Saundra Smith: Coming to grips with her cancer experience

When her mother tried to register Saundra Smith for school in Port Arthur, Texas, she got a surprising response.

“They said they didn’t have a nursery school, and that she should bring me back next year for kindergarten,” Saundra said.

Old enough to be a first-grader, Saundra’s small stature caused the confusion.

Also very athletic as a child, “I did not have the problems that obese children have,” she said.

THE 'WEIGHT'ING GAME
It’s when Saundra quit being physically active that she began gaining weight.

Saundra Smith

Then, when Saundra was 25, her mother died of cancer. Depression followed.

“I started adding pounds, and I gradually gained more and more through the years,” she said.

While also dealing with high blood pressure and diabetes, Saundra became aware of how others perceived her.

“I worried about whether my family was embarrassed. The truth is that I was embarrassed for them to be seen with me,” she said.

Her son, daughter and husband were concerned about her health, but they remained supportive.

“My husband, Gary, never placed any sort of guilt trip on me,” Saundra said. “He was never critical. He never once said, ‘Do you really need to eat all of that?’ or ‘Maybe you should save some for later.’”

Saundra tried a stomach stapling procedure when she was 40. She expected it to be a magic cure. “But I didn't do my part,” and she continued to gain weight.

At 386 pounds, she finally decided to have a gastric bypass in 2005.

SURPRISE, YOU HAVE CANCER
“When I woke up, I learned that the doctor had found tumors on my stomach, liver and pancreas,” Saundra said. “But I didn’t give myself time to be depressed about the cancer. I was too irate about him not doing the bypass.”

After being released from the hospital and having a battery of tests, it was decided that Saundra would die sooner from being obese and associated medical issues than from her carcinoid cancer.

So they rescheduled the gastric bypass surgery, during which her tumors were seared.

Cancer runs in Saundra's family.

Once Saundra was back on solid food, her doctor began to control the cancer with a monthly injection.

“I started participating in Relay for Life, but felt odd doing so. I almost felt guilty saying I had cancer or that I was a survivor,” she said. “It was like I didn’t have the right to be there since I had no real symptoms of cancer the way others had. All I did was take a shot. I had no radiation. I had no weeks of regular chemo.

“So I just concentrated on being there for my mother and her five siblings who had died of various cancers, and for friends who died or were going through cancer treatment.”

In addition to losing her mother to breast cancer and five aunts and uncles to other forms of cancer, Saundra learned that several members of her grandmother’s family also lost cancer battles.

Still, beyond receiving her monthly shot, the carcinoid cancer didn’t seem to have much of an impact on Saundra’s daily life.

But things changed in 2016. She was up to two injections a month, and then was switched to an oral chemo drug. That’s when drug interaction problems and side effects hit her hard.

“I began to realize that I didn’t have an annoyance. I had cancer. It finally started becoming real,” Saundra said.

She began having physical problems and was dealing with the depression that many cancer patients experience.

While researching carcinoid cancer, Saundra learned about the zebra stripe ribbon that brings awareness to the disease. She was quick to order T-shirts featuring a zebra.

Her house is now full of zebra-themed items, including stuffed animals, pillows and quilts given to her by family and friends.

In the process Saundra has become more vocal about carcinoid cancer, and she is happy to educate others about the disease.

Saundra and her husband, Gary

THE SHOW MUST GO ON
While she deals with mobility and stamina issues, Saundra stays busy with a number of activities. Topping the list is Baytown Little Theater, where she and Gary have been members since 1968.

“Gary is the lights guy and I’m the props mistress,” she said. “I also have directed both youth and adult shows.”

She will hold auditions for the theater’s latest play, “The Lion in Winter,” on April 2-3.

Saundra recently learned from a specialist in Houston that her tumors are significantly reduced.

“I’m coming to grips with the fact that my cancer will never go away. It travels the blood system and the lymph system, and we will continue to deal with the outcrops of tumors. But I’ll take that,” she said.

“Back in 2005 when we started all of this, I was told by one of my doctors that because of my obesity, the cancer and my other health problems, they didn’t really expect me to still be living today. They tell me that I’m a tough old bird. I gladly relate to that.”

Jenny Willis-Davis: An advocate for young athletes' health

Jenny Willis-Davis was working in downtown Houston last October when her husband contacted her.

Jenny Willis-Davis

“He got a phone call from school. They told him, ‘You need to come get your son immediately or we’re calling the ambulance,’” she said.

Not something that any parents want to hear about their 13-year-old.

“My husband was coming from Channelview, and I’m driving from downtown feeling like it’s taking forever to get there,” Jenny said.

Jalen had been sitting in class at Highlands Junior School when he realized that his heart was beating out of his chest.

“Being teenage boys, he and his friends started laughing,” Jenny said.

The teacher sent Jalen to the office, where his heart rate was clocked at an alarming 241 beats per minute.

“After we got there, we rushed him to the emergency center,” Jenny said. “They hooked him up, ran all the tests, and the EKG came back showing he had Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome.”

WPW is a condition in which there is an extra electrical pathway between the heart's upper and lower chambers. As long as the heart is pumping and it bypasses that pathway, you’re fine. But if it hits that circuit, it can lead to periods of rapid heart rate.

Their doctor presented the Davis family with several treatment options. Told that there was a 95 percent chance of fixing the problem with a catheter ablation procedure, “that was a no-brainer.”

However, Jalen was terrified.

An EKG showed that Jalen Davis had
Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome.

“He was like, ‘Why would you do this to me?’ At the time, he didn’t understand the seriousness of it,” Jenny said.

The six-hour procedure, performed two months later during the holiday break from school, was a success.

“The doctor finally came out and told us that Jalen definitely had Wolff-Parkinson-White, and he was able to fix it. We all started tearing up at the good news,” Jenny said.

“But then he said that Jalen was having way more activity than we probably realized. With a condition like his, and his activity level playing lots of sports, it put him in a high range for sudden death if we hadn't fixed things.”

After some initial caution, Jalen was back to playing basketball for Highlands Junior in two weeks. “And now as he’s running track, you’d never have known that he had a heart condition,” Jenny said.

Since the surgery, she has become something of an expert on Wolff-Parkinson-White. Through her research, she realized that there’s a huge lack of awareness about the health issue.

“What parents need to understand is that this can happen to your kid. Don’t be so blind. If your child is telling you his heart is racing, listen to him. And get it checked. If they find it, it can be fixed,” Jenny said.

Brothers Jace (left) and Jalen Davis

“Fortunately, it wasn’t a tragic ending for us. I don’t want it to be for anyone else, either.”

Jenny has shared her knowledge about WPW with family, friends and local coaches. She helped push for a school district-wide physical day in May with heart screenings for student-athletes in grades 7-12.

Taking such an active role where youth are concerned is nothing new for Jenny and her husband, Willis (yes, his first name is Willis and her maiden name is Willis). They have been heavily involved in local athletics since their two sons started playing T-ball at age 5.

Jalen, now 14, has followed in the footsteps of Jace, 15. They both play multiple sports, Jalen (5-foot-9 1/2, 138 pounds) at Highlands Junior and Jace (6-1, 238) at Goose Creek Memorial High School.

When the boys played baseball in the North Little League, you could often find Willis coaching and Jenny serving as team mom. Eventually, Jenny joined the league’s board.

Now she is president of Baytown Little League and Willis serves on that board. Opening day for the 2017 season is scheduled for March 25.

Jenny with her husband, Willis

“With the support of our board and the city, we’ve been able to make some positive changes,” said Jenny, mentioning aesthetic updates and safety enhancements at the three local ballparks.

All of this preparation has gone on while Jenny and Willis have followed their sons’ sports exploits.

But they are happy to keep busy — Jenny also is president of the Goose Creek Memorial football booster club — and to have their family health concerns behind them.

Prior to Jalen’s scare, Willis beat thyroid cancer and Jenny had knee surgery to repair an old sports injury.

“We definitely have battled these past few years,” Jenny said. “But I keep thinking there must be a better plan for us. After what we’ve been through, it’s obviously not our time yet.”

Derek Coy: Helping to improve the health of veterans

Sometimes, one incident can change your path in life.

For Derek Coy, it was the death of a close friend to gun violence in 2004.

“He was everybody's best friend. It was one of the hardest things I have been through, mostly because it was so unexpected,” said Derek, a 2003 graduate of Robert E. Lee High School in Baytown. “I never knew the details, other than reading it was a case of mistaken identity.”

Shaken by the shooting, Derek felt like running away.

“And the Marine Corps was happy to have me,” he said.

Less than a month after the funeral, Derek was being sworn in. Within a year, he was stationed in Iraq.

“It changed my life profoundly,” Derek said. “But through this terrible loss, my life gained meaning, purpose and direction.”

A third-generation Marine, following in his father’s footsteps, Derek rose to the rank of sergeant. He served a year-long deployment to Iraq’s Anbar Province and another aboard the U.S.S. Essex in a humanitarian and training capacity with countries across Southeast Asia.

Derek completed his service in 2008. But the experience proved hard to shake.

“Looking back on my time in Iraq, I feel very guilty knowing that I contributed to the devastation and destruction in that country over the past 14 years. It hasn't sat well with me,” he said.

“I thought my contribution to that war would have helped an oppressed people. But I think the country is in far worse shape than it was before we entered.”

Derek fought additional personal battles after his time in Iraq, mostly post-traumatic stress and depression.

He said that one of the hardest things, especially for veterans, is asking for help.

“It's stigmatized and viewed as being weak, which is incredibly wrong. It's shockingly normal. One in four Americans will experience some sort of mental illness, post-traumatic stress being one of them,” Derek said.

“Dealing with it is just a matter of whether you have a community around you with the proper resources. Thankfully, I had that when I needed it. It was up to me to reach out.”

Despite enjoying teaching and originally planning to pursue that as a career, Derek was introduced to the veteran nonprofit world through some volunteer work while attending graduate school at City College of New York. It opened his eyes to the unmet needs of returning veterans, and it sparked his desire to serve that community.

Derek is making a difference now as veterans’ health officer for the New York State Health Foundation.

“My role is pretty incredible. I get to invest in organizations that are dedicated to improving the health of veterans across New York,” he said. “I’m helping expand some of the services that were vital to my transition out of the service, so it is one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life.”

Derek finds time to volunteer with Puppies Behind Bars. The organization trains prison inmates to raise service dogs for wounded war veterans and explosive detection canines for law enforcement.

He also is a competitive runner, and participated in the United Airlines NYC Half-Marathon on March 19. The event benefited Tuesday's Children, formed in the aftermath of Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001, as a response and recovery organization that supports youth, families and communities impacted by terrorism and traumatic loss.

Derek was never a running enthusiast. But after his time in Iraq, it became a way for him to temporarily escape his problems related to PTSD and depression.

“Before long, I was running nearly 50 miles a week. I have since run four full marathons and quite a few smaller races,” said Derek, who raised more than $1,500 in finishing the NYC Half-Marathon in a little over two hours.

“I love to travel and explore new places, so running became a way for me to get acclimated to new environments. It really is the best way to get to know a new place, which is one of the ways I got adjusted to living in New York City.”

Giving back to Tuesday’s Children has not only allowed Derek to support the organization’s mission, “but also help in my healing process by continuing to serve others — something instilled in me as a young Marine.”

Amanda Vela: Striving to learn and grow with her children

Amanda and Andres Vela with their children.

It’s not always easy. But as the mom in a family of six, Amanda Vela tries her best to spread the love around.

“One of my biggest challenges is time,” she said. “With multiple children at different ages, it’s hard to find the time for one-on-one with each. It’s also difficult to do activities that everyone is interested in or that all can participate in.”

When Amanda was 23 years old, the story was a bit different. Besides her young son, Logan, the focus of her attention was a new baby facing an uphill battle.

Bethany was born full term. She weighed 10 pounds, 2 ounces, and was the largest baby in the neonatal intensive care unit.

“Doctors noticed right away that she did not have the ability to suck a bottle or swallow,” Amanda said. “Before we could take her home, she ended up having surgery for a feeding tube.”

Born with cerebral palsy, Bethany was given little hope of leading a normal life.

Based on what the doctors told her, Amanda believed her daughter “would most likely be a vegetable, for lack of a better word.”

Bethany was born with cerebral palsy.

To add to a young mom’s challenges, Amanda and Bethany’s father separated. Eventually, Amanda felt it necessary to legally end his relationship with Bethany.

“So here I was, 24 years old, with two kids under the age of 5, one with severe disabilities,” Amanda said.

Fortunately, when Bethany began receiving therapy services at 3 months old, she showed progress right away.

It was a long and slow process. But with the therapist’s guidance, follow through at home and Bethany’s determination, she eventually was able to eat enough food by mouth to have the feeding tube permanently removed. She was able to sit by herself by 3 years old.

“Once she started going to the clinic for therapy, she really started taking off,” Amanda said. “She learned basic sign language to communicate until her speed improved, and she learned to independently dress and groom herself.”

Bethany, now 14, has been released from therapy services for five years. And she continues to flourish.

Anything physically demanding causes Bethany to tire a lot faster than a typical child. She uses forearm crutches to assist in walking every day. She occasionally uses a wheelchair, mostly on vacations or trips to the zoo when lots of walking is required.

A teacher recommended placing Bethany in Special Olympics through the school district to help her get exercise, and also to meet new people and make friends.

“She loves it. She participates in bocce, baseball and bowling in the fall, as well as basketball, soccer and cycling in the spring,” Amanda said.

Bethany also competes in Unified Showmanship, where she shows a goat or lamb. In addition, she is in student council at school.

“Like many other special needs parents, I tended to overcompensate in the beginning. I just wasn’t sure how to navigate this unfamiliar path our lives had taken,” Amanda said.

“But as the years went by and I saw the interaction between Bethany and her siblings, I noticed that she just wanted to be treated the same as them. She sees herself as the same as them, and we do, too.”

Amanda and her daughter, Bethany.

Amanda and her husband of nine years, Andres, have two sons and two daughters: Andres (24), Logan (18), Bethany and Mia (4).

When they saw that Bethany was old enough and capable of completing chores, she started doing her fair share.

“All the expectations of the kids are the same, and she lives up to them every day,” Amanda said.

“She is smart, kind, funny and beautiful inside and out. I couldn’t be prouder to be her mother. I’m amazed by the things she accomplishes and the way she continually inspires everyone around her. She inspires me. She is my hero.”

Through the years, Amanda feels she has matured as a parent. Despite challenges along the way, she has embraced the experience.

“The best part of being a parent is learning and growing with your children, and watching their little personalities blossom. You get to share every accomplishment, every milestone, every bump along the way. You get to be a part of someone’s story from the very beginning. You get to see the very best parts of yourself in them,” Amanda said.

“For me, a high point of parenting is when I see the qualities of good character, compassion and acceptance come from my children’s actions. It makes me proud to know that some of what I’ve been trying to instill in them is sticking.”

John Elliott: Reasons for wife of 30 years to be proud

Occasionally, I ask for suggestions of people to interview for The Baytown Project. Ruth Elliott recently shared these words about her husband, John. Enjoy!

His name is John Elliott. He is currently teaching at Lee College. To some, that may not mean much. But to me, it is a testament to a man who when I first met him was silk-screening circuit boards for a living.

He was like no one I had ever met before. He was someone who drank way too much. He did way too many drugs. And he had an intelligent brain like nothing I had ever seen. When he spoke, I felt the need to carry around a dictionary to understand half of what he was saying. He is still like that at times.

John has turned his life completely around from the first time I met him. He has set so many goals for himself, and he has accomplished them with flying colors. Through the years of our marriage, he went from silk-screening, to being a local truck driver, log truck driver and long-haul trucker, and ending that career to become an owner-operator.

Ruth and John Elliott on their wedding day.

This career started about two months into our marriage. He came home one day and said he wanted to go to trucking school to get his license to drive trucks. I believe it is what saved him from the drugs, as he knew he could be drug tested at any given moment. And with the cost of his schooling, he would lose it all.

This part of our lives lasted about 14 years, until he decided he wanted to be able to spend more time with our sons. Instead of being gone for anywhere from one to three weeks at a time on the road, he decided to work for an old friend making chemicals for cleaning equipment in the industry field.

Again, he excelled at his choice of work by making it more than just mixing together chemicals. He started fabricating tools and equipment that made using the chemicals not only easier, but also safer for the companies and their employees to use in the different facilities.

During this period of his life, John met and became friends with a man who wanted to race at our local dirt track. So there he went, and he became the mechanic and fabricator for a race car for fun. He also decided he wanted to go to school for welding, as he felt his skill was lacking in this field. But he decided that if he was going to school, he might as well get a degree while he was at it.

For the next four years, John worked 40-60 hours a week mixing chemicals, doing sales and delivering products while still fabricating tools and such for his customers. He also spent weekends repairing whatever happened to the race car the weekend before, getting it ready for the next race.

To add on to everything, John carried a full semester of college classes while maintaining a 4.0 GPA. In his last year of school, Lee College offered him a night to teach welding. This happened after he earned his CWI (certified welding inspector) license and because of his 4.0.

Six or seven years later, John was teaching full time at Lee College. About two years ago, they asked him to help set up a weekend fast-track course for welding, CWI and a few other courses.

I cannot tell you everything that he has accomplished at Lee College, as he only gives me the highlights of his achievements. However, he will bring home an award and say, “Oh, yeah, they gave this to me today at such-and-such meeting.”

This wonderful man now goes to major learning conventions to represent Lee College and to learn any new teaching methods to bring back and share with his fellow instructors.

The couple renewed their vows after 25 years of marriage.

It was at one such convention where John met a group from Florida that made up the CWI testing. They invited him to join a small group of other CWI instructors to take some sample tests they had come up with. He had arrived home and flew out the next morning to spend the day there to take the test. When he came back that same night, he was so hyped about how different the new test was from what it had been.

He was due to renew his CWI license. All he needed to do was pay his fee to be good for another 10 years. Instead, he decided to take the new test himself so that he could have a guide to help his own students. This involved many nights of studying for him to pass. He set a goal to earn a score of 97 or better. In the end, he earned that 97.

Some of the proudest moments for me as John’s wife are when we are at a local store, and students come up and want to introduce him to their families. I think this speaks volumes about John as an instructor because these students want their families to meet a man who in some small way helped them to become better providers.

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to put in print a few of the reasons I have stayed married to this man for 30 years. And to remind myself of how very lucky I am to have someone like him in my life.

Sylvia Escontrias: Sold on being a successful businesswoman

Sylvia Escontrias caught the business bug as a teenager.

“I remember telling my parents when I was a sophomore in high school that I was going to get a job at the mall,” she said. “They laughed and told me not to let my grades drop. They probably thought I’d quit in two weeks, but I never did.”

An inner drive has helped Sylvia enjoy success in the business world.

From the days of selling furs at Palais Royal to Sylvia’s current rising status as an independent distributor for It Works! beauty and wellness products, drive and persistence have paid off.

Those attributes have helped her succeed professionally and survive personally.

With an eye toward opening her own boutique one day, a young Sylvia gained experience while working for a number of retail clothing outlets including Foley’s, Gap, Contempo Casuals, Paul Harris and County Seat.

She was promoted to acting district manager for County Seat, where she was a leader in training store managers and in loss prevention.

“I enjoyed it, but it was a lot of hard work and long hours,” Sylvia said. “When my daughter was about 4 1/2, I realized that I was missing way too many firsts. I needed to do something different, so I ended my retail career.”

Changing roles
She tried substitute teaching because of the flexible work schedule. But when Sylvia saw that it was becoming more of a full-time role, she switched direction again.

It began as temp work handling printing and collating duties at food distribution giant Sysco in Houston. In short order, Sylvia was hired full time and rose through the ranks into management. Her 15-year career with Sysco culminated as a supervisor in financial services over the claims department.

“About five years ago, I realized I was just tapped out on what I was doing. I was tapped out on hiring, tapped out on reviews, tapped out on raises,” Sylvia said. “I thought, I’ve made a lot of money for someone else. Now it’s time to really do something for myself.”

It wasn’t quite her dream of owning a brick-and-mortar boutique business, but Sylvia was excited to become an entrepreneur and join the growing world of direct sales.

First, she was a representative and distributor for Scentsy fragrance products. “I was buying the stuff anyway. I figured I might as well start selling it, too,” Sylvia said.

Three years ago she changed to It Works!, an up-and-coming business in the direct selling industry. It didn’t hurt that Sylvia was hooked on the all-natural, plant-based health and wellness products.

Sylvia hasn't let cancer stop her.

Cancer battle
About five months into the venture, however, her life was turned upside down. An annual mammogram led to a diagnosis of breast cancer.

“When the doctor told me, I was in denial. I did not want to believe it. I was frozen. I was numb,” Sylvia said. “It was hard to tell my family. I didn’t know what I was going to do.”

For about a month, Sylvia refused to schedule a follow-up appointment. But after lots of family support “and pressure,” she finally met with an oncologist and opted for a partial mastectomy.

“Unfortunately, they found a lot more once they got in there,” she said. “Then I went through the full gamut of chemotherapy and radiation. It was tough.”

Sylvia lost all of her hair, her eyebrows, her eyelashes. Considering her love for fashion, that hit her especially hard.

“I never thought that I would miss sitting there with my head in a shampoo bowl and having someone wash my hair,” she said. “You take those things for granted.”

Parental guidance
Throughout the cancer experience — Sylvia continues seeing her oncologist because “we know that something is still going on” — she has been buoyed by traits learned from watching her parents.

She credits her mom and dad, Mary and Manuel Escontrias, for a strong work ethic and inner drive that have benefited her in business and in life.

Manuel enjoyed a 38-year career as an engineer at Exxon Mobil. He also made a mark in the local community as a city councilman, Goose Creek CISD trustee and Lee College regent.

Mary, who worked in the banking industry, has battled diabetes for years. As she began losing her eyesight, she was forced to retire.

“She’s legally blind and she has to be in a wheelchair or a walker most of the time,” Sylvia said. “That’s been one of the hardest things for me because my mom is my best friend. But she’s still a fighter.”

Mary and Manuel Escontrias

Sylvia also followed her parents’ example by getting involved with community organizations. One such effort is Women Empowering Change, which focuses on personal development, business resources and networking for women.

Recently, Sylvia was named Business Professional of the Year by the Houston group.

Work-family balance
Being on her own schedule in direct sales has given Sylvia the flexibility to better deal with her health issues and to be there for her family, including her daughter, Ashly.

“This is really the new age thing, allowing parents to work and provide while staying home with their kids,” she said. “Some people who might not be able to be in the ‘regular’ workforce, like those with disabilities, also have the opportunity to create their own stream of income.”

On most days, you will find Sylvia connecting with people about her business on Facebook and Twitter. She is a big fan of Facebook Live, where she puts her outgoing personality to use.

“I believe that when you’re a small business entrepreneur, you have to connect. You have to collaborate. You have to be out there and network. To make it work, it’s really up to you,” Sylvia said.

“You can’t ever give up. It’s so easy to say, ‘Oh, well. I gave it a shot, but I couldn’t do anything with it.’ So many people do that. But nobody ever said it was going to be easy. Nothing truly worth achieving in life is.”