Bucks
Sarah Parvin Ovarian Cancer
Dear Friends,
Good morning. “Please don’t cry,” 12 year old Sarah Parvin told her mother, “I’m not unfortunate…I’m lucky.” Those were the last words she said to her mother as she left this world for the next in April 2006. A photo and those words were on the memorial card at her services. Sarah was a beautiful young woman.
A few days ago, Quakertown Rotarians heard Sarah’s mother, Sandra Parvin, tell how ovarian cancer took the life of this young girl and what the tri-state area is doing in her memory. The second, Sarah Parvin 24-hour “Soccer Fest” will take place at the Quakertown soccer fields on California Road on August 1 and 2.
Last year, 70 teams played soccer in Sarah’s memory and raised more than $10,000 for the American Cancer Society. “We’d like to raise $20,000 this year,” Sandra Parvin told me. “We can accommodate 120 teams during the 24-hour period.”
There’s
plenty of room for participation in this worthy cause. Sandra says that
volunteer opportunities are in the snack stand, general maintenance, field
maintenance, field Marshall, and clean up on Sunday. You can reach her at the
e-mail address: volunteer@quakertownsoccerclub.net
or call her at
Quakertown Councilman Ed Scholl knows plenty about organizing events to battle cancer. For years, Ed was a principal in the Relay for Life, a tremendous event held in Memorial Park each May. He’d watched Sarah play soccer and knew what an enthusiast she was. It was his idea to create a 24-hour Soccer fest in Sarah’s memory to battle cancer.
The core group spearheading the Soccer fest is the Quakertown Community Soccer Club. Tom Kramme is its President. “We have about 15 on the committee and we meet weekly,” Sandra Parvin said.
She told me that Sarah’s tragic story began on April Fool’s Day in 2005. Her daughter had flu like symptoms and underwent tests at Grandview Hospital near Sellersville. It was a physician from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) who realized what the illness might be. She was working at Grandview at the time.
Sarah had stage 1 (C) cancer in her right ovary. She had three times the normal calcium level in her blood. Although the cancer had not spread, its type was a rare, very aggressive form. Only four other girls from across America shared the same frightening fate. Sarah was the only patient treated at CHOP. Sandra identified them by their first names: Andrea, Katie, Melissa and [daughter] Sarah. Only Melissa has survived.
Sarah had six months of chemotherapy ending in August 2005. Her mother said that she wore a variety of wigs. “Sarah had a short blonde wig; a red short wig; a long (below the shoulders) black wig, and a dirty blond wig with ringlets,” Sandra smiled.
Sarah was doing very well and because the intervening tests were clean, the family took her to see her cousin graduate from Air Force boot camp in Texas. It was March 2006.
Upon her return, Sarah had another blood test at CHOP, which revealed terrible news. The cancer had returned with a vengeance. It had spread to her peritoneal cavity. She died just 2 ½ weeks later, April 14, Good Friday. That cancer struck and killed Sarah Parvin in just 12 months.
“I’m not going to beat this one,” she told her dad, as the end approached.
“Promise that you won’t stop trying,” he tearfully responded.
Her Milford [Middle School] classmates gave a toga party for her as time ran out. Sarah Parvin died 24 hours later. Father Fred Riegler, the Pastor of St. Isidore’s RC in Quakertown confirmed her at her bedside. And it was Father Fred who administered the last rights of the church.
Her classmates planted a weeping cherry tree in her memory. “Pink was her favorite color,” her mother continued. That’s the reason why 20 members of the immediate family wore pink at her funeral; the women and girls in pink dresses and the men in pink shirts. Sarah is buried in the Trinity Great Swamp UCC cemetery near Spinnerstown.
Sandra Parvin has nothing but praise for CHOP. “It changes you,” she told me. “You can’t walk into CHOP and not be changed by what you see. I don’t look at our experience at CHOP as a failure because they couldn’t save Sarah. I saw miracles right before my eyes.”
Sandra marveled at the positive attitude among the staff that she observed in the oncology wards at CHOP. She added that CHOP, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, and possibly Temple are among America’s research teams searching for cancer’s cure. The University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, CHOP’s next-door neighbor, is trying to identify the genetic markers for ovarian cancer.
But Sandra is battling every type of cancer.
Madelyn Parvin is Sarah’s younger sister. Today, Madelyn is 12, the same age when Sarah died. “Madelyn is the light that keeps me going,” her mother told me. Sandra Parvin is a spiritual woman. “I had a dream that Sarah, gave me a hug,” Sandra began. “In my dream, Sarah told me that I didn’t need to hug her because she’ll always be in my heart.
“So now, we have one [daughter] with us and one watching over us,” Sandra Parvin concluded.
It was a story that I’ll never forget.
Sincerely,
Charles Meredith
PS. Here’s how you faithful readers responded to my questions last week: 1. Yes, you want all Americans to have health insurance but you don’t want your taxes raised to make it possible. 2. Soon to be former Governor Sarah Palin continues to be intriguing but may not pass your scrutiny for the Presidency.
This week’s question is: Should the Congress repeal the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy and allow openly gay military personnel to serve?