Susie Parrish

A Special Spirit

By Andie Gibson

                When the cards started piling up in Susie Parrish’s mailbox in late May – more than 350 in all – the mail carrier wondered if Parrish was celebrating a special birthday.

                Unfortunately, the cards weren’t birthday greetings but get well wishes from friends and family around Smith Mountain Lake and the world who had heard the news: The breast cancer was back.

                Again.

                After beating the disease twice in the past 16 years, Parrish learned the cancer had metastasized to the bone in her neck. She faced immediate surgery to remove a tumor and 20 doses of radiation in four weeks.

                “I think it really affected people that I got sick again,” said Parrish, who organizes what has become the largest golf tournament at the lake and contributed nearly $100,000 to breast cancer research.

                The Rally for a Cure began in 1996 as a ladies’ day event at The Waterfront Country Club. Sixteen golfers participated, raising $450 for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. Nine years later, the event has become the largest tournament of its kind out of 3,000 events around the country. Last year, Parrish donated $30,000 to the foundation.

                Parrish’s efforts earned her the LPGA’s Komen Award presented by Yoplait in 2003, an honor usually reserved for corporations. Gillette, American Airlines, Titleist-Foot Joy and Lincoln-Mercury have all won the award for their contributions to raising funds and awareness for the fight against breast cancer.

                “And then there’s little Susie Parrish from Smith Mountain Lake,” said her husband John Parrish, who helps organize the event. “Clearly what she has created here is very, very, very different than any of the others around the country. … It’s very exciting on that day. It’s a special spirit.”

                The tournament is always held the first Monday in October, which is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. In addition to green and cart fees at The Waterfront, the $105 entry fee ($75 for members of The Waterfront, The Water’s Edge or The Westlake) includes a golf shirt, one-year subscription to Golf for Women magazine, lunch, surf-and-turf buffet dinner, silent auction and live auction.

                “We’re really getting some killer prizes,” said John Parrish, mentioning trips to Ireland and the Bahamas. There will also be a chance to bid on tickets to attend the Target World Challenge in December at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, California, which features 16 of the world’s best golfers competing in a 72-hole stroke play event.

                Finding auction items isn’t difficult, Susie Parrish said. “People want to give to the Rally for a Cure. I have people giving me things all the time. They want to help because so many people have been affected by this disease.”

                Parrish stresses the Rally is, first and foremost, about raising awareness about breast cancer, a disease that will kill an estimated 40,000 women this year. The Komen Foundation recommends yearly mammograms for women over age 40.

                Parrish was 39 – with children ages 17, 15 and 12 –when she was first diagnosed with breast cancer. She found a lump during a routine self-exam and went immediately for a mammogram and biopsy, which revealed the diagnosis. She had a mastectomy and was cancer free for the next eight years until she had a rare chest-wall reoccurance. This time, in addition to surgery, Parrish endured radiation and chemotherapy.

                In April, 8 years after her last bout with the disease, Parrish developed a sore neck. At first, she thought she had slept wrong and even bought a new pillow to see if she could relieve the pain.

                “But it was a deep pain and it felt worse at night,” Parrish said. “By the end of the day, it felt like my head was too heavy for my shoulders.”

                Parrish went through a series of tests that revealed the mestatecized breast cancer and a tumor that was pinching a nerve and impeding the use of her left arm. Immediate surgery was necessary to remove the tumor to avoid permanent damage. Radiation therapy over the next month was performed carefully to avoid damage to the spinal cord.

                Parrish’s health outlook is now good. Doctors tell her because she has gone eight years between each occurrence means she has a latent form of cancer. She takes two medications – a bone strengthener and an estrogen inhibitor. Both are new forms of treatment that weren’t available during her previous bouts with cancer.

                “That’s a positive thing for me,” she said. “Those drugs wouldn’t have been here. Without the research, we wouldn’t have that. The money is making a difference.”

While the Oct. 4 Rally for a Cure golf tournament already has a full field, reservations are still being accepted for the dinner, silent auction and live auction. The cost is $35 per person. Sponsorship opportunities and donations for the auctions are also still being accepted. For information, contact the Parrishes at 721-7379.