Keep Moving Forward: Marilyn’s Story
He had just retired. And at 66, the former executive vice president of Manischewitz, Franklin Claire, and his wife Marilyn were doing everything they had dreamed about doing: he was teaching at Muhlenberg College, mentoring students, traveling, and working out. This was a man who saw his doctors regularly and paid attention to his body. He felt good and fit.
Except for the pain in his hip, a gnawing pain that drove him to his orthopedist.
Despite treatment, the pain not only lingered, but, after a year, seemed to migrate toward his back, near his kidneys. Now he saw his urologist, who scanned his liver. When the results came back, Franklin Claire learned that his liver was totally filled with tumors.
“I was shocked into silence,” says his wife, Marilyn, adjusting the black frames of her glasses. “Silence. If you can imagine me being silent.”
After meeting with the oncologist, Franklin learned he had Stage 4 lung cancer, and the pain in his hip was metastatic lung cancer. This was a man who did not smoke cigarettes – a man who watched his health carefully, so the news was very shocking for all.
“We were so frightened about the whole cancer experience that we were looking for outlets. Where could we go where the two of us could be part of the group, and the group would understand what we were talking about? Even though he held a BA and an MA in psychology, I felt he needed to be with others who were experiencing what he was experiencing.”
Marilyn and Franklin found the support they needed and a caring network through the Cancer Support Community of the Greater Lehigh Valley. Franklin and Marilyn actively participated with support groups, visualization programs, meditation and other services. The programs and the people they met along the way created a space away from the medical community and the many treatments Franklin had to endure. They found a community.
“Franklin found joy — if you can find joy in cancer — in every program here. He felt warm and very connected,” says Marilyn. But he gave as much as he received.
“His attitude,” she continued, “infused the group. He was upbeat and committed to beating his illness. Every single person from his support group came to his funeral, and I got the most wonderful letters, each one expressing how much he gave to the group. The whole group was uplifted,” says Marilyn. She added that her husband exceeded all doctors’ expectations for survival and continued to live and enjoy life for 23 months after diagnosis.
And that uplifted feeling and bond didn’t stop with Franklin’s passing in 2006. Marilyn has been volunteering with the Cancer Support Community of the Greater Lehigh Valley, most specifically with the Wings of Hope butterfly release event, since then. Marilyn has also served on and off the CSCGLV board of directors for more than a decade. In November, she will be turning her volunteerism efforts to other organizations and will be gracefully stepping down from the CSCGLV Board. However, she plans to continue her time with the Wings of Hope event. To Marilyn, Wings of Hope: A Butterfly Release is more than an opportunity to raise funds. Surprisingly, it is joyful, warm, caring–and mystical. Gauzy curtains, each pinned with hundreds of colorful paper butterflies bearing the names of loved ones, sway in the breeze. In the past, there were 32 curtains, three of which bore butterflies with the name “Franklin Claire.”
“This organization has an important mission and everyone involved wants to see it as the go-to organization for psycho/social support for patients and their families,” said Marilyn. “I have seen this organization grow from a few very dedicated and talented employees to a multi-level group of volunteers and employees all with the same goal of providing our services free to so many.”
“My experiences with this wonderful organization have been nothing but positive and I see it moving forward with new energy and ideas,” said Marilyn.
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Click here to learn more about Wings of Hope: A Butterfly Release.
