 
November of last year to February of this year marked the longest stint in four years that Michelle Luongo has not endured chemotherapy for cancer. She”™s back on chemo now. In 2005, she underwent seven surgeries.
“This is more than one short woman should have to bear,” said Luongo, 5”™3” in her stocking feet but possessing the fortitude of the truly great among us, those who damn the odds and Davidlike stand tall before Goliath.
“People say to me, ”˜I don”™t know anybody as strong as you,”™” Luongo said. “That”™s my only choice.”
Even a hero like Luongo, with finding a cure for cancer on her to-do list, has a hero of her own.
For Luongo, who battled breast cancer 20 years ago and who now battles ovarian cancer from the catbird seat as an event volunteer and member of the board of advisers of the American Cancer Society of Westchester, that hero is her 9-year-old son Mark.
“He”™s smart in a way that surprises adults,” Luongo said. “He”™s sensitive, intuitive and he has a sense of humor. He”™s the only 9-year-old I know who holds his own in conversations with oncologists. He”™s extraordinary in his comprehension of my illness and when I need comfort.”
Whatever in the world the typical 9-year-old does with his day ”“ playdates featuring the Tranformers come to mind ”“ Mark signs on to accompany mom for her blood work.
Diagnosed with ADHD, Mark recently addressed Dr. Carol Aghajanian, chief of gynecological oncology and also his mother”™s oncologist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, with the line, “I understand you”™re the chief? Is that like the queen?” With the pecking order established, Mark laid out the course of treatment as he envisioned it: “The medicine goes through the port, finds the cancer and ”¦ KABOOM!”
Mark also has advice for other youths with a cancer-stricken parent. Quoting her son, Luongo said, “”˜You gotta help your mother when she”™s tired. Don”™t be afraid.”™ A lot of adults could take lessons from my son. He has an enormous capacity to comfort me and others. He”™s the reason I get in that damn chair. I have to support a child. I”™m not ready to go.”
Luongo is vice president for IT at the Purchase headquarters of Iowa-based Diversified Investment Advisors, a full-service provider of retirement plans. Luongo rides herd on company documents, overseeing the preparation of 5 million client statements and quarterly reports annually. She is also responsible for business continuity, the branch of planning that thinks the unthinkable, such as how to prepare for fires and floods and that kicked into overdrive post-9/11.
Luongo has been with Diversified 23 years and in that time has drafted her company into the fight against cancer. She estimates Diversified has pumped $40,000 into cancer research, advocacy and patient services. And on a personal level: “They”™ve accommodated me in such a way as to add value to the company. I can still impact the bottom line and I can still work hard and feel good about my job and my contribution to the company.” She gives credit to coworkers who help her “without an agenda ”“ just to help me” and who also, 100-strong, volunteer through the American Cancer Society.
When she spoke recently, Luongo was preparing to be honored May 29 by the American Cancer Society at the Ritz-Carlton in White Plains and next month will take a survivor victory lap at the Yorktown Relay for Life June 12, one of a series of such American Cancer Society all-day events throughout the county (www.cancer.org offers a clearinghouse of event and volunteer information). She also was preparing for another round of chemo, part of a series of three-day treatments that will end in August.
As for classifying herself a cancer survivor in the face of her ovarian cancer, Luongo quotes her oncologist who said, “You look alive to me.” But, Luongo clarifies, she is “a different kind of survivor ”“ one who manages the disease. I live with it and I manage it. I clearly would have been dead a long time ago without these treatments.
“My goal is to be the longest survivor of ovarian cancer. Some have made it 20 years. I intend to outpace that. My son is only 9 years old.”
