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Chris Stirewalt
Friday August 29, 2003; 10:00 AM
Daily Mail Staff
Tom Guetzloff can't cure his wife's ovarian cancer, and he can't take away the pain of her chemotherapy.
But he needed to do something to stay sane -- to feel less helpless. So Guetzloff, who had never been very fleet of foot, started running.
He told his wife, Chris, that since she had to stick with her treatments, he'd stick with his training.
"If my wife can go through the pain, then I can, too. I can turn it off anytime I want. I can just quit running. She can't." Guetzloff said. "When I get to the bottom of that big hill and want to just walk up, I think about that and my pain seems like no big deal.
"I feel selfish to even be thinking about it."
Five months and 40 pounds later, Guetzloff, a chemistry professor at West Virginia State College, is ready to lace up for the Charleston Distance Run. He isn't expecting to be the first across the line, but he does see running in Saturday's 15-mile race as a major victory.
The only thing that would make it sweeter is if his wife could be there to see his accomplishment.
She has been at Women and Children's Hospital for the past 11 days after the chemotherapy made her unable to eat or bear exposure to the sun. Chris Guetzloff has asked to be released Saturday, even if it's just long enough to watch her husband run by, but doctors haven't given her the green light so far.
The battle with the disease has been made all the more frustrating for the couple because they are both scientists. They met and married 12 years ago while attending South Dakota State University, and have both gone on into research and academia.
"It's ironic that Chris was doing cancer research herself when she was diagnosed. She was doing breast cancer research because that's what killed her mom," Guetzloff said. "She always thought breast cancer was what she had to worry about herself. She never even thought about ovarian cancer."
When Chris Guetzloff was diagnosed just over two years ago, the couple was stunned. It had been only seven months since her last visit to the gynecologist. By their estimation, it took only two months for the tumor to grow from something too small to detect into a lump the size of a fist.
"They call ovarian cancer the silent killer, and with good reason," Tom Guetzloff said. "Women have to get checked every six months. It's imperative, because early detection is really still the only hope."
That has been his wife's call to action since she was diagnosed. On a Web-based forum for friends and family, Chris Guetzloff asks for and sends prayers and support, but she also urges everyone to spread the word about early detection.
"She's been an inspiration to a lot of people," Tom Guetzloff said. "There she is so sick she can't eat, and she's worried about other people and their problems. It's just proof of her strength."
Tom Guetzloff didn't need any proof of that, though.
The couple's 6-year-old son, Jacob, was diagnosed as autistic when he was a toddler, and has provided plenty of tests for his parents' will since then. Each pursuing their own careers and raising a daughter who is now 8, the Guetzloffs decided they would do everything they could to help Jacob live a normal life.
Jacob started at Scott Teays Elementary this week, without a helper and in regular classes. His father said that the family struggled with the challenge, but came through even stronger.
"It hasn't always been easy, but I can't think of anything more rewarding," Tom Guetzloff said.
Chris Guetzloff's sister is coming into Charleston from Texas to run the race with her brother-in-law and provide moral support on the big hills. Several family members also will be on the course to cheer on Tom Guetzloff, who will be wearing No. 118.
Offers of financial support have been there all along, but the Guetzloffs always refused them, wanting to fight the battle on their own. But Tom Guetzloff says they might not be able to hold out much longer.
"We are doing the best we can, but sometimes you feel like you're wearing thin," he said. "But we're going to keep going. What else can we do?"
Anyone interested in offering words of support can reach Tom Guetzloff by e-mail at guetzloff@citynet.net.
Writer Chris Stirewalt can be reached at 348-4824.
Tom Guetzloff won’t be among the fastest at the Charleston Distance Run, but the former football player went from being able to run a quarter mile to a six-mile morning regimen since he started training the week before Easter.