“My son tells everybody, ‘There’s nothing that can kill my mother. This woman is going to live forever.’”
October Research supports breast cancer research for the fourth year
For the fourth consecutive year, October Research, LLC is raising funds for the Stefanie Spielman Fund for Breast Cancer Research at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCC – James). Between Oct. 1 and Oct. 16, 10 percent of all new subscription purchases to any of our five publications will be donated to the cause.
October Research CEO and Publisher Erica Meyer said “Chances are that every one of us has been affected by breast cancer in some form, whether a friend, a family member or maybe you are battling cancer yourself. While I’ve lost friends to breast cancer, I can also share many success stories, each one is an inspiration. The October Research Team is proud to support the cause for the 4th consecutive year to raise awareness about the ongoing fight to beat breast cancer. We are fortunate to have one of the premiere cancer research and care facilities in the nation in our own backyard, and we’re always happy to support initiatives in our home state of Ohio.”
The Spielman Funds at Ohio State are devoted to advancing research in breast cancer.
It supports the Stefanie Spielman Chair in Cancer Imaging, chaired by Michael Tweedle, PhD. His current work focused on targeted molecular pharmaceuticals for cancer imaging and therapy.
Researchers in The Ohio State University School of Pharmacy and the OSUCCC – James are developing new drugs for breast cancer. The fund supports continued efforts to discover and test these new drugs in clinical trials.
Anyone interested in supporting the fund can purchase a new subscription to The Title Report, The Legal Description, Dodd Frank Update, RESPA News or Valuation Review between Oct. 1- 16 by visiting the October Store or by calling 330-659-6101 x806.
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Michelle Kynkor, daughter of Gateway Title owner Rachel Torchia, has worn many hats in the title industry. She’s been an accountant, receptionist, worked in escrow, as a title officer and even owned her own title company, Title Associates, for 11 years. Her company handled the refinance transactions while her mother’s concentrated on purchase and For Sale By Owner (FSBO) transactions. That was until 2009, when the refi market “dried up.” She closed the doors and began running operations at Gateway Title. Together, Gateway has increased its commercial business and cash deals.
At this point in her life, Michelle was a cancer survivor already. She was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma during her first semester of college at the age of 18. She had her spleen removed and was traveling between Kent State University and the Cleveland Clinic’s main campus in Cleveland five days a week. She eventually left school and began working in accounting.
Soon she was in remission.
“I got married in 1982,” she said. “I have two children and four grandchildren. They didn’t know whether I’d be able to have kids or not. I have a 31-year-old and a 28-year-old. I started working out every day. I was running 5Ks and 10Ks. I had a personal trainer five days a week. I felt the best I felt in my whole life.”
Twenty-five years later, she wasn’t feeling well. She learned the radiation treatment for Hodgkins had given her breast and thyroid cancer.
“There are thousands of us that had radiation in the ’70s and ’80s,” she said. “It’s not their fault. Back then they didn’t know that they gave us way more radiation than we needed. They give a minuscule amount now, thank God. My neck looked like BBQ chicken.”
She and her family continued to fight the disease. Michelle had a double mastectomy and her thyroid removed. Then in October 2014 she learned the radiation also had caused follicular lymphoma, which isn’t curable.
“That’s hard for me because my attitude and my husband’s attitude when we find out I have cancer is, ‘where is it’, ‘take it out’, ‘what do we have to do’ and we can’t do that with this one,” she said. “This one is a little tougher for me mentally than the other ones were. I’m a doer, I need an action plan and I don’t have one now. It’s hard coming to grips with the fact that I will never have another cancer-free day in my life.”
Although some friends faded away, other changed their activities to accommodate Michelle.
“People don’t like to be around sick and sad people,” Michelle said. “They disappear. They’re scared to ask you how you are. They don’t know how to approach you, so they just don’t. I’ve had friends who just faded away, and I have friends and family who have always been there. It’s nice when it’s not the elephant in the room and you can actually tell someone. You don’t want to be a downer, but it’s nice when they actually ask you and they don’t disappear.”
She said she never was alone. When she was diagnosed with breast and thyroid cancer, her husband took a year off work. He had his own construction company. He went to every single appointment with her, was there for each round of chemotherapy and every doctor’s appointment. Her sister takes her to appointments as well.
When asked how friends and family can be helpful, she said, “If you want to do something, just do it.
“When someone calls and says ‘please call if you need anything,’ you know they mean that sincerely, but the odds of me calling are next to none,” she said. “If you want to do something, just do it. If you know they have chemo that day and they have children or something, just bring over a meal so the kids and the husband can eat. We go through this guilt about not being able to take care of our families. Be specific in offers or suggestions.
“Humor is a huge part of it for us,” Michelle said about how to cope through such a disease. “We laugh about a lot of it all the time. We have to. We laugh about my scars. I look like Frankenstein. You have to. If you don’t laugh, you cry, and I would rather laugh.”