by Ranya Eshera Staff Reporter ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ In July 2009, Kelly Schwab’s mother, Mrs. Donna Schwab, a biology teacher at Atholton High School, was diagnosed with breast cancer. Kelly Schwab was absolutely devastated; however, she remained composed as she developed a plan of action to fight for her mother and all women affected by breast cancer. Schwab joined forces with Debra Marciniak, a senior at Mount Hebron High, and Cara Koontz, a junior at Marriotts Ridge. Their original plan was to make a brochure or pamphlet educating people about cancer. However, after much discussion between the three friends, the plan then evolved into creating a support group, entitled “Teens Together.” “When my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer this past summer, I was inspired to create the group because I found out that there aren’t any resources for teens who have a family member that is diagnosed with cancer,” said Schwab. She admitted that discovering a loved one has cancer and then living with the knowledge is extremely difficult, so she created the group to support those teens. “The main point is to connect kids in similar situations, so that they’re all together; it’s like the unspoken understanding that they’re all going through the same thing,” said Schwab. “Someone is always there if you want to talk to them about what you’re going through, but if not, you still know that you’re around people who understand.” Starting early August of last year, Marciniak, Schwab, and Koontz began organizing the support group. Fortunately, they found two strong sponsers, the Claudia Mayer Cancer Resource Center (CMCRC) and the Ulman Fund for Young Adults. The kick-off event took place Saturday, April 18 at the Claudia Mayer Medical Center in an atrium space. “We planned ice breaker games, just to get people talking and to get to know each other. Our facilitator, Ms. Rogers, got up and said a few words about what the group is and ground rules for the group, nothing too serious,” explained Schwab. For this starting event, the three girls had a goal of ten to twenty teens, but this is just the beginning. “Hopefully, once things start rolling, near the end of the summer and beginning of next school year, we’ll have a network of about 50 kids,” said Schwab. Although this support group would be great as a nationwide organization, Schwab would like to keep it within Howard County. “When we first started out, we found that other counties have programs that help teens who have a family member with cancer, so we want to address the needs in Howard County,” said Schwab. Unlike many groups and organizations, Teens Together is not looking to raise any money. “We’ve been allowed to use the space at the CMCRC for free. People have just been offering their services to us because they’d like to help us out. Later, we might do some advocacy projects, for instance, donating our time to a certain organization,” explained Schwab. Over the summer, Teens Together will hold various activities for its members in order to strengthen the bonds between the members and to strengthen the organization as a whole. These three ladies would like to keep this group alive and strong, even after they graduate. “The hope is to pass it on to someone else; we want to create a group that is strong enough in the beginning and will withstand once we go to college. Hopefully the members of the group that are a bit younger than us will take a leadership role and will help carry it on,” Schwab explained. This group may serve as an essential part of the lives of teens who are going through difficult struggles. “When my mom was first diagnosed, my neighborhood was really great. People would bring dinners over all the time. My friends would also come over a lot, to distract me. My mom’s so strong with everything she’s going through. I was pretty good, but she’s extremely strong,” said Schwab. |