One women’s experience with cancer
“Give me health and a day, and I will make the pomp of emperors
ridiculous,” Ralph Waldo Emerson said. The 19th-century philosopher
and writer was quoted by actress Julia Sweeney as she began her
address to the sold-out crowd attending the 16th annual Circle 1000
Founders’ Brunch.
Sweeney, perhaps best known for her role on television’s Saturday
Night Live as “Androgynous Pat,” came to Newport Beach last week to
share her life story and help raise funds for the Hoag Cancer Center.
Circle 1000 organizers chaired by Vicki Booth, brought in the
community and the dollars followed. The crowd in the ballroom of the
Four Seasons Hotel in Fashion Island cheered with joy as the
announcement was made that more than $500,000 was raised, bringing
the overall dollar amount donated by Circle 1000 to more than $5
million.
The cheers over the fund-raising success turned to roaring
laughter and then tears as keynote speaker Sweeney took her
Newport-Mesa audience on a wild romp sharing her personal and family
struggle with her own cervical cancer and her brother Michael’s
non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Cancer claimed Michael’s life at the age of
31.
Sweeney took the podium and began by telling her audience that her
experience with cancer began some seven years ago, after a divorce.
“We told all of our friends that our divorce was made in heaven,”
Sweeney said, getting her first wave of laughter in the Four Seasons
ballroom.
After her divorce, she moved from New York to Los Angeles with the
hope of starting over, finding her own space and settling in to a
home of her own that she planned to share with no other person.
Soon after, younger brother Michael was diagnosed with cancer. He
also lived in Los Angeles. Michael moved in with Julia, and then
their parents joined them, coming down from Washington state.
Soon her perfect life of solitude became the recreation of a
family unit brought together under dire circumstances.
For nearly an hour at the Four Seasons Newport, Sweeney had the
crowd in the palm of her hand, sharing insight after insight on the
relationships between parents and children. The laughter she
generated was infectious. She was warm and candid. Many in the crowd
related to her often outlandish stories. In their own way, so many
had shared the experience of dealing with cancer. The audience knew
exactly where Sweeney was coming from.
In the end, her message was one of hope. Sweeney’s brother Michael
passed away, and she shared her final moments with him.
“My parents called a priest to administer last rights to Michael
in the hospital,” she said, holding back her own tears. “I was
against it because I felt it would take away whatever will he had to
continue living.”
“When the priest arrived, Michael turned to me and said, ‘This is
really cool,’ and to my amazement, the experience gave him final
moments of peace,” she said.
Laughter in the ballroom had been replaced with silence. More than
500 Hoag Hospital supporters including Circle 1000 founder Sandy
Sewell, and donors including Sheryl Anderson, underwriting chair of
the day, Arden Flamson, Hyla Bertea, Lin Auer, Nora Jorgenson
Johnson, Ginny Ueberroth, Mary Buckingham, Darlene and Walter Gerken,
Jacquelyn and Robert Dillman, Ruth Feuerstein, Jodi Greenbaum, Mary
Lyons, Mary Kay and Louis VanderMolen, Vesta Curry and Elizabeth
Colyear Vincent, silently wiped their tears, rising to offer Sweeney
a standing ovation.
The 16th annual brunch puts Sweeney in very distinguished company.
Past speakers were Nancy Reagan, Geraldine Ferraro, Peter Ueberroth,
Scott Hamilton and Harry Belafonte.
A significant portion of the funds raised by Circle 1000 is
earmarked for the Hoag Cancer staff to use in the creation of
specific vaccines for patients. The special vaccine treatment, while
very costly, has shown results.
Some major underwriters and benefactors were Stephanie and Ken
Grody, Mary and Dick Allen, Jo Ann Hertel-Koontz, Pinkie and Dennis
Terry, Bob Lucas, Julia and George Argyros, Janet and Don Ayres and
Nora Hester.
* THE CROWD appears on Thursdays and Saturdays.
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