Two-time cancer survivor hopes to raise awareness

Canton resident Maureen O’Brien has an important milestone coming up. In April, she will be celebrating 10 years of living cancer-free. She has been diagnosed with colon cancer not just once but twice, so the coming anniversary is an important personal event. Yet the focus of her planning is very much on others.

Maureen “Mo” O’Brien

The children served by Camp Kesem is one group she’s been thinking a lot about. Camp Kesem is a national organization that provides a summer camp experience to kids who have lost a parent to cancer or whose parents are living with cancer. The week-long sessions are staffed and largely coordinated by college students; there are several colleges in the Boston area that have chapters, each running camp sessions at different locations.

As a centerpiece of O’Brien’s anniversary, she is planning a walk to raise funds in support of Camp Kesem. She had wanted to support a small organization and said, “I just think it’s a great program.” The date is set for Sunday, April 28, at Pope John Paul Park in Dorchester, and her goal is to find 50 friends and family members to walk with her.

In addition to fundraising, O’Brien is committed to helping raise general awareness of colorectal cancer. March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, and she said, “I’d love for more attention to be paid to the diagnosis, especially because it is on the rise in folks under 50, and it is very treatable if caught early.”

Obesity, an unhealthy diet, smoking, and alcohol all raise the odds for these cancers as does being African-American. The Colorectal Cancer Alliance cautions against making any assumptions about risk, however; their campaign theme for 2019 is “Don’t Assume.”

O’Brien’s experience illustrates how important it is to make no assumptions. Her family has a history of cancer, but not including colon cancer, so she had not been advised to have early screening. In November of 2006 at the age of 45, she noticed a little bleeding. Always very careful about her health, she consulted her doctor, who thought it was “probably nothing” and sent her for testing. Everyone was surprised when the test came back positive. Surgery fixed the problem, and no chemo or radiation was required.

Two years later, without warning, an annual blood test revealed the cancer had recurred. This time, O’Brien had to undergo “the whole gamut” — surgery, chemo and radiation. “That year was awful,” she said.

She was often nauseated so couldn’t cook for her husband, George Garcia, and twin teenage sons, Matthew and Alex. She needed a lot of help, including rides for herself to chemo and for her sons to sports practices. (George is a physician, and his work as an anesthesiologist meant that his schedule was fairly inflexible.) Luckily, she said, “I had an amazing community of support.”

O’Brien’s experience brought home how cancer affects the whole family. “Once I was fully in remission, I wanted to find a way to do something positive with my knowledge and experience,” she said.

Maureen O’Brien with her husband, George Garcia, and sons Alex and Matthew at Fenway Park

As a developmental psychologist, she is an expert on the growth and development of children. She has coached parents and run groups on parenting issues; she is also a published author of books on the subject. Although her sons had been old enough to understand their mother’s illness reasonably well, O’Brien knew that a parent’s illness has a deep effect on kids no matter how old and can be very disruptive for younger ones.

When Maria Trozzi, a social worker-educator O’Brien had worked with, invited her to become involved with Joanna’s Place, O’Brien was more than happy to do her part. Joanna’s Place offers programs for children who have lost parents, whose parents are impacted by illness or who have siblings facing significant issues. The focus is on social activities that allow the children to bond with each other, thus helping them to cope. O’Brien has helped run the groups and is still involved with the organization, currently serving on the board.

O’Brien says programs like those at Joanna’s Place and Camp Kesem are very helpful, but too often, “people don’t know they exist.”

“There’s often real hesitation on the part of adults to talk to kids honestly,” she said. “It comes from a desire to protect, but then it backfires and the kids don’t believe what they are told.”

The mission of Camp Kesem, which means “magic” in Hebrew, is to be “a child’s friend through and beyond a parent’s cancer.”

To donate to Maureen O’Brien’s fundraising walk, search for Maureen OBrien (without the apostrophe) at donate.kesem.org. For more information about Joanna’s Place, go to www.joannasplace.org. For information on colorectal cancer, go to www.ccalliance.org/about/awareness-month.

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Posted by Candace Paris on Mar 16 2019. Filed under Features. Both comments and pings are currently closed.