classroom Monday morning.

Again, her positivity and determination amazed me and strengthened my own faith.

Sylvia’s background as one of five children who grew up in rural Ohio was just one of the many reasons she would come out on top.

She was an Ohio University graduate who ventured to Indianapolis to become a teacher of what she used to tell me, “I’m an educator of young minds.”  

Sylvia also was an educator to this writer. How would we get through this?

But she did, and we did.

Her story would be shared by many.

Sylvia became a loyal and regular supporting visitor to others who shared the same diagnosis through the Susan B. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

And when October arrives each year, she’s right there “walking the walk” in downtown Indianapolis with thousands. As I indicated earlier – “Pretty in Pink.”

And now today, Sylvia is a nearly 30-year breast cancer survivor. 
If that isn’t a line of positivity, then I don’t know what more there is.
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We’re blessed. We are whole. We move on.
Blessings everyone. God is good all the time.

By B. Scott Mohr
Editor

Sisters Donna Whiteside and Diana Rivera are cancer survivors – as is their mother, Helen Roach –  and they attribute that to their strong faith and close families.

Whiteside is a five-year survivor; Rivera has been a survivor since January 2015. 

Whiteside’s surgeon was Dr. Susan Chace Lottich and her oncologist was Dr. Mary Mayer. Because Whiteside had such high praise for these doctors, Rivera said she would be more comfortable if they were also her doctors. 

“My doctors were awesome,” Whiteside said. “Mine were great, Rivera noted.

Both sisters agreed that their doctors helped them understand the medical aspect of their cancers. 
Drs. Ross and Hsiago were Whiteside’s radiologist and plastic surgeon, respectively. 

The sisters, known as “The Double D’s” during Rivera’s treatment, went to Indianapolis Public School 65 before attending Manual High. 

Rivera’s cancer was discovered through her annual mammogram. “When I got the news that I had a cancerous lump in my left breast, my heart stopped. I knew then that I was in for the fight of my life,” she said.

“My husband, Arnold, and my children, Kristina Rivera Rearick, Arnie and Bill, and my sister got me through this,” said Rivera, who has 12 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

Rivera, who retired from Lincare in September, and her husband belong to St. Jude Church. “I love sitting on the porch with my husband or any of our sweet grandchildren.”
 
Whiteside, a member of Greenwood Christian Chuck, said she knew God was at her side during her battle. “My husband, Robert Jr., and my kids (Shanon Mullinix, Tracy (Randy) Guy and Robert (Lisa) Whiteside) and my nine sweet grandchildren kept me going.”

Whiteside quit work 13 years ago to help her son when he lost his first wife at the age of 25 to ovarian cancer. 

Through it all, she has no doubt that God is good. “I thank God every day for my family, which he has blessed me with. 
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“Cancer is a scary word, but not if you have faith and a close family.”