Culver family shows strength, unity (CA)

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http://www.presstelegram.com/sports/ci_6616994

Family shows strength, unity
By Kirby Lee, Special to the Press-Telegram
Article Launched: 08/14/2007 12:27:47 AM PDT


Cecilia Culver is embraced by her daughter Carissa, a standout pole vaulter who will begin attending Los Alamitos High this fall. Culver has ovarian cancer and receives frequent chemotherapy treatments, but she visits Long Beach State and finds peace and pleasure in watching Carissa practice with the Beach Track Club. (Diandra Jay / Press-Telegram)
LONG BEACH - Cecilia Culver's smile radiates the Long Beach State track as she watches her daughter Carissa sprinting down the pole vault runway during a Beach Track Club workout on a recent afternoon.
For the next two hours, Culver is a typical parent reveling in her 14-year-old daughter's athletic accomplishments.

Reality, though, returns soon after practice has ended.

Cecilia Culver, 43, has been waging an ongoing battle with incurable ovarian cancer for the last two years after being diagnosed at an advanced stage.

There has been no remission and cancer has not responded favorably to 43 chemotherapy treatments. The disease has spread and Cecilia has developed six tumors in her lymph nodes, four in her abdomen and two in her chest.

"When I go to practice, it's just a beautiful campus with the trees and the wind," Cecilia said. "It's just wonderful therapy. It's really so peaceful and fun to watch all the smiles and the laughs."

It was a bittersweet day for the Culver family two weeks ago at the USA Track & Field Junior Olympics at Mt. San Antonio College.

While her mother watched in the sweltering midday sun lightheaded from a chemotherapy treatment the previous

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day, Carissa set a national youth division and meet record of 11 feet, 2 1/2 inches to break the previous record by a centimeter and win by more than two feet.
"I was pretty positive that she would win but when she got the national record, it was like it wasn't hot anymore," Cecilia said. "It was like all the heat symptoms had gone away."

Cecilia, however, never got a chance to watch the medal ceremony because of a chemotherapy treatment. The nurses at the hospital gave her a loud cheer when they were told of Carissa's victory.

It wasn't a festive mood nearly two years ago when Cecilia discovered she had ovarian cancer on the day after Labor Day in 2005.

Cecilia went to the doctor that Friday for a bloated abdomen and difficulty walking. Results of a CT scan the following Tuesday revealed Stage III ovarian cancer with IV being the most advanced.

"It was a very long weekend," Cecilia said.

Within a week, Cecilia had a 4 1/2-hour surgery for a full hysterectomy and removal of her appendix, and a portion of her colon and omentum. During the surgery, the doctors discovered cancer had spread to her diaphragm but were unable to excise it.

Cecilia undergoes chemotherapy for three consecutive days every three weeks. Along with the typical side effects of nausea, vomiting, fatigue and hair loss, Cecilia has been hospitalized three times for blood transfusions for neutropenia - an abnormal level of white blood cells.

There is no family history of cancer but Cecilia hypothesizes that pesticides used in a nearby strawberry field might have been a cause. Several others in the vicinity have also developed cancer.

Ovarian cancer is the fifth-leading cause of cancer deaths in women. If diagnosed and treated before the cancer has spread outside the ovary, the 5-year survival rate is 93 percent.

However, only 19 percent of all ovarian cancers are found at this early stage. About half of ovarian cancer patients are diagnosed at stage III like Cecilia, according to the American Cancer Society.

Although an earlier diagnosis may have prevented the spread of the cancer, Cecilia has no bitterness. She hopes that her story will help others in the awareness of symptoms of pelvic discomfort, gastrointestinal upsets and fatigue for early detection.

"Looking back, I did have some of those symptoms," Cecilia said. "I just try to get through each day and live each day to its fullest. Eventually, it's a terminal disease but I am joyful and not going to worry about it. Every moment is a gift from God to live."

Following her daughter's development in the pole vault has been the beacon in Cecilia's life.

"I live vicariously through my children," she said. "They are my joy."

Carissa, her 16-year-old sister Nicole - who attends Cypress College as an independent study student - and her father Curt have had to take on additional responsibilities of housework, grocery shopping and cooking. Cecilia home-schooled Carissa and Nicole until last year when it became too physically demanding.

"The worst part was when we found out. It was horrible," said Carissa, who will be a freshman at Los Alamitos High in the fall. "It's not as bad now but it's still upsetting. We talk about it and it's not an issue we try to avoid. We just kind of live with it."

Although the Culvers have medical insurance, the illness has also caused great financial strain. The family has had to refinance their home to pay medical bills and may have to move into a condominium.

When able, Cecilia, a former CHP officer, continues to work at Joshua Medical Center in Buena Park as a medical assistant X-ray technician.

"I personally don't try to look down the road, but am trying to find the positive," Cecilia's husband Curt said. "We're hopeful and praying that God will heal her. I really don't know how we're going to pay the bills and get the kids through school."

Curt Culver is hoping that Carissa can eventually earn a track scholarship in the pole vault to help ease the financial burden.

Pole vault poles, though - which can cost more than $500 each - are understandably low on the priority list at this time. Carissa, a former gymnast who took up pole vaulting three years ago, trained on a pole that she outgrew for much of the season.

At meets, Carissa had to borrow poles from her competitors. Gill Athletics recently donated poles to Carissa after learning of her plight from Long Beach State and Beach Track Club coach Andy Sythe.

"She has a lot to learn and what she does will come with experience," Sythe said. "She has good potential and competitive ability to do things in a meet situation that other athletes are not able to do."

What Sythe has been most amazed with is the ability of Carissa's mother to handle the adversity off the track.

"The more I have coached her, the more they have become family," Sythe said. "It's just heartbreaking. She (Cecilia) keeps coming out with the tremendous optimism like everything is good. I've just got to say this is an amazing woman."