The power of the flame

Thursday, February 7, 2002

Vol 8, Issue 3

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'I have no idea how much longer I will live, but I will live each day to the fullest,' says patient who carried torch

By BRAD BROBERG

Photo by Kathy Lyles

Seattle Cancer Care Alliance patient Kathy Caughran carries the Olympic Torch on Wednesday morning, Jan. 23, in Tumwater.

Kathleen Caughran was nervous about carrying the Olympic Torch.

"My whole thinking was, 'I hope I can do it,' " said Caughran, a University of Washington Academic Medical Center patient being treated at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance.

Cheered on by friends and family, Caughran rose to the occasion, toting the torch through the streets of Tumwater - testimony to her own determination and to the power of the eternally burning flame.

"I was shocked that a cancer patient could find that kind of energy again," said the 47-year-old Gig Harbor resident. "When they gave me the torch, it was like somebody lit me up. I had more energy than I had in two years. It's a shame we can't put all of that energy in a bottle and cure cancer with it."

Cauhgran wasn't the only person with ties to the Hutch to participate in the passing of the Olympic Torch through the Puget Sound area two weeks ago. Former Hutch patient Tamara Stevens also carried the flame, and Alliance clerk Somar Macek sang the national anthem at a ceremony marking the torch's arrival at Seattle Center.

In all, 284 people were selected to relay the torch through Washington on its way to the 2002 Winter Olympics, which begin Friday. The torchbearers were chosen from 210,000 people nominated by friends and relatives who wrote testimonials based on the inspiration their lives provide.

"I have no idea how much longer I will live, but I will live each day to the fullest," Caughran said. "You have to go forward and be positive. That's probably why I was selected to carry the torch."

Caughran's selection did not surprise Rosemary Maulupe, a medical assistant for the Alliance who has known Caughran for more than a year.

"Every time you talk to her, she's really positive," Maulupe said. "She always puts other people before her. She's just very inspiring."

Caughran deeply appreciates the care she's received through the Alliance.

"When you're as sick as I am, you hope like heck there's somebody who's going to treat you nice," she said. "I can't say enough great things about that place."

'A thing I had to do'

Megan Paul, a friend of Caughran's, nominated her to carry the torch.

"It was a thing I felt I had to do," Paul said. "She deserves this."

Caughran's struggle against cancer started two years ago when she was diagnosed with lung cancer, which has since metastasized to her brain.

"I've seen this kind of thing before," Paul said, "but I've never seen somebody truly deal with it head on the way Kathy has. I've seen Kathy go from someone who was totally afraid and totally worried to someone who decided they would fight with everything they had."

Paul said that in her testimonial, she described how Caughran "live life deliberately and treats every day as a gift. She doesn't make a big deal about her cancer. It's just a part of her world."

Caughran received a letter in October saying she had been nominated to carry the torch. However, it didn't say who nominated her. Three weeks before the torch arrived, she received another letter. This one said she was among those chosen to carry the flame. Once again, however, it made no mention of her nominator.

Finally, on the day Caughran carried the torch, she learned from an organizer that Paul who had nominated her. Meanwhile, Paul had been equally in the dark, She didn't learn Caughran had been chosen until she read about it in the local paper.

Paul didn't get a chance to watch Caughran as she held the torch with both hands and proudly marched her two-tenths-of-a-mile leg, but the two talked on the phone afterward. Caughran said she couldn't thank Paul enough for making such a memorable moment possible.

"I was just truly blessed," she said.

Carrying the torch has given Caughran extra incentive to follow the 2002 Winter Olympics. So does the fact that she formerly lived in Park City, Utah, where many events will take place.

"I'm especially interested to see who's going to light the torch at the opening ceremony," she said.

Favorite memento: the hat

Torchbearers were given the purple and white jogging suits they wore while carrying the flame. Each also could buy his or her torch, which Caughran did. Her favorite memento, though, is the hat that accompanied the jogging suit.

While some people ran or walked without the hat, "I guarantee you I wore mine," said Caughran, who has lost her hair due to chemotherapy.

Paul said the joy that carrying the torch brought Caughran, her husband Carl, son Jack and daughter Courtney surpassed her expectations.

"Friends of cancer patients find themselves wondering what can they do to help," Paul said. "This is something I got to do for Kathy and her family, and it meant a lot."

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Torch in hand, Stevens sprints on adrenaline

Tamara Stevens can add a line to her list of achievements and subtract one from her list of goals. Two weeks ago, she carried the Olympic Torch as it traveled through Seattle.

"I was just thrilled to have the opportunity," Stevens said. "It was on my lifelong list of things to do."

If her name sounds familiar, it should. Stevens is the longest surviving recipient of a bone-marrow transplant for acute myelogenous leukemia. Since receiving her transplant from the Hutch's Dr. E. Donnall Thomas in 1972, Stevens has supported the Center and cancer-related causes in many ways, including serving on the Washington/Alaska Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of America's board of trustees.

That explains all the green and purple balloons - the Leukemia Society's colors - that greeted her as she stepped off the shuttle bus that carried her and other torchbearers to the start of their relay legs.

"When the shuttle door opened and I saw all the people from the Leukemia Society and from my church and all my friends, it was so awesome," said Stevens, a 46-year-old Bellevue resident. "I had a whole gang cheering for me."

With such strong support, she couldn't help herself when her turn arrived. She started sprinting - uphill.

"The adrenaline really took over," she said. "It's hard to describe unless you've actually done it."

Stevens, who currently is being treated for breast cancer at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, had told a friend how much she would like to carry the torch, and that friend nominated her.

A highlight of her experience came when she completed her leg of the relay and was greeted by Steve McCarty, the longest survivor of a bone-marrow transplant for aplastic anemia, who received his transplant from Thomas in the 1970s.

Over the years, Stevens said, she and McCarty have provided a lot of support to each other. "It was great to have him there."

? and the anthem comes from an Alliance voice

Some people climb mountains or sky-dive for excitement. Somar Macek sings the Star Spangled Banner.

Macek, a stores clerk in materiel management at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, has performed at Seattle Thunderbird hockey games and Seattle Mariners baseball games. "It's kind of a rush to sing in front of a big crowd like that," she said.

Although the crowd was considerably smaller, Macek notched another high-profile performance when she sang the national anthem at a ceremony marking the Olympic Torch's arrival at the Seattle Center.

"I think it was one of my best performances of that song," said Macek, who also sings with a church group and at weddings.

Macek attended college as a vocal performance major but decided it would be difficult to make a living as a singer and switched to biology.

She was chosen to sing at the torch ceremony after meeting a friend's cousin who turned out to be one of the event's organizers. When she learned Macek was a singer, she asked her for a tape and invited her to sing at the ceremony.

Although her favorite style is country, she sings a traditional version of the anthem.

"I add a little bit of my own touches, but if you get too far out, people don't like that," she said.

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