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Drug is still in use, no longer bad for heart
By Jewell Cardwell
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Friday, Jan 09, 2009
The last time I had the privilege of spotlighting Kathleen ''Boo'' Whitmer in my column, I said, ''Not everybody gets it. That if you've been blessed, you ought to bless someone else.
''Kathleen 'Boo' Whitmer — who has been blessed many times over — gets it.
''And because the Akron woman really gets it, she is about the serious business of being a blessing to others, especially children.''
Sadly, Mrs. Whitmer died Tuesday, but her legacy to educate, inspire and make a difference did not.
That remains in the lives she touched, the causes she represented and in all of the books she wrote and illustrated: Green Rubber Boots: A Joyful Journey to Wellness, For the Asking: A Joyful Journey to Peace, The Glory in a Story: A Joyful Journey Through Memories and Blue Boo and Her Colorful Friends.
Oh, how grateful I am that our paths crossed so many times.
The 72-year-old woman with the pixie haircut was not only an accomplished artist, writer and teacher, she also was a friend to everyone she met.
Her voice was always soft and welcoming.
That was part innate and part life experience of this eternal optimist.
You see, Mrs. Whitmer always knew she was living on borrowed time. And she acted accordingly — always doing things to dress up her days and those of others she encountered along the way.
In the fall of 1978, Mrs. Whitmer was diagnosed with sarcoma, cancer of the muscle tissue, and it was in the trunk of her body.
She was given six months.
Mrs. Whitmer — an educator
to her core — learned that famous cancer researcher Dr. Stephen Rosenberg at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., ''was looking for people with my disease to participate in his clinical trial,'' she said in a 2001 interview.
''I decided if I had only six months I would have to have a purpose. I didn't know I had that kind of spirit . . . I didn't like leaving home and my husband [Jerry] to live in Washington. But it turned out to be a very joyful time . . . ''
She joined a highly risky Phase I study of Adriamycin, which meant the drug had only been tested on mice. Because each of the 200 patients in the study was living on borrowed time, everything — the medicine, the linear radiation and the chemotherapy — was administered aggressively. Mrs. Whitmer was among only a few to survive the study that ended up being so toxic that it destroyed their hearts.
And survive she did, although her heart was weakened.
Adriamycin — which wasn't approved for humans until after Phase II — works wonders today and is no longer problematic for the heart.
In 1997, she was placed on the heart transplant list at the Cleveland Clinic and received a heart two years later. ''I lived on the ninth floor [of the Clinic] for one month before I got a heart,'' a grateful Mrs. Whitmer recalled.
Her new heart came from a 29-year-old woman named Jennifer. Fortunately, the woman's parents made the decision to allow their daughter to live on in others. ''Seven people lived that night because of what her parents did,'' Mrs. Whitmer said. ''Someone got her lungs, someone else her liver, two others her kidneys.''
Mrs. Whitmer was wisely tapped in 2005 to receive the Beacon Journal's ''Extraordinary Woman'' award.
Here's hoping that we will all find in our own hearts, as Kathleen ''Boo'' Whitmer did, the ability to leave the world better than we found it.
In addition to her husband of 47 years, she also is survived by a sister, Mary Ann Bamberger.
Calling hours will be 4 to 7 p.m. today at Hummel Funeral Home, 500 E. Exchange St., Akron. A Mass of Christian burial will be 10 a.m. Saturday at St. Vincent Church, 164 W. Market St., Akron.
In lieu of other remembrances, memorials in her name will be graciously accepted at Old Trail School, where she was artist in residence. The mailing address is P.O. Box 827, Bath, OH 44210. You may also make a memorial to the Christ Child Society, P.O. Box 5855, Akron, OH 44372.
Jewell Cardwell can be reached at 330-996-3567 or jcardwell@thebeaconjournal.com.
The last time I had the privilege of spotlighting Kathleen ''Boo'' Whitmer in my column, I said, ''Not everybody gets it. That if you've been blessed, you ought to bless someone else.
Get the full article here.
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