By Matt Wiley
Calm and collected, Pasco County clerk of Circuit Court & comptroller Paula O’Neil spoke about her recent diagnosis as if it were a faint memory from another life. Few would suspect that the popular public official is still actively battling the deadly disease, as she spoke to hundreds of women about her experience fighting breast cancer.
On September 21, more than 700 women from all over Tampa Bay attended the inaugural Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel (FHWC) Women’s Health & Wellness Day at Saddlebrook Resort in Wesley Chapel, taking part in breakout sessions with guest speakers and an exhibit room full of pampering and health screening opportunities, including mammogram registration, screenings for oral cancer, blood pressure and glucose, a grip strength test, a self-breast exam, as well as a balance test, body mass index (BMI) and body fat analysis from the FHWC Health & Wellness Center. The hospital also introduced its “Pink Army” campaign that encourages women to make sure that they get their annual breast cancer screenings.
“We know that women handle a lot of responsibilities and don’t always stop to take care of themselves,” Aimee Keller, director of the Center for Women’s Health at FHWC, said in a press release. “We were excited to give women a chance to learn and recharge at this fun, inspiring event and were thrilled with the turnout.”
The free event culminated with a free lunch and keynote address from O’Neil.
“I had felt a lump (in my breast) and had it checked out a year earlier and it was fine,” O’Neil said to the ballroom filled with women. “So when I went to the doctor that day and got the results back from the lab, I didn’t expect anything.”
O’Neil, said that she had a regularly scheduled mammogram and ultrasound on May 9, after which the radiologist came in and explained that the lump was cancerous. She said that one of the weirdest parts about the experience was walking out to the parking lot while waiting for the needle biopsy results for the lump the same day.
“Who do you tell that you have cancer?,” she asked the crowd. “I mean, you can’t call your kids in the middle of the day and tell them. So, I just called work. I know how to work. I don’t know how to be sick.”
O’Neil has had a mastectomy and reconstructive surgery and October is her last month of chemotherapy treatments. Her decision to go public on the Thursday before Memorial Day was made to let her staff of more than 350 know she would be okay and that their jobs were not in danger..
“I know that this is a temporary inconvenience and I’ll get through it,” O’Neil told the crowd. “We can’t let people be ashamed (of having cancer).”
O’Neil, who is the face of FHWC’s “Fight Like a Girl” t-shirt (photo, right) concluded by announcing that she thinks that it actually is a good time to be battling the disease.
“I’ve lived a good life,” she explained. “There are women with little kids running around with cancer. I may not have chosen this, but right now the technology is so wonderful. Every day, we hear that soon there will be a cure for this. We can contribute to that research and we can make it a better world for the next generation and generations to come.”
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For more information about FHWC and the Pink Army, please visit FloridaHospital.com/WesleyChapel and jointhepinkarmy.com
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