Smedleys Committed to Family, Healing

This article, written by Andy Philpot, was published in the July 10, 2014 issue of The Mena Star.

Each year at the Polk County Relay For Life celebration, new stories are shared on the battles, victories, and caregiving involved with cancer and our local community members.

When recognition awards were given at this years Relay, held at the end of May, Lyndell Smedley of Hatfield, was named Caregiver of the Year.  For those who attended Relay, they know at least some of the story behind why Lyndell was awarded Caregiver of the Year.  Lyndell's story of dedication to his daughter and his family is a testimony of true dedication to being there for his daughter, and determined to see her through until she was healthy.

Telicia Smedley, daughter of Lyndell and Michelle Smedley, is a former Hatfield graduate who has gone on to become a teacher in Little Rock.  When she had gone to a doctor's appointment on Valentine's Day in 2013, she had been experiencing some issues with bruising in too easy a fashion.  When she went to that doctor's appointment that day for something unrelated to cancer, she didn't expect that it would immediately change her life.  Lyndell and Michelle weren't expecting the phone call that they would receive that day, which would also change their lives immediately.

The news that Lyndell and Michelle got was that Telicia had leukemia.

Telicia was immediately admitted into the hospital, and almost in a whirlwind, got started on chemotherapy to begin the fight against this aggressive condition.  She didn't expect that her doctor appointment would land her in a Little Rock hospital for the next 61 days.

A full feature will be run in a future issue of The Mena Star as space permits for the full story of Telicia's battle against cancer, and her Dad's dedication every step of the way.

Relay For Life

Relay For Life has been raising money for the American Cancer Society since 1985, when Gordy Klatt came up with a way to raise funds for his local American Cancer Society office in Tacoma, Washington, and show support of all his patients who had battled cancer.  He did this by spending 24 hours circling the track at Baker Stadium at the University of Puget Sound.  He ran more than 83 miles and his efforts raised $27,000 to fight cancer.  It has only gotten bigger and better from there.

Relay For Life events are held for the purpose of celebrating cancer survivors, remembering those we have lost, and giving hope that one day the world may be cancer free.  Through the celebrating and remembering, the success gets passed along to the American Cancer society through the fundraising that happens all year long.  With each Relay For life that takes place, it adds to the overall funding that can be used toward cancer research and treatments.

Volunteers from all around Polk County are preparing for this years Relay For Life celebration that will he held May 30th starting at 6:00 P.M. at Janssen Park in Mena.  15 teams of hard working local volunteers have been raising money to be used in the fight against cancer.  This year alone, because of the fundraising efforts of over 5,200 Relays in the U.S., the American Cancer Society is funding research for over fifty different types of cancer.

This year has seen some new and innovative fundraising efforts by Relay For Life team members.  There has been a Flushing out Cancer toilet bouquet seen around town.  The Boots vs. Burgers Basketball Bash was a lot of fun.   The Melanoma Awareness Prevention Program Pageant had over 40 participants and the audience filled the Crossing auditorium.  The Miss-ter Relay Pageant was highly entertaining.

Relay For Life of Polk County volunteers are serious about fighting cancer.  They are fighting for every birthday threatened by every cancer in our community. Each volunteer who works to benefit Relay For Life takes pride in knowing that they are working to create a world where this disease will no longer threaten our loved ones or rob anyone of another birthday.

For the past eight years my wife and I have worked tirelessly to raise money for cancer research.  One of my wife's motivations is the story of her mothers struggle with cancer.  Even though her mother's cancer was terminal, she agreed to be a part of a bone marrow study that was funded by the American Cancer Society.  My wife and her family tried to talk her out of it knowing how painful it would be, but she said, "you never know who you might help".  She lost her battle with cancer in 1976.  20 years later a bone marrow transplant, made possible by that research from 1976, saved my wife's sister's life.  Recently my wife's cousin was diagnosed with Leukemia and was told that without a bone marrow transplant his life expectancy was just three months.  After a successful bone marrow transplant his cancer is now in remission.  My wife's mother was willing to take part in research because it might help a complete stranger not knowing that it would end up saving the lives of family that she loved.  Research that is being conducted today will save many lives in the future.

A little over a year ago my Mom learned that she had a cancerous kidney tumor. Last February she underwent treatment on her kidney tumor. The procedure that the doctors used is called cryoablation.  Cryoablation uses hollow needles that are inserted into the tumor. When the probes are in place, the cryogenic freezing unit  uses cold energy to destroy the cancerous tissue.  I have spent the last eight years doing all that I can to raise money for cancer research through the American Cancer Society's Relay For Life.  When I first got involved with Relay For Life the procedure that was used on my Mom last year was just in the research stage.  It has only become an available treatment in the last three years.  Research that was funded by money that I helped raise right here in Polk County ended up providing a treatment and cure for my Mom.  With cryoablation treatment kidney cancer is cured in approximately 97 percent of patients.

Research is at the heart of Relay For Life.  For more than 65 years, the American Cancer Society has been finding answers that save lives - from changes in lifestyle to new approaches in therapies to improving cancer patients' quality-of-life.  In fact, no single nongovernmental, not-for-profit organization in the US has invested more to find the causes and cures of cancer.

You can be a part of Relay For Life by searching for a Relay near you at this link.

To read many other great blogs or to become part of the ABC Wednesday family click here.

Regina Lawry - Polk County Pulse January 15, 2014

Article published in the January 15, 2014 issue of The Polk County Pulse featuring my wife as the Citizen of the Week.  Written by Jaclyn Rose.

Regina Lawry was born in Denver, Colorado and lived in the same house until she was married.  In grade school she attended Denver Public Schools.  Upon entering high school, Regina transferred to a private Christian boarding school in Loveland, Co, called Campion Academy.  It was there that Regina met her husband and made lifelong friends that she still stays in touch with to this day.  “My father wasn't a rich man, he worked hard as a tile layer and took on extra jobs so he could allow my siblings and I to attend this great school.  It was the most wonderful experience of my life.”

Regina and her husband of 38 years, Richard, or Richie, as he is known by his friends, became friends while in American History class and were assigned to work together on a project.  “Richie was painfully shy but we became great friends and after high school we didn't want that friendship to end.  We started dating and then got married.  The key is to just be best friends.  As life goes on the romance sometimes fades so you have to enjoy being together.”

Regina and her husband have two children, Cynda and Gavin, and family is of extreme importance to them.  “Family has always come first.  When Cynda was little, Richie commuted 50 miles each way to work, so he left before she woke up in the mornings and was home after she was in bed. He came to me at that time and said he wanted to move to Arkansas, where his parents were living.  In two weeks we sold the house and moved to Mena.  It was culture shock to me.  I am such a city girl but Polk County has been so good to us.  We love it here, we love the people.  We are active members of Mena Seventh Day Adventist Church, where Richie is the head elder.”

Regina is now a grandmother to three sweet granddaughters which is a role she cherishes.  “My granddaughters: Autumn, Rebekah and Elisabeth are the light of my life.  I was born to be a grandma.  I waited my whole life for it, I just didn't know it.  I tell my oldest granddaughter that I was so full of joy when she was born that it just kept running out of my eyes,” Regina said with a grin.

Regina ran a fabric shop in Mena for a while before closing it to homeschool her son.  When he left to attend boarding school in Gentry, Arkansas, she decided to go back to work and began working at the USEM Mena Federal Credit Union.  “I’m the CEO and the Janitor.  I love my job.  I love the people.”

In 1975 Regina’s mother was diagnosed with Leukemia and began treatments, which at that time consisted of blood transfusions because no other treatment was available.  Regina’s mother was approached to do a study on the progression of the disease in the bone marrow.  Her family discouraged her from participating, knowing it would likely not help and would cause a great deal of pain.  She insisted on the study, however, and her reason behind it has given Regina her passion in life.  “We tried to talk mom out of the study and her response was, ‘you never know who this will help along the line.’  Twenty years later those studies saved my sister’s life and gave her an additional fifteen years to live.”  Cancer is a disease that has not only affected Regina’s mother and sister, but every member of her immediate family has been diagnosed with some form.  Because of her desire for a cure, Regina has worked tirelessly for the cause through the Relay for Life program.  She was chairperson for the local chapter for five years, has served on the State Leadership Council and is a Hero of Hope for the Mid-South Division.  It is truly her life’s desire to find a cure.  “I've seen firsthand the work the American Cancer Society has done and how it has helped my family.  It may not seem like [cancer] has anything to do with you, it doesn't affect you until it affects you.  But you never know who you are going to help.  If my children or grandchildren are ever diagnosed I don’t want it to be like it was for my mother.  I want there to be a cure.”

Regina Lawry - Hero of Hope

In the fall of 2011 my wife, Regina, was chosen to represent the American Cancer Society as the Mid-South Division's first Hero of Hope in the caregiver category.  This is the speech that she has given in over 15 locations during the past year including the steps of the State Capitol.

I’m Regina Lawry, from Mena, Arkansas.  I’m a caregiver and I’m 1 out of 7.

I’m the only one in my immediate family that has never had a cancer diagnosis.

When I was a little girl in the early 60’s I went out collecting money for ACS with my mother.  At that time the ACS would send out envelopes and ask people to take them around their neighborhoods.  I can remember asking her why we were doing it and she would tell me, “You never know who it might help.”

In 1975 she was diagnosed with leukemia.  In the 70’s leukemia was a death sentence.  There was no treatment. 

She would get so weak.  I remember her coming to my house one day and she was too weak to even open the screen door.  It was as if mom’s blood would just disappear.  

At that time the only thing they could do for her was to give her platelets or whole blood.  They were giving her several units of whole blood and or platelet every week. 

It was the ACS that developed apheresis (the technology to separate the platelets from the whole blood).  This technology is used in many other medical applications also.       

At that time the family was responsible for replacing the blood that was used for her.  We all donated and were always scrambling to find other donors.  The Local ACS office donated over 100 units in her name.  I’m not saying that this is a service that is provided by ACS.  It’s just how much they care.

The doctors decided to remove her spleen and hopefully stop the loss of blood.  While she was in the hospital they asked her to participate in a bone marrow study.  They were studying the progression of the disease.  She was told that it would not benefit her, but would hopefully help others later on. 

They told her that it was painful.  It was done with a local and they had to drill into the hip bone and remove the marrow.  We tried to talk her out of it, but she insisted that she would do it.  She said, “You never know who this might help.”  In December of 1976 she lost her battle with cancer.

In the summer of 1996 (20 years later) a bone marrow transplant saved my sister Lenora’s life.  In February of that year she was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer. 

I took care of her 6 weeks during her transplant.  It was the hardest thing I have ever done.  As a caregiver you are completely exhausted all of the time and you are watching someone you love go through something so difficult. My brother Duane was her stem cell donor.

ACS is still funding platelet and stem cell research.  The ACS does NOT fund embryonic stem cell research.  I repeat the ACS does NOT fund embryonic stem cell research.  That was important to me.

A few years later my sister Roberta was diagnosed with bi-lateral breast cancer and underwent a double mastectomy along with chemotherapy.  She is still cancer free. 

Not long afterwards my sister Bunny was diagnosed with breast cancer and chose to have a double mastectomy.  It was caught early and no further treatments were required. 

After Roberta’s treatments and recovery she became involved in Relay for Life in Enumclaw, Washington.  She invited all of us to come to Enumclaw and support her in the Relay.  We all went, because that’s the kind of family we are and we wanted to help her through her healing process.

I cannot tell you what it meant to me when I watched my siblings walk arm and arm around that track in the survivor lap.  Then when I saw my mother and my father’s luminary bags during the luminary ceremony I knew it was something that I had to be a part of. 

I returned to Enumclaw for a few years for Relay.  Then one day I got a luminary form in my bank statement.  They were having a Relay in Polk County.  I called the number on the form, signed up a team, raised $7000 and have been the chairman of the Polk County Relay for 5 years. 

Not too long ago on Facebook I saw that my cousin Michael was diagnosed with leukemia and was getting ready to undergo a bone marrow transplant.  I called him and we talked about my mother and what she had done.  We cried and we laughed.  36 years later bone marrow and stem cell research is still saving lives. 

The money that is raised helps long term.  We may not see the results today but ACS researchers save thousands and thousands of lives.  I know, because I’ve seen it first hand through things like Blood apheresis, bone marrow studies, stem cell research and various drugs and chemotherapies. 

So why do I Relay?  It’s my legacy.  I want my grand-children to know what my mother did for love.  She would have endured it all for a stranger, but ended up doing it for those she loved.  I want there to be treatments if they ever need them. 

I’m Regina Lawry and I Relay BIG in Polk County, Arkansas.