Cancer survivors tell about hardship, hope and recovery when dealing with illness


Dec. 02--BRIDGEPORT -- "I love this routine," said Boston comedian Tom Hayes, the keynote speaker at Wednesday's 11th annual SWIM Across the Sound breakfast for cancer survivors. "Mike, give me your wallet."

Mike Bisciglia, vice president of the St. Vincent's Medical Center Foundation, sitting at the head table, handed Hayes his wallet which was immediately dissected.

"Let's see what we have here," Hayes said, holding up a square, foil-wrapped object. "This isn't what you think it is. It's a Wet-Nap!"

Hayes was cracking up the crowd of about 400 cancer survivors that packed the ballroom of the downtown Holiday Inn.

"Oh, look, he even filled out the ID card that came with the wallet -- I never met anyone who actually did that," he said. " 'Oh, yes, officer, that's a valid ID -- I filled it out myself.' "

Hayes, who lost his left leg from a malignant sarcoma, encouraged the audience to rent funny movies as a way to get through the ordeals of cancer. "Humor is wonderful medicine -- it worked for Norman Cousins," he said of the late editor of the Saturday Review, famous for watching Marx Brothers movies while suffering from ankylosing spondylitis, a severe form of arthritis, as well as heart disease.

Other speakers included U.S. Senate-elect and Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, Victorinox Swiss Army president Rene Stutz, foundation president Ronald Bianchi and St. Vincent's CEO Susan L. Davis.

Victorinox Swiss Army was one of the sponsors; the other was Plasko's Farm of Trumbull. The menu included French toast, bacon, sausage, bagels, rolls, orange juice and coffee.

Just about all of those in attendance had a story to tell about hardship, hope and recovery.

"In September of 2007, I woke up one morning and I had blood all over my T-shirt," said Deborah Scianna of Monroe. "The next thing I knew, I was diagnosed with breast cancer, which began about two years of surgeries, chemotherapy and reconstruction."

She said that she only allowed herself one day to feel sorry for herself. "I cried my eyes out that night, but the next day I put on my boxing gloves, got in the ring and fought by way through it."

She said that her ordeals have made her slow down and appreciate life more. "Before, it was always rush, rush, rush. Now, I cherish every moment that I have with my husband and two boys."

The SWIM personnel, she said, "were always there for me."

Since 1987, the SWIM has provided cancer education, screening, and prevention programs, it also helps cancer patients with needs such as wigs and prostheses, medication assistance, transportation to treatments and appointments, day-care scholarships, support groups and so forth. SWIM Across the Sound and the St. Vincent's Foundation are one and the same; the organization typically raises about $2.6 million per year through donations and fundraisers.

The annual survivors' breakfast was Laura Mazzadra's fourth. "They're great people," she said of the SWIM organization, with whom she became acquainted after her bout with breast cancer in 2005. Today, she's a volunteer worker with the SWIM.

Hayes, whose bone cancer left him with an artificial leg since he was 12, reminded the crowd that cancer sufferers often have more to deal with than just the disease.

"My daughters live with my ex-wife," he said. "So one day, the older one runs away. A while later, she shows up at my house. 'Why did you run away?' I ask her. 'For the same reason you did.' "

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