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'I am living with cancer, not dying of cancer,' says Relay for Life honorary chairman

By Rose Hooper
Marion Beegle working

At work - Youth leader for the past 28 years at the Presbyterian Church in Cullowhee, Marion Beegle leads the youth on a working mission each summer. Last year, she and the youth helped construct this concrete building in Jamaica.

Jackson County Relay for Life Honorary Chairman Marion Beegle gives all the honor to the volunteers.

"They are the ones planning and going to all the meetings and pounding the pavement to raise money and awareness," said this three-time cancer survivor from Cullowhee. "We survivors can't say enough about them."

But Relay Chairman Mary Moody is quick to add, "Marion was selected for her honor because she is such a courageous example of a cancer survivor. She's had three types of cancer and still maintains an active lifestyle. And she's the perfect example that early detection is the key to surviving cancer."

"When we hear the 'C' word, we are often terrified at first," Beegle said. "But I reminded people that we all possess a greater 'C' word and that is COURAGE!

"You not only survive, but you survive well," said Beegle, whose first bout of cancer-cervical-was detected during a yearly pap smear in 1971. Through self-examination in 1979, she detected the tiny lump harboring the beginnings of breast cancer.
Marion Beegle swimming

At play - As much as she likes to work, cancer survivor Marion Beegle of Cullowhee also likes to play. "We need to act living, sleep living, keep on living. When we are dead we are dead. Until that time I want to say I am living with cancer, not dying of cancer," said Beegle. She gets up every day and "does what I've always done. But I think I appreciate each day more. I may be a little more likely to drop what I am doing and go to the river with my grandchildren. Or take a trip with a friend and leave housework for another day."

"After my mastectomy, I remember Ezra Stovell, who died last year, coming to see me and offering encouragement. She brought me a prosthesis and said, 'If you don't think they look and feel like the real thing, you just feel mine and tell me which one's not real.' Ezra had such grace and courage and a real joy for living - I always admired her as a person and as a cancer survivor."

Two years ago Beegle felt an abnormal growth on her neck. "I looked in the mirror and coughed and could really see it, so I went straight to the doctor. I think for anybody going for testing that's the most precarious time-that long period of waiting to know, that's the worse, 'cause once you know, then you can deal with it."

Beegle's third cancer turned out to be lymphoma, the same kind of cancer that killed Jackie Onassis and King Hussein. "Mine is non-Hodgkin's type, it's large cell follicular and more easily treatable," she said. Through surgery, most of the mass was removed, followed by four months of chemotherapy then 25 radiation treatments.
"Before, with chemo I never lost my hair, but this time I did. When it grew back, it was red. My husband, John, said he always wanted a redhead and finally he got one."

During Jackson County's big weekend of cancer awareness, Beegle would like to stress the importance of regular check-ups. "We need to pay attention to our own body so we can be helpful to the doctors. Most people diagnosed with cancer think, "Oh, boy, it's curtains; it's over. But with early detection, it doesn't have to be."

Moody added that's why Beegle is such a good example for cancer survivors. "Marion has survived cervical cancer for 29 years, breast cancer for 21 years and she's in remission for lymphoma. Worrying about having cancer come back is very much on the minds of survivors."

Beegle said she tells those with cancer that they are more than cancer patients. "They are mothers, fathers, friends, brothers and sisters. They should concentrate on living. We are definitely going to die one of these days, but it might very well be a death caused by something else other than cancer. We need to act living, sleep living, keep on living. When we are dead, we are dead. Until that time I want to say I am living with cancer, not dying of cancer."

Beegle gets up every day and "does what I've always done. But I think I appreciate each day more. I may be a little more likely to drop what I am doing and go to the river with my grandchildren. Or take a trip with a friend and leave housework for another day."

This summer, as she has for the past 10 years, she will lead the junior and senior high youth of the Presbyterian Church on a working mission trip. She still swims, plants a garden, sews, quilts and serves as a church elder.

"I'm a very spiritual person," she said. "I rely a lot on my faith and ask God for courage to deal with my cancer. I know that I am where I am because God has given me the ability to rise above this circumstance in my life.

"I love living and I am in no hurry to die," said this cancer survivor, who will lead Friday's survivor walk.

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