AUBURN - Life can be very strange, and inspiring. Patty Blowers was diagnosed with breast cancer last September. But Saturday, she talked about the good her illness has done.
“I had a long estrangement from my sister, and this has brought us back together,” Patty said. “I need her now, and she has been there for me. It's been very important.”
Patty's sister, Pam Carner, was a faithful helper at the Falcon Lanes Saturday. She dished out chicken, potatoes, ziti and salad from behind the food table.
It was a day of hugs and prayers for Patty and Bingo Blowers. Family, friends and co-workers packed the banquet room to benefit the couple in the face of adversity.
“I'm ecstatic to see so many people here,” said Bingo, whose head bobbed for hours as he greeted the flood of well-wishers with hearty conversation. Just two months after his wife's diagnosis, he was told he had cancer in the back of his tongue.
“We were floored, and now we're just trying to get through it,” Patty said.
She has had three surgeries since then and will have her fourth chemotherapy treatment next week. Her husband is slated to have his tumor, shrunken greatly by recent chemotherapy and radiation, removed March 7.
The outlook is good, Carner said. And some things have eased the strain. Patty made a courageous run in the Women's Citizen Masters last month before finishing second, while Bingo's beloved New York Giants won the Super Bowl.
But nothing, it seems, could match Saturday's event. The couple's co-workers from Community Computer Service Inc. and Auburn Correctional Facility poured through the door.
“We knew we had to do something,” said Alice Reed, who works with Patty at Community Computer and coordinated the benefit with fellow employees Kim Relfe and Pam Lunkenheimer.
“They're the type of people who feel they don't want to take from anybody else,” Reed added.
“We asked Patty, and she said it was OK to do this.”
Reed worked tirelessly for the past eight weeks, lining up door prizes and a silent auction, setting up a 50/50 raffle and selling dinner tickets for $15 each.
Her mother, Cindy, worked the door Saturday and said they had exceeded 350 meals with all of the walk-ins.
John Walters, who runs the kitchen at Falcon Lanes, said he cooked 500 pieces of chicken. Chris Kowaleski and Mike Bruton, also from Community Computer, provided music with their band, Johnny Bender.
Tracey Baker works with Bingo at the ACF license plate shops.
She collected over $2,000 selling tickets at the prison while Judy Rice, another co-worker, ran a bake sale at the benefit.
“Bingo and Patty are two beautiful people, and we came together for them,” Baker said.
And Carner has been there for her sister as well. After a separation of nearly eight years, they now go shopping every Saturday. She also takes Patty's late-night phone calls, sometimes at 2:30 a.m.
“It's no problem at all because I work second shift at Borg Warner in Ithaca,” Carner said with a smile. “If she needs me, she can call me any time.”
Indeed, Patty Blowers' illness brought the two siblings together, and Carner counts it as a blessing.
Patty's sister, Pam Carner, was a faithful helper at the Falcon Lanes Saturday. She dished out chicken, potatoes, ziti and salad from behind the food table.
It was a day of hugs and prayers for Patty and Bingo Blowers. Family, friends and co-workers packed the banquet room to benefit the couple in the face of adversity.
“I'm ecstatic to see so many people here,” said Bingo, whose head bobbed for hours as he greeted the flood of well-wishers with hearty conversation. Just two months after his wife's diagnosis, he was told he had cancer in the back of his tongue.
“We were floored, and now we're just trying to get through it,” Patty said.
She has had three surgeries since then and will have her fourth chemotherapy treatment next week. Her husband is slated to have his tumor, shrunken greatly by recent chemotherapy and radiation, removed March 7.
The outlook is good, Carner said. And some things have eased the strain. Patty made a courageous run in the Women's Citizen Masters last month before finishing second, while Bingo's beloved New York Giants won the Super Bowl.
But nothing, it seems, could match Saturday's event. The couple's co-workers from Community Computer Service Inc. and Auburn Correctional Facility poured through the door.
“We knew we had to do something,” said Alice Reed, who works with Patty at Community Computer and coordinated the benefit with fellow employees Kim Relfe and Pam Lunkenheimer.
“They're the type of people who feel they don't want to take from anybody else,” Reed added.
“We asked Patty, and she said it was OK to do this.”
Reed worked tirelessly for the past eight weeks, lining up door prizes and a silent auction, setting up a 50/50 raffle and selling dinner tickets for $15 each.
Her mother, Cindy, worked the door Saturday and said they had exceeded 350 meals with all of the walk-ins.
John Walters, who runs the kitchen at Falcon Lanes, said he cooked 500 pieces of chicken. Chris Kowaleski and Mike Bruton, also from Community Computer, provided music with their band, Johnny Bender.
Tracey Baker works with Bingo at the ACF license plate shops.
She collected over $2,000 selling tickets at the prison while Judy Rice, another co-worker, ran a bake sale at the benefit.
“Bingo and Patty are two beautiful people, and we came together for them,” Baker said.
And Carner has been there for her sister as well. After a separation of nearly eight years, they now go shopping every Saturday. She also takes Patty's late-night phone calls, sometimes at 2:30 a.m.
“It's no problem at all because I work second shift at Borg Warner in Ithaca,” Carner said with a smile. “If she needs me, she can call me any time.”
Indeed, Patty Blowers' illness brought the two siblings together, and Carner counts it as a blessing.
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pamnewyork wrote on Feb 17, 2008 12:20 PM:
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