Clarion 1979-02-23 Vol 54 No 15

              Paul Greely, encouraged by his wife Liz, tries to lead a normal
life despite his relapse in leukemia (photo courtesy of Methodist
Hospital).
on the inside...
retention rate, page 4
racquetball champ, page 5
Moods, page 6
Vol. 54 No. 15 Bethel College St. Paul, MN. _ Feb. ruary 23, 1979
ZEE
Greely living a day at a time
by Joy Nannette Banta
Most students anticipate a
struggle while in college but never
did Paul Greely anticipate a battle
for life when he first came to
Bethel. Four years ago doctors
discovered Paul had acute lym-phocytic
leukemia at age 20.
The history of Paul's battle
with leukemia is not unfamiliar to
many at Bethel. Paul underwent
extensive chemotherapy treatment
soon after diagnosis. He had age
on his side and went into remis-sion
only to find himself relapsed
and fighting again eight months
later.
During his hospitalization he
met and fell in love with his
primary nurse, Liz Stoner, who
stayed with him throughout the
coming ordeal.
Liz vividly remembers the time
and said, "I kept asking myself,
`what am I doing?' I am falling in
love with a man who is going to
die."
It was at this point that doctors
recommended a bone marrow
transplant—recently developed
procedure for curing leukemia.
Without it, doctors said, Paul's
chances for remission were close
to zero.
Since the procedure was so new,
Paul's chances were still low, but
without it there was no hope at all.
So Paul had the transplant at
the Fred Hutchinson Cancer
Research • Institute in Seattle,
Wash. He came close to death but
Someone had something in mind
for him.
The first 100 days after the
transplant were the most crucial.
Close to 60 percent of all patients
reject the donor's bone marrow
(in this case his father's) and die
during this period.
He didn't reject it and came
home three months after the
transplant. Doctors said that if the
disease did not recur within two
years a patient was usually cured
of leukemia. And it did not reap-pear
for many months.
Paul a• nd Liz were married
March 4, 1978. It was a very ex-citing
day—neither of them had
believed it possible for Paul to be
alive. Obviously, "God had his
hand in everything," they said.
It was only one month later that
their fragile world was shattered
when test reports showed that the
leukemia had returned.
Paul calls this "the lowest point
in this whole disease. If a patient
makes if for a year he is standing a
good chance of total cure. I was
really flying high and then all of a
sudden my feet were knocked out
from under me. It was a long fall
down," he said.
Nobody thought he'd make
it—including Liz. Being a nurse
she knew all too well that a relapse
after a transplant usually meant
death.
But they are still hanging on. It
has been eleven months since the
relapse and life goes on with Paul
in stable remission.
"Like I said, I don't believe
that God is through with me yet.
But if He is, I guess you could say
I believe in tomorrow no matter
what happens. I believe in tomor-row
whether or not I'm alive on
this earth or in heaven with the
Lord."
(Excerpt from a letter written by
Paul to classmates at Bethel while
in Seattle, Wash.)
Paul has what he calls "a really
neat job." He is the house orderly
at Methodist Hospital in St. Louis
Park. Having graduated from pre-med
studies at Bethel in 1977 (only
one year late), this is as close as he
can get to his chosen profession
without further studies.
"I do all sorts of jobs all over
the hospital from bed weights to
CPR (cardio-pulmonary resuscita-tion)
for heart attack victims. It's
a pretty diversified job," he said.
When asked if they think about
his disease all the time, Paul said,
"No, we don't. It's too depressing
and we don't want to get morbid.
We (Lii and I) have resolved the
problem—when the time comes,
then we will talk about it.
He added, "We look at life in a
very positive light. I mean, why
waste the good times? After all, I
know He has a reason for all of
this."
The two of them have adjusted
to their situation, well but admit
that they aren't always happy.
"I'm only human, I'm not always
excited to be alive. I hate to get
up in the morning sometimes
too," said Paul.
Paul sometimes faces the pro-blem
of whether he should be
idealistic or realistic.
"I could go on believing that
God's going to keep me alive, but
theoretically it just isn't
possible—I've got leukemia," he
said.
So they take one day at a time.
Liz put it this way, "There are
three ways for us to live. We can
run for our lives, get depressed, or
Plans to move into the newest
dorm on new campus are being
discussed between administrators
and Bodien residents.
Mack Nettleton, director of stu-dent
affairs, and Marilyn Starr,
director of housing, met with Bo-dien
residences last Tuesday, Feb.
13, to discuss a move in March.
Construction for the newest
dorm is still underway, with the
earliest possible date for a move
being March 10. Starr and Net-tledown,
however, are not op-timistic
about this date.
"It's hard to know the sense of
urgency the construction workers
feel," said Nettleton.
He said that he and Starr are in
an awkward position—trying to
give the students realistic dates,
yet at the same time never sure of
the accuracy of dates the contrac-tor
gives them.
"The architect's date is March
15," Starr said. "That's the
weekend of spring break." If the
live a normal life. We're trying to
live as normal a life as possible."
The two of them have been do-ing
a lot of outside speaking from
religious to medical to social
aspects.
When it comes to their friends
they say that the closest ones have
remained close but others have
moved away.
"It hurts some of them so bad
(to be around a dying friend) that
they just can't stay close," said
Liz. "But then again others are
just threatened by Paul's
disease," she said.
Liz and Paul both work at
Methodist Hospital. Liz works on
the oncology floor (cancer ward).
The hospital has been "really
great" and gives them both the
same work schedule, allowing
them the most possible time
together.
Paul has chemotherapy treat-ment
every four months for four
weeks'—those are his low periods.
As for right now, he feels good.
"I definitely realize I'm not and
probably never will be as strong as
I used to be," he said.
But they keep living. For their
first anniversary next month they
are going to San Francisco for a
week. "We're just going to have
fun," they said.
If the first year of marriage is
supposed to be rough, then this
couple has fulfilled all expecta-tions.
But Liz and Paul don't
believe it.
They only said, simply, "It's
been really beautiful."
March 10 date is not feasible, the
next possible date for a move
would be March 31.
Starr and Nettleton plan to take
a student survey before the move,
to find out how many students ac-tually
want to move."
"We're leaving it to the
democratic vote of the students,"
said Starr. "But I wouldn't blame
them if they didn't want to move
Nettleton also said a move after
March 10, would be a problem.
"We have to ask if it makes sense
to move with just seven weeks left
in the school year. If we can move
by March 10, I'll be all for it."
Opinions of Bodien women dif-fer
concerning the move. "I think
it would be fun to be the first ones
to live there," said Pam Freeman.
"If the dorms are ready, I'd
rather move than not."
Becky Dye said that living on
new campus would be much more
convenient. She noted, however,
that a move itself would incon-venience
some girls, no matter
when it would be.
Some girls, she said, have some
things packed and, since they are
unsure of the moving date, have
not unpacked them.
Others have felt frustrated
about changing dates and are not
satisfied with their future housing
arrangements. Shari Goddard will
be staying at old campus,
regardless of the decision to move.
"I didn't decide to stay at old
campus," Shari said. "My room-mate
and I put two choices on our
housing application, new campus
and Hagstrom as our second
choice." If a move occurs, she will
move to Hagstrom.
Some girls seemed to feel that
anyone who put Hagstrom down
as a second choice was
automatically "stuck" at old cam-pus.
Starr, however, denied this.
"All housing is done on a lot-tery
basis," she said. If someone
were to put new campus as first and
second choices on their applica-tions,
it would not insure her
placement there, she said.
Last fall, about 50 men and
women who requested . to live in
the new dorms did not receive
housing assignments. Most of the
50 were late applicants.
Keri Christensen, one of these
50, became concerned about her
future housing. She said that she
thought she might have to look
for her own housing.
But Starr said that every one of
those 50, who had • been on a
waiting list, now had housing. "If
there is anyone without housing,"
she said, "they should come see
me. I called everyone on the
waiting list."
Lack of communication be-tween
students and administra-tion,
such as with housing
cont. on page 7
Old Campus women's March 10 move unlikely