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December 17, 2004/Tevet 5 5765, Vol. 57, No.16
Bat mitzvah aims to help ailing father
STEPHANIE N. HENSCHEL
Staff Writer
It is probably safe to say Julie Greenwood is an angel.
At least if you ask her dad.
The 14-year-old bat mitzvah has organized a fund-raiser to benefit the Carcinoid Cancer Foundation - but her reasons for the project are not so simple.
Julie's father, Robert Greenwood, was diagnosed with carcinoid cancer in February 2001. He had been ill for a long period of time. His job as a paralegal was in jeopardy and the medications his doctor was prescribing were not making him feel better.
Greenwood finally demanded his doctor take a deeper look to see what the problem was. Sure enough, there was a growth the size of a grapefruit on his pancreas and some on his liver.
He was given two months to live. He was told the cancer was inoperable, and even if he did undergo surgery to remove the tumor, his would be a "morbid" life. He would suffer from malnutrition and other serious complications such as diabetes.
"We were counting down the days," Greenwood says.
After the diagnosis, the ailing Greenwood went back to his doctor - though he almost didn't keep the appointment.
According to Greenwood, the appointment had been made long before his diagnosis. At first, he didn't see the point in keeping the appointment with the gastrointestinologist, but decided to anyway.
"I wanted to thank him," Greenwood says. "It was at a time when I was calling people and thanking them for helping me through my life."
At his wife's suggestion, Greenwood not only kept the appointment, but also took along his scans, which showed where the cancer was located.
The doctor took one look at the internal pictures and told Greenwood he might be able to help.
"He flew down the hallway with his white coat flapping like a cape like Batman," Greenwood recalls.
When the doctor returned, he told Greenwood he had called another surgeon who would be able to help him.
In April 2001, the tumor, which had grown its own glands and was secreting hormones and peptides into the bloodstream - "It's a very strange, very gross kind of tumor" - was "exorcised," Greenwood says.
He says the surgeons took two-thirds of his pancreas, half of his liver, his spleen, gall bladder and some lymph nodes.
Luckily for Greenwood and his family, his employer had a disability retirement program, which allowed him to keep his medical insurance.
"It's a full time job now (to deal with the cancer)," he says.
After the tumor was removed, the doctors told Greenwood it was a neuroendocrine tumor, of which there are 200 different kinds. In fact, pancreatic cancer accounts for only 1 percent of all cancers, and the particular type of cancer Greenwood had accounted for only 1 percent of that one percent.
"It's so rare that most doctors have never seen a tumor like this," Greenwood explains.
There were no doctors in Arizona who specialized in the type of cancer, and none of them were willing to prescribe the treatment that Greenwood himself had discovered was necessary.
"I did my research," he says.
He finally found a doctor in New York who specialized in the cancer, and the family set off - only to be further sidetracked by that fateful day, Sept. 11, 2001.
That doctor, Richard Warner, prescribed a treatment that would help keep the cancer at bay - there is no cure - and found a local doctor who would administer the treatment.
So, four surgeries and several chemotherapy sessions later, Greenwood is still undergoing treatment.
When it came time for Julie to pick her mitzvah project, she informed her parents of her desire to raise money for the Carcinoid Cancer Foundation.
And she has.
To date, she has raised more than $9,000 and has traveled around the country, hearing from doctor and even speaking at a convention of 400 people - half of which were doctors - in New Orleans about her project.
"It was really scary," Julie says. "But I need all the publicity I can get."
"I can't say enough positive about her," Greenwood says. "She's my angel."
The relationship between father and daughter is a close one, something they both attest to.
"We've always been close but I almost think that since he's had cancer we've become closer," says the East Valley Jewish Community Center Day School student, adding the importance of cherishing every day.
"I'm learning to cope better," she said. "Now that I'm older I'm more involved."
Julie will become a bat mitzvah Dec. 18 at Temple Emanuel of Tempe. To contribute to her project, visit www.carcinoid.org/JulieBatMitzva.htm.
Contact the writer here
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