tElje Cljarlotte
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1996
;9A
LIFESTYLES
America’s dirty little secret
By Daniel Haney
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW ORLEANS - A group
of researchers has discovered
a dirty little secret: Millions of
Americans routinely don’t
wash their hands after using
the restroom.
The situation has gotten so
bad, contends the American
Society for Microbiology, that
it has teamed up with a drug
company to teach people how
and when to wash,
“Hand washing in this coun
try has become all but a lost
art,” said Dr. Michael T.
Osterholm, the Minnesota
state epidemiologist and head
of the society’s public health
committee.
The unsettling news was
gathered by watching people
in public restrooms. The
researchers hid in stalls or
pretended to comb their hair
while observing 6,333 men
and women do their business
in five cities last month.
The public health campaign,
dubbed “Operation Clean
Hands,” includes such tips as:
• Use warm running water
and rub your hands together
for at least 10 to 15 seconds —
about how long it takes to
sing one chorus of “Yankee
Doodle Dandy,” Osterholm
notes.
• Another hint: use soap.
The survey was sponsored
by the microbiology society,
the country’s largest organiza
tion of microbe experts, and
Bayer Corp., the aspirin
maker. The figures were gath
ered by Wirthlin Worldwide, a
survey firm, and released at
the society’s annual infec
tious-disease conference.
Manners
not myth
for kids
By Kerri Scholl
KANKAKEE DAILY JOURNAL
BO.URBANNAIS, Ill. - It’s
probably a dream many a par
ent has awakened from only
to realize, sadly, that’s all it
was; just a dream.
Their children, little princes
of courtesy, charming
princesses of demeanor.
Hands resting in laps, not
pulling pony tails. Doors arc
thoughtfully opened for oth
ers. Children attending dinner
gatherings, toeing the line of
exquisite table etiquette.
Parents: the Bourbannais
Township Park District, with
the help of Chris Crego and
Faith Beaupre, has done its
darndest to make your dreams
come true.
The “Little Lady and Perfect
Gentleman” class held weekly
sessions this summer for chil
dren ages 5 to 10.
Crego said some of the topics
she and Beaupre covered
included table manners, door
way courtesy, telephone man
ners, grooming, posture,
restaurant etiquette, introduc
tions and handshakes.
“We just teach them how to
act,” she said. “It's amazing
we get as much in as we do.”
During each class the chil
dren listened to Crego and
Beaupre and were given the
chance to practice what they
were taught.
Mock phone conversations
between the students were
part of the routine. Crego took
it one step further by telling
the children that she might be
calling them at home to see if
they remembered what they
were taught (much to the
shock of some of her students).
Next, the children learned
about answering the door, and
then took turns playing the
role of mother, child or parcel
postman to hone their skills
and observe the situation from
all angles.
The only disruption in a dis
play of otherwise unalloyed
behavior, came when children
shared how parents some
times do not lead by example.
As the children exited, each
shook an instructor's hand,
and the girls curtseyed.
The final exam was a full
dress rehearsal, which
required students to impress
their instructors in the setting
of a tea party.
“The last class is a little bit
fancier,” Crego said. The chil
dren were in full dress and
navigated the social gathering
with newfound adeptness.
Crego has taught manners
classes with Beaupre for
about 13 years. They have
taught many different age
groups, including college stu
dents and adults, but they
concentrate mainly on chil
dren.
They teach the class
throughout the year with dif
ferent park districts, and
Crego said in her experience,
children actually •enjoy the
classes.
Breast cancer can’t dim recovery
One survivor’s story
By Jeri Young
THE CHARLOTTE POST
June 27, 1995 is day that
Lorraine Massey will never
forget.
“It was see about Lorraine
Day” she said with a laugh.
Massey planned a big day.
She would get her hair cut,
have her eyes checked and see
the doctor. It was her first day
off from her new job at
NationsBank.
‘T really didn’t want to go
back to work,” she said. “I had
my own business, but some
thing just kept saying to go
back to work. I didn’t have
insurance at the time. Thank
God, He can see further down
the road than you can.”
During a routine physical,
her physician found a small
lump in her right breast.
Massey had felt it before but
didn’t think much about it,
she says.
Massey’s doctor gave her a
referral for mammogram.
“If I would not have gone
that day,” she said, “I
wouldn’t be here now.”
The lump was a cancerous
tumor. An ultrasound mam
mogram revealed that she not
only had tumors in her right
breast but two “hidden”
tumors in her left that would
not have been detected
through breast self-examina
tion or through regular mam
mography.
“I had a series of tests after
that,” she said. “In my subcon
scious, I knew that I had a
cancer.”
Massey’s self diagnosis was
confirmed on Sept. 12, placing
her in a rare classification.
Less than 1 percent of all
women with cancer in both
breasts are diagnosed at the
same time. She said she knew
it was time to tell her family.
“I went home and told my
daughter I needed for her take
me for a second opinion,” she
said. “That is how I told her.
She was shocked, but I was
calm and I told her I knew I
had breast cancer but it would
be all right. God would make
it all right.”
Massey underwent a battery
of tests including a very
painful ultrasound biopsy, a
procedure in which a needle is
inserted into the breast to
draw fluid. The test is 98 per
cent accurate and it confirmed
that she had breast cancer.
“I was on the table with
tears running down my face,”
she said. “It hurt so bad.”
Tests revealed that the can
cer was confined to her
breasts and affected none of
her vital organs. The test also
confirmed what Massey
feared, that both breasts
would have to be removed.
The surgery was scheduled
for Oct. 17.
“I was neveb angry,” she
said. “I knew I was in good
hands. I had faith in my doc
tors and that the surgery was
right for me.”
On the eve of her surgery,
Massey sat down to write
what she called “My
Affirmative Plan for
Recavery,.”.. M,asspy accepted
that surgery would work out
and that her doctors and faith
would heal her.
“My breasts have nourished
my children and served me
well,” she wrote. “But it is
time for them to go - ridding
me of cancer in both breasts
and preventing it from spread
ing. The cancer will be com
pletely eliminated from my
body...”
“I will continue in life as a
whole person,” she wrote., “A
person who is a spiritual, emo
tional and physical human
being.”
Massey asked that some
read the affirmative plan to
her before, during and after
surgery.
“The fight was between me
and my breasts,” she said. “I
didn’t plan on letting the devil
beat me.”
During the three hour
surgery doctors removed 14
lymph nodes from her right
breast and 13 from her left.
One in the right breast was
cancerous, three in the left
breast tested positive.
“You see, if it hadn’t been for
early detection, and that
ultrasound mammography,”
she said, “they wouldn’t have
found it in my left breast.”
PHOTO/SUE ANN JOHNSON
Lorraine Massey depends on her faith and family to help her re«:over from a double mastec
tomy. She’s shown in the living room of her west Charlotte home.
Massey had surgery on
Tuesday and was out of the
hospital on Friday.
“They wanted me to leave on
Thursday,” she said. “But I
needed one more day.”
Massey’s first memory after
the surgery was asking the
nurse for fried fish.
“The nurse told me not to try
it because of all of the anes
thesia,” she said with a laugh.
“I told her don’t let me send
one of my friends over to the
westside.”
On Sunday, she attended
church at Mount Carmel. She
walked up to the front to testi
fy. She wanted people to know
she had not given up.
“I read my plan,” she said. “I
told them it would be fine — I
just needed prayer. People
still talk about it today.”
Massey said her name
missed the sick and shut in
list because her pastor was
out of town when she called
him.
“That was probably a good
thing,” she said. “I didn't
need to be on the sick and
shut in list. I was sick but not
shut in.”
It was ironic. The church
was celebrating Breast Cancer
Awareness Month that
Sunday by wearing pink rib-
See SHE’S on page 16A
A graduate at 102
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
GLASTONBURY, Conn. - A
lot of people might think
Thomas Hennessy had it all:
long life, a loving I'amily, yeans
of fascinating experiences.
But the one thing the 102-
year-old Hennessy did not
have was a high school diplo
ma.
He remedied that Friday by
getting a diploma from
Glastonbury High School, 85
years later.
Hennessy had kept it secret
that he never received his
diploma. Only his beloved wife
Josephine, 25 years deceased,
had known.
But recently, Hennessy
started telling a counselor at
the Hartford retirement com
munity where he lives that he
did not have a diploma.
“Every time 1 saw him, he’d
mention that he was a high
school dropout,” said Virginia
Marchese of Avery Heights.
Hennessy left high school in
his junior year to work on his
father’s tobacco farm, until he
was drafted to fight in World
War I.
Counselor Marchese heard
his story and asked school offi-
cials if they could help
Hennessy get his diploma.
The school granted the diplo
ma Friday, based on his life
experience.
“He didn't choose to leave,
and his regret in never finish
ing suggests to me that he val
ues education,” said
Superintendent of Schools
Jacqueline Jacoby.
Shriners’ special guest
M. Carothers Shrine Club fellowship meeting featured Cheryl Howard (sitting, left),
volunteer coordinator for A Child’s Place