December 9, 1998

Healeys honored and helped

By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
     
      Just after school began this year, Cathy Healey's life changed forever. A routing technician with the Traverse City Area Public Schools, Healey is known to family and friends as a sunny, sociable person, always friendly and helpful. Suddenly, she was withdrawn, quiet, sleeping all the time and never even smiling.
      Her personality changed so dramatically in less than a month it shocked everyone.
      In mid September, doctors diagnosed depression and prescribed medication for that. But symptoms worsened until Healey was sleeping 20 hours a day, could not eat and had no emotions. She began to have severe headaches and double vision. Her mother came up from Ann Arbor and insisted she make an appointment for an MRI.
      "We all kept pushing her to get an MRI because we just kept saying there was no way she was depressed," said Peggy Allum, Healey's sister who came up from Cleveland to attend the fundraiser. "Her headaches were so bad she couldn't think."
      An MRI on October 15 found the problem: Healey had a baseball-sized brain tumor. She was on the operating table that day, where doctors removed 65 percent of the tumor and diagnosed her with the most aggressive form of brain cancer, GBM stage 4.
      Her close-knit family reeled with the news as they struggled to support her, go on with their lives and meet mounting medical expenses. Healey and her husband, Paul, have two teenage children, Dustin, 17, and Carlin, 14, and relied on her job for health insurance. Taking a medical leave, Cathy was soon off to live with her sister in Cleveland and undergo aggressive radiation therapy at the Cleveland Clinic.
      "The doctors here were wonderful, the care was excellent," said Allum, who by coincidence just bought a house four miles from the Cleveland Clinic last year. "We just felt she would have more options there and the oncologist here encouraged us to do it."
      Her friends at the bus garage, 150 strong, quickly rallied to help the family, emotionally and financially. Last Saturday night they staged a fundraiser for the Healey family, drawing more than 350 people to East Junior High and raising $8,500. The money will be used to help with medical expenses and to maintain insurance coverage for Healey and her family.
      "As soon as we found out how sick Cathy was we started putting it together," said Lyndelle Core, who worked with Healey in the bus garage office and helped organize the fundraiser. "All the workers here donated their time for Cathy."
      The group organized a silent auction and a raffle featuring nearly a hundred items, including a paperweight from Governor Engler, a flag that flew over the State Capitol, another from the White House and numerous books, crafts, sports items and Beanie Babies. The hottest bidding was for a picture of the latest Discovery shuttle mission, donated by NASA and signed by all the flight's members including Senator John Glenn.
      "The drivers just started going to door to door all the businesses in town," said Core, who helped coordinate the more than 50 volunteers who helped out Saturday night. "Everyone was so helpful."
      The star of the show was a homemade quilt that some of the drivers made right at the bus garage using a sewing machine installed there temporarily. Between runs, drivers Marsha Frick and Mary McNett sewed quilt squares together while a half dozen others, mostly non-quilters, cut out squares and pieced them. The quilt took about a month to complete and all proceeds from its raffle went directly to the Healey family.
      "I had this idea to make a quilt to help," said Frick, a Solon Township resident. "I have known Cathy as long as she worked there, she had such a central job as route coordinator."
      A number of school administrators stopped by the fundraiser to show support, including Dr. Peter Wharton, superintendent of schools, who good-naturedly took a pie in the face to raise $210 for the cause.
      Her whole family was grateful for the support of her co-workers.
      "Cathy is a person who loves life, she is a good example of how to lead a good life," said Paul Healey. "When she is having down moments, she will remember what these people have done for her and it will give her strength when she needs it."
      Donations for Cathy Healey and her family are still being accepted. Contact Lyndelle Core at 933-1930 for more information.