Neither rain nor ankle-deep water was tough enough to stop Dorothy Dolan from completing a half-mile marathon for Ovarian Cancer.
Dolan is a survivor, a 10-year-surviver of ovarian cancer and colon cancer.
“October was my 10th anniversary in remission,” said Dolan, director of advancement operations at St. John’s Prep, who had challenged herself to complete the race held in Newport Oct. 18. She thought she was prepared for almost everything, but she hadn’t anticipated the Nor’easter that made the walk particularly challenging.
“The water was coming up over our ankles,” said Dolan, who walked with her children, Amy and Andrew LeBlanc, and her siblings and other family — 10 in all. “The wind was blowing us backwards. Ten years ago, under similar rough conditions, with my children and family supporting me, I survived two primary cancers along with the treatments that go with it.”
Dolan, a Danvers native, had moved to Schaumberg, Ill., in the 1980s to pursue an incredible business opportunity. She ran the U.S. branch of a very large corporation that manufactured and assembled video monitors for computers, she revealed in a story in the Danvers Herald in 2000. When the European company went bankrupt, Dolan bought the U.S. branch and continued to run it. She also chaired a $3 million campaign for her parish.
She was doing well until she was suddenly diagnosed with ovarian cancer, the kind of cancer that ended her mother’s life. Dolan was hit with a double whammy, however; she was also diagnosed with colon cancer. Then a single mom, with young children, fighting the disease would have almost been impossible without the support of her family back East. For the six months of chemotherapy, family members flew to Schaumberg to be with her.
Dolan was determined to fight, not only for herself but also for her young children.
“I wanted to show my kids this is what cancer is,” said Dolan in the original story. “We said it aloud. I didn’t want to wear a wig, just a hat. This was cancer but this was still mom. My responsibility (before) was to protect them. After I got sick, it was to prepare them.”
It was also a time for reflection, Dolan had said. Often she thought of something she had read at her mom’s funeral that helped her make her next decision: “Hope is hearing the music of the future and faith is dancing to it today.”
Dolan left her successful business and came home, home to her family and her roots. A year after returning, she became the first development person at St. Mary’s School. She later went to work at the Prep.
“My kids and I have grown from this experience, and we all realized that once we made it through these tough times, there is nothing we can’t achieve together,” said Dolan after the completion of the half-marathon. “I’ve had 10 extra years of being with them — graduations, proms, award ceremonies, holidays, vacations and many other special times. Life is good.”
So Dolan decided the 10th anniversary had to be special, something that would recall a difficult time in her life but one that ended on a positive note. After training for 12 weeks for the half-marathon, and with family support, Dorothy Dolan went the distance, overcoming challenging obstacles once again.
“My father, Jack Dolan of Danvers, and my aunt, Nancy Dolan, were at the finish line,” Dolan said, thinking back on the horrendous day. “My father wasn’t sure whether we were all crazy to be doing this or to be proud of us.
Source : www.wickedlocal.com
