When a patient has surgery at Mayo Clinic, a small piece of them often ends up in front of a pathologists? assistant.
The PAs don?t meet the patients. They don?t see their faces. But Khela Lewis says when she and her co-workers dissect and microscopically analyze specimens, it isn?t a detached, clinical exercise.
They are ever aware what these specimens represent. Real people and very real questions. Do I have cancer? What stage?
Lewis says that although they all feel this connection, it always was emphasized by the woman whose station was just a few feet from her. Peggy Cole. Pathology Peggy, as some in other departments called her.
Peggy Cole?s husband, Robert, says with a smile that if his obsession always was boats, then his wife?s always was pathology.
Sometimes he and one of their two sons would take off on a long boat trip. Peggy would stay behind until they reached the destination, fly there, spend some time doing something she wasn?t good at ? trying to sit still ? and then head back to work. Back to the patients she never actually met, but always cared deeply about.
?Peggy would often say, ?This is my mother, this is my husband, this is my son, this is my sister,? ? Lewis said.
And then, 10 years ago, she could have added, ?This is me.?
That?s when she found a lump, which turned out to be breast cancer. It was November. Robert Cole remembers this partly because one of his wife?s first thoughts: She could have surgery and recover over Christmas, when work was slow.
She went through treatment and seemed fine. Then one day three years ago, she walked into work and ended up in the emergency room. The cancer was back, this time in her brain.
It was there two years ago when I wrote a column about ?Team Peggy,? one of the relay teams in the 26.2 with Donna Marathon. Peggy and four others wore tie-dye T-shirts. She ran the fourth leg. It was a magical day, the kind you wish you could keep living over and over, especially when you know you?re dying.
At the time, tests had shown the tumor had shrunk. But as Peggy said when I talked to her, ?That?s nice, but it?s not going to be forever.?
TO HONOR, REMEMBER
The sixth annual 26.2 with Donna will be held Sunday. The three co-workers on ?Team Peggy? will be running again, this time to honor and remember her.
Peggy Cole died Dec. 22, 2012. She was 56.
Her husband says she had wanted to die in their home in Orangedale. But eight days earlier, she fell and broke her hip, which may have been a blessing. She ended up at Mayo, then Community Hospice?s McGraw Center, surrounded by a steady stream of co-workers. Lewis would stop by in the morning and Xochi Geiger, a pathologist who ran the first leg of the relay two years ago, would stop by in the evening.
One morning last week, her husband and Lewis sat at one of the tables outside the Cannaday Building at Mayo. We chose the meeting spot for convenience. But for both of them, sitting at those tables brought back a lot of memories.
?We?d sit here after Peggy?s treatment and have ice cream,? Lewis said.
?I thought of that last night,? Robert Cole said. ?I thought I should stop at Publix and get a big bag of little Ben and Jerry?s ice creams.?
They recalled that she wasn?t picky about the kind of ice cream, as long as it included chocolate. And even while she was a patient, she continued to come to work and put the needs of other patients above her own.
?In a lot of ways, that always will be her legacy,? Lewis said. ?I aspire to have that devotion. We all do. Patient care at Mayo obviously is our No. 1 responsibility. But Peggy oozed it, she breathed it.?
She remained incredibly upbeat, known for a smile on her face and crazy socks on her feet. But she also was tough. Robert Cole recalled that Peggy?s father was a Marine who served in World War II and spent several years as a prisoner of war in Korea. Peggy inherited that toughness.
But don?t say she spent the last two years fighting cancer. She never liked that description.
?Because a fight implies a winner,? Lewis said. ?And as much as you fight, you can?t win.?
?Peggy was a contrarian,? her husband said, recalling another common expression she didn?t like: cancer survivor. ?She always said, ?I?ll consider myself a survivor if I die of something else.? ?
?ON MY SHOULDER?
All of this helps explain why the marathon started by Donna Deegan resonated with her. It isn?t just another race. It?s devoted to breast cancer. And its mission isn?t just to help people fight the disease. It?s to?finish?it.
The No. 2 individual fundraiser for this year?s race: Robert Cole.
With a total of more than $10,000, his donation will be matched by Wayne and Delores Weaver. But Peggy?s husband is quick to downplay his role, saying all he did was take some of his wife?s life insurance and write a check for something she cared about. Her co-workers held a ?Pink Out/Pig Out for Peggy? Day on Feb. 8, selling pink cupcakes, pink doughnuts, pink everything. And Sunday quite a few people will be running for her.
Lewis? husband, Braden Pursell, ran the mile for Fletcher High School and the University of North Florida. But this will be the first marathon for the Jacksonville Sheriff?s Office officer.
?Before she died, Peggy told Braden that she would be looking down from heaven, moving runners out of the way to clear his path,? Lewis said.
What happens Sunday will be a part of her legacy. The money raised. The miles covered. But even more significant is what will happen Monday.
Team Peggy will be back at work.
To help explain what this means, Lewis shared a favorite photo from the race two years ago. In the foreground, you see the back of her tie-dye T-shirt, ?Team Peggy? written on it. Beyond her right shoulder, you see Peggy walking by, grinning.
?It is like she is hovering on my shoulder, which is often how I still feel at work,? Lewis said. ?She will always be here at Mayo, her spirit guiding us.?
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mark.woods@jacksonville.com,
(904) 359-4212
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