SOUTH PORTLAND — A South Portland woman
described as “a great and tireless advocate of
helping others" now finds herself subject to a community’s generosity as
she battles a rare form of cancer.
For 20 years – as long as she’s
worked at Evergreen Credit Union – Catie Scribner (nee, McCusker), 44, has
coordinated the Maine Credit Union League's Campaign for Ending Hunger, helping
to raise nearly $4 million for area food pantries. Scribner’s fellow Evergreen
employee, Debbie Hubbard, says more than 3,200 meals have been served in 17
years at the annual, free Thanksgiving dinner she stages for the needy, as a
direct result of Scribner’s work.
As executive administrator to
Evergreen’s CEO, Scribner’s job description, Hubbard jokes, is “everything,”
and yet she still manages a dozen hours every week on Campaign for Ending
Hunger activities. As a testament to her work, Scribner was given the Credit
Union’s People Helping People award in 2010.
“Catie is a wonderful
person,” said Hubbard last week. “She’s always even-keeled. You never see her
upset. She’s always a giver.”
That’s why Hubbard and a
longtime family friend, South Portland school board member Richard Matthews,
have joined to stage a spaghetti supper to help defray costs of a month-long
sojourn Scribner must take to John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Md., where
she will undergo a pair of lifesaving operations to remove a giant cell tumor
from either side of her lower spine.
“She’s done so much for so
many people for so long, without ever asking anything in return, I had to do
something,” said Matthews. “She and her family go way back here in town and
have always been big volunteers. Now it’s time for some of us to step up and
give back, I think.”
Money raised from the Sept.
22 supper at the South Portland VFW, along with the event’s accompanying silent
auction and 50/50 raffle, will go to help Scribner’s husband Joe and her
15-year-old daughter Shannon stay in Baltimore for 12 days while she undergoes
surgeries on Oct. 1 and 3. Two of Scribner’s seven siblings also will make the
trip, for additional support. After two weeks in the hospital, Scribner will
need a hotel room herself as she’ll need to stay in Baltimore an additional two
weeks for observation. That extra layover is not covered by insurance, notes
Hubbard.
“We thought, here’s this
family that’s going to go through a stressful enough situation, all the way to
Baltimore for surgery that can’t be done any closer to home. She needs her
family by her side,” said Hubbard. “Here’s my philosophy – if everybody in the
city knew what that family has to go through, if each of them put a dollar in
the bucket, they’d be golden. Just for a simple little dollar.
“We really, really want to
make this a success for Catie and her family."
“I really can’t put it in
words. It’s just so amazing,” said Scribner, of the work Hubbard, Matthews and
others are expending on her behalf. “People keep saying, ‘Oh, you deserve it,
you do so much,’ but I don’t feel that way. I don’t feel like I do anything
different than anyone else does.
“It’s really very hard to
be on the receiving end,” said Scribner. “I appreciate it more than words can
say. It’s overwhelming. But it’s hard, because I’m the one who likes to plan
it, to do it.”
“It’s true,” said Hubbard.
“If this wasn’t for Catie, it’s Catie who’d be the first one organizing
everything.”
The hope, said Hubbard, is
that by taking off some of the financial and emotional pressure, the fundraiser
will allow Scribner to focus on her one remaining job – to get better.
“I’m pretty positive about
it,” said Scribner. “It’s been a long process. At this point, I just want the
operations done and over with.”
Scribner jokes she had just
three questions for doctors on the outcome of her upcoming duel procedures.
“They were, one, will I
live; two, will I walk again; and, three, will I bowl again,” she said.
Bowling has been a longtime
passion for Scribner. As a young girl, she and the entire McCusker clan joined
their parents at the old Bowl-O-Rama, located where the Mill Creek CVS is
today. From those outings, through Scribner and her husband, who bowl up to
three times per week, the sporting bug extends to the latest generation. The
couple’s daughter Shannon is described by Rick Jones, co-owner of Scarborough’s
Big 20 lanes where the family now bowls, as “the best female bowler under 18 in
the state.”
Shannon Scribner regularly
averages better than 100, a feat Jones says many bowlers with decades on the
hardwood can’t muster. Lately, Catie Scribner has done nearly that well
herself.
“It’s funny, ever since
I’ve had this issue come up, I’ve known that it’s going to be a little while
before I bowl again, so I’ve been happy just to be out there doing it, and my
scores have gone up,” said Scribner. “I’ve been doing really good, averaging
103 so far in the fall league.”
Ironically, it was bowling
that revealed Scribner’s sickness. Since 2008, she has battled anemia – a
decrease in the number of red blood cells in the body. But, with doctor’s
unable to find a cause, Scribner drove on through the fatigue, trying to
maintain her normal pace of bowling and fundraising and acting as “league mom”
each year to as many as 70 junior bowlers age 5-18.
But in June, while at her
favorite activity, Scribner began to experience a new sensation – genuine pain.
“It was so bad I couldn’t
even bend over to get the ball,” she said.
As with the anemia, the cause of
the sudden, sharp stabs proved elusive. Scribner worked with a chiropractor.
She was checked for a problem with her appendix. Finally, an MRI revealed the
problem. Scribner had a giant cell tumor, measuring some 6.5 centimeters, in
her sacrum.
According to the online American
Journal of Roentgenology, giant cell tumors of the spine are uncommon,
accounting for about 5 percent of all giant cell tumors. Moreover, any cancer
in the sacrum – the triangular bone at the end of the spine, at the upper-back
part of the pelvic bone – is just as rare, amounting to fewer than 7 percent of
all intraspinal tumors.
However, when such tumors exist,
they occur 2-to-1 in women, and often sit undetected from ages 15-40.
“They think I’ve actually
had it since childhood, but it never affected me until recently, when it took
growth spurt and touched a nerve,” Scribner said. “They say if it doesn’t come
out now, it could metastasize. It could go into my bones or up into my lungs.
So, surgery is really my only option.”
But Scribner shies away
from saying too much more than that. As Jones notes, “She’s not the kind of
person who would normally put out herself out there.”
“She gives so much of
herself – fundraising to keep costs down to families so kids can afford to bowl
and making it a better experience for a lot of kids with parties and banquets –
she’s really uncomfortable being on the other end," Jones said. "She
doesn’t want the attention.”
“Mostly I just want to bowl,”
said Scribner. “If can make even a little difference in somebody’s life, that’s
so fulfilling for me. That’s why I do the Campaign for Ending Hunger, because
there are so many people in need. It’s always been a passion for me. But
bowling, that’s my other passion. I’m a bowler.”
In response to her three
questions, Scribner’s doctors would only say “eventually” to the third –
whether she’ll ever again grace the lanes in numbered shoes.
“Eventually,” said
Scribner, with a slight roll of the eyes. “My husband chuckles because all I
think about is bowling. But I need something positive to look forward to.
I say I’m going to be back
a lot sooner than they think. I’m determined.”
“She could sit at home and
cry and weep and say, ‘Oh, my God, why me?’” said Hubbard. “But that’s not
Catie.”
No comments:
Post a Comment