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Recovering from Cancer
Woman's Dreams Come True in Celebrations of Life
by Ron Paglia
Virginia Spindler knew exactly where she wanted to be on Mother’s Day – at Schenley Park in Pittsburgh for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation’s Race for the Cure.
“This is my second time there, and this time I’ll be running,” Ginny Spindler, as she’s known to family and friends, said with a familiar, beaming smile brightening the living room of her home in Carroll Township a couple of days before the race. “I wasn’t feeling well enough the first time, and I walked. It was a great feeling just to be there, but I was determined I would run, and I’m going to do it.”
For Spindler, running in the Komen event was significant. She is a breast cancer survivor and, according to those who know and appreciate her, someone who epitomizes the definition of words such as determination, courage and inspiration.
“If you looked for those words in your dictionary, chances are you would find Ginny’s picture beside each one,” Laura Magone, a longtime friend, said.
And participation in the Race for the Cure culminated a weekend of celebration for Spindler. One day earlier, on May 7, she realized another dream come true as she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology at California University of Pennsylvania’s annual commencement. – with a perfect 4.0 QPA and a legacy of letting no obstacles stand in her way.
“I’ll never forget the day we had orientation at the university,” Spindler said. “We had to go through all of the preparation programs for freshman, and there I was totally bald and wearing a hat. I was fine with most of the sessions, you know, listening about the football team, etc. But I became really nervous when we went into a room for discussions on date rape and sexual harassment. I went to the man in charge and said, ‘Is there anyway I can get out of this?’ He looked at me and seemed to be sympathetic, but he said, ‘I’m afraid not. Everyone has to be here.’ I laughed and said, ‘Look, I’m forty years old, bald and have only one breast. I don’t think I have to worry about anyone wanting to date me.’ He signed the paper verifying that I had been there.”
It’s that sense of humor, plus myriad other qualities, that make Ginny Spindler such a special person, her friends say. Spindler says she was determined not to let cancer and its effects stop her.
“It’s something I had dreamed of for a number of years,” she said. “Even after it (cancer) struck, I reminded myself that I hadn’t fulfilled that goal. I regretted that I hadn’t gone after (high) school, and I was ready at that point in my life.”
Fate nearly blocked the path to California University in the fall of 2000.
“I found a lump in my breast,” Spindler recalled. “I had been doing self-breast examinations on a routine basis, and this really concerned me.’
An ensuing visit to her gynecologist led to a mammogram and the discovery of a malignant tumor.
“I was shocked and in fear,” Spindler said. “I was a young woman, only 40, and I didn’t think I was at high risk for breast cancer, but the results were right there in front of me. It’s difficult to describe the reality of something like that.”
Ginny and her husband Don went to Pittsburgh for a second opinion, but the diagnosis was the same, and surgery was recommended. After her breast was removed, Spindler faced six months of chemotherapy treatments at Magee-Womens Hospital.
“I went every three weeks, and anyone who’s experienced chemotherapy will tell you it’s very draining,” Spindler said. “I lost all of my hair, so I began wearing a bandana or a hat.”
When she was declared cancer free on May 10, 2001, Spindler said she was “relieved but a little confused.”
“That may have been the most difficult part of the entire ordeal,” she said. “Here you are at your last treatment and you’re waiting for the best news you’ve ever had. However, it was rather anti-climactic. The doctor said they had done everything humanly possible to make me well again, shook my hand, and told me to go home and do everything I had done before. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll be forever grateful to all of the doctors and the staff at Magee who treated me, but I was leaving that comfort zone.”
Spindler also is deeply appreciative of the support she received from family and friends during her recovery from cancer. Her husband Don, who works as a medical equipment installation specialist for G.E. Medical Corp., is at the top of her list.
“Don and my children have been supportive of everything I’ve done,” Spindler said. “They got me through it (cancer), and they pushed and helped me so much during the time I was at California.”
Don’s love and support came as no surprise to Ginny, who was introduced to her future husband by mutual friends at a party in Pittsburgh. They’ve been married 20 years.
“I’m a person of strong faith,” she said, “and I had faith in him to get me through it.”
The Spindlers are the parents of three children – Daniel, 18, who will graduate from Ringgold High School on June 15 and will attend The Pennsylvania State University; Scott, 15; Emily 11.
“She’s a wonderful wife and mother, the best,” Don Spindler, 45, said with more than just a tone of love and devotion in his voice. “No man or children could ask for anyone better. I also was in shock and a bit angry when she was diagnosed with cancer, but I knew she’d come through. Ginny’s very courageous, she’s a fighter, and her attitude motivates us and others to enjoy life and move forward.”
In addition to her family, Spindler received “phenomenal” support from friends.
“It was very overwhelming,” she said. “People from our church, from my son’s soccer team, neighbors; everyone chipped in to help one way or another. They formed a cooking cycle and began preparing and delivering our meals. I joked to Don that I was afraid I would forget how to cook, but we appreciate everything they did.”
In a way, that outpouring of help might have been a payback of sorts for Ginny and Don, both natives of Pittsburgh, she from Mount Washington and he from the North Side. They have been caretakers for family members for more than a decade – Don’s parents (his mother died only a few months ago), Ginny’s parents, and Ginny’s Aunt Charlotte, who moved from New York to live with them for a while.
“It’s not something you give a second thought to,” Ginny said of becoming a caretaker. “There are people in your life who take care of you for so many years, and I believe you have a responsibility to do the same for them when they need it. Our parents and my aunt were such wonderful people, and it was our turn to take care of them.”
On top of all of those responsibilities, the trial of cancer, and becoming a college student, Ginny also worked part-time at Ashcraft Corporation in Monongahela.
“It was only twenty hours a week, and they were very considerate of me,” she said of her employer. “But it became a little too much trying to maintain a full-time schedule of classes at school and juggling our work schedules. I had to give up the job.”
Spindler began her tenure as a student at California University slowly – taking one class, then two classes and finally a “full load.”
Achieving a 4.0 QPA and being awarded honors cords was the ultimate result of those long hours of studying and commuting back and forth between California and Carroll Township. Still, Spindler was reluctant to march with her classmates at commencement.
“I really don’t like being in the limelight,” she said. “I didn’t think what I had done was that big of a deal and I was just happy earning my degree. Some close friends (Laura Magone and Sandi Vaughan) encouraged me to be there, and I’m happy they did. It’s a very important part of my life and another step in the journey.”
But not the end of Spindler’s status as a university student. She has been awarded a graduate assistantship at California University and will begin work on a Master’s degree in counseling this summer.
“I kid people that I won’t begin my career until I’m fifty,” Spindler smiled. “But that’s what I want to do, and I’m going to do it.”
Spindler said her experiences with cancer haven’t made a dramatic change in her life.
“I try to take it one step at a time and I do appreciate each day more,” she admitted. “But I try to do everything as I did before. I’ve changed my diet and my lifestyle somewhat and I have regular checkups annually. It was six months at first, but now I go once a year.”
Some fear remains in the back of her mind, Spindler said.
“Once you’ve been through this, you always think about it,” she said. “The thoughts are always there. You’re more aware of every ache and pain, even with something like a simple cold. But I try to be positive. I’m a very pro-active person, and I’m proud to be a cancer survivor.”
As for being an inspiration to others, Spindler takes it all in stride.
“It’s very humbling to know people think of you that way,” she said. “There are so many other people that have gone through the same experience, and they inspired me. If I can help someone else, then that’s why God wants me here.”
Laura Magone, a Monongahela native who now lives in Pittsburgh, agrees with that theory. She met Spindler for the first time about twelve years ago at a Bible study class at First United Methodist Church in Monongahela.
“She’s the kind of person you take to from the start,” Magone said. “Ginny is an incredibly intelligent woman with a terrific sense of humor. So many people love and admire her because she is a very caring person. She and Donnie have become involved in so many activities in this area and have had such a positive impact on people. When something happens in a family, Ginny is the first person to show up at your door to offer a hug and deliver a gift of food.”
Magone and others also respect their friend for her stamina and integrity.
“Ginny is willing to stand up for what she believes in and tell you the truth,” Magone said. “Even at the worst time in her life, facing breast cancer, she persevered. She showed the rest of us the strong foundation of her faith, her willingness to fight, and her ability to be strong for herself and those around her. She has inspired us to become better people; to be like her.”
