GAIL WHITE Circus, laughter brought healing to woman with cancer

Back in 1950, a diagnosis of breast cancer was regarded as practically a death sentence.
Eleanor Morgan of Boardman received that sentence nearly 53 years ago.
"I never carried on at all," Eleanor says in describing her behavior after learning of the cancer within her. "The doctor couldn't get over how well I accepted it. I have a very strong faith."
She wasn't sure, at that time, where her faith would lead her -- home to her husband and new house on Boardman's south side or to a heavenly home.
Truly, doctors saved Eleanor's life back in 1950. But after meeting this endearing little lady (Eleanor is all of 4 feet 11 inches tall), I believe her giant heart and wonderful sense of humor were her "chemotherapy." To Eleanor, life is a circus.
String of events
Eleanor and her husband, Ed Perkins, had been married 10 years in 1950.
"I was swimming at a public pool when a little boy came down the slide, and his foot kicked me," Eleanor says, describing the events that brought her to the doctor's office that fall.
As the doctor examined the tissue around Eleanor's breast, sore from the little boy's inadvertent kick, he discovered some irregularities that concerned him.
He planned on doing exploratory surgery to find out what the bumps in Eleanor's breast were. During that surgery, the doctor discovered 32 pea-size tumors.
"He took them all right then and there," Eleanor explains. "He scraped the bone and everything out."
"That had to be scary," I insisted.
"It was," she says in her sweet, all-is-well manner. "But I was so thankful that he got it all. They didn't have chemotherapy or anything like that back then. The doctor ordered six X-ray treatments for Eleanor's after-care.
Eleanor went for her X-rays, but she added her own "medicine" to help with her recovery.
"I was operated on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving," this 88-year-old says, giggling. "I went home that Saturday. There was supposed to be a big storm coming or I would have stayed 10 days."
Her 'medicine'
If she had stayed 10 days, she would have missed her "medication." (Actually, she probably would not have missed it. I believe Eleanor would have crawled out a hospital window!)
"On the way home, I went to the circus," she says, smiling.
She and Ed had bought tickets to the circus months before. In the confusion and trauma of Eleanor's diagnosis, Ed had forgotten about the tickets. Eleanor had not.
"Anything that came along, I ate," Eleanor says beaming while remembering the day.
"My husband said he wasn't going to take me to the circus at first," she recalls. "I talked him into it."
"My family was furious," she says. "Ed took some heat, too, especially from my mother."
"The doctor was furious too at first," Eleanor admits. "Then he started to laugh."
The surgery, X-rays, circus and laughter were a successful combination. Eleanor's cancer never returned.
Daughter's ordeal
Last year, however, Eleanor would have gone through the whole ordeal again to spare her child.
Thirty-seven precancerous lumps were found during a mammogram on Eleanor's 46-year-old daughter, Cathy Guyan.
"I was very upset about her ... very worried," Eleanor shares. "I really prayed for that one."
The doctors told Cathy if the lumps had not been detected, within two months she would have had full-blown cancer.
"She was having mammograms all along because of me," Eleanor says. "I still get them."
"It's painful to go and have that mammogram," Eleanor says. "But its not as painful as cancer. That's for sure!"
gwhite@vindy.com
XOctober is Breast Cancer Awareness month. If you do not have a regular physician or are uncertain about having a mammogram, call the American Cancer Society at (330) 533-0546.