Sunday, September 11, 2005

Cancer victim's sister battles to save other women's lives

By Laura Berman / The Detroit News

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Between Hurricane Katrina and today -- this Sept. 11 -- Sheryl Silver took her singular passion for saving women's lives to Capitol Hill.

That her testimony to a House subcommittee Wednesday was sandwiched between one ongoing disaster and the fourth anniversary of another only fueled her impatience with the niceties of the political process.

Five years ago, her older sister, Johanna Silver Eisenberg Gordon, a Southfield High School English teacher, died from ovarian cancer -- a disease that is often said to kill swiftly and without warning.

But as in the case of a devastating hurricane, or a terrorist attack on skyscrapers, the phrase "without warning" is sometimes used even in the face of clear and present danger -- when the telltale warning signs are overlooked, ignored or dismissed out of hand.

This is what Sheryl Silver discovered about her sister's illness during the 3 1/2 years she sought answers at Gilda's Club -- a refuge for women with cancer named in honor of the late comedian Gilda Radner -- on Internet bulletin boards and in the pages of obscure medical journals.

There were warning signs. But neither Johanna nor the medical establishment were prepared or trained to recognize them.

"We were stunned when Johanna was diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer," Silver told a congressional subcommittee last week. Johanna had been a healthy, exercising, doctor-going, vegetable-eating woman. She took care of herself. She planned to live a long, happy life.

Little did she realize -- and who does? -- that persistent bloating and heartburn could be markers for ovarian cancer.

By the time she'd stopped taking antacids and waited weeks to see a gastroenterologist, the disease had advanced irrevocably.

Now her surviving sister is on a continuing mission, one that I first wrote about in this space two years ago. Since then, Silver conceived and has campaigned relentlessly for Johanna's Law, a bill introduced by Rep. Sander Levin, D-Royal Oak, and now backed by about 224 members of Congress.

Levin says the bill's gathering support is a testimony to Silver's commitment and drive.

The law would provide grant money and public service spots to provide information about the signs of ovarian, cervical and other gynecologic cancers -- information that can stem some of the 28,000 deaths caused annually by these diseases.

Early diagnosis and treatment for ovarian cancer -- deadly in late phases -- produces compelling results. The survival rate, when diagnosis comes early, is 80 percent to 90 percent.

And while using government funds to "educate" or "raise awareness" or help prevent disease isn't necessarily fashionable, the hurricane left behind vivid evidence of the government's capacity to help -- or neglect -- people.

Johanna's kid sister very deliberately quoted the president's reaction to Hurricane Katrina.

"The job of the federal government is to save lives because every life is precious," he said.

Sheryl Silver lost the fight to save her sister's life. But I am pleased to report that her campaign to save the lives of other sisters, daughters and mothers is very much alive.

Laura Berman's column runs Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday in Metro. Reach her at (248) 647-7221 or lberman@detnews.com.