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Rose Mary in the spring of 2010

Youngstown Vindicator

    LAKE MILTON, Ohio — Rose Mary Pagley Flanagan, surprised by a Stage 3 ovarian cancer diagnosis in 2008, is establishing an organization to help raise awareness and research funds for the disease.

  

     “I was surprised at the diagnosis. I said, ‘It can’t be me. I’m too healthy.’ I was having a wonderful retirement. They gave me five years to live.”

   

    Flanagan, 77, of Lake Milton and Tequesta, Fla., had been having stomach problems, one of the potential symptoms of ovarian cancer, but didn’t think much of it until she collapsed while playing tennis.

    She was taken to urgent care, had an MRI, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer March 3, 2008, and four days later underwent surgery to remove her ovary and the surrounding tissue into which the cancer had metastasized. She had a hysterectomy when she was younger that removed her uterus and one ovary.

    After the surgery in 2008, she had several rounds of chemotherapy.

    “I lost my hair and some weight and felt weak, but I was not nauseous. They have many good medications to control side effects now,” she said.

    “I have a wonderful support group. My children circled the wagons. My husband is very supportive ... It was a big life change for all of us,” she said.

    Flanagan was clear of cancer until it recurred in August 2011 and is now nearly through with new rounds of chemotherapy — after which “we’ll do an MRI and see where we go from there.”

    In the meantime, she is determined to get the Rose Mary Flanagan Ovarian Cancer Foundation off the ground.

    “All my life I’ve been one to suck it up and go on. I was the mother of six children, one of whom, Kevin, was severely mentally ill. I didn’t give up then and I’m not ready to give up now,” she said.

    Born in New Castle, Pa., Flanagan graduated from New Castle High School in 1952 and lived most of her adult life on Alameda Avenue in Youngstown. She received a bachelor of arts degree in sociology from Youngstown State University, where she worked many years in the student finance office before retiring.

    She and her husband, John P. III, a Korean War veteran who worked in the Engineering Department at East Ohio Gas Co., have six children: John (Jack) IV in Florida; Kevin of Lake Milton; Sheila McKinney of Canfield; Bridget Flanagan of Lake Milton; Christine Donaldson in Florida; and Erin Flanagan of Boardman. She has a brother, Paul Pagley, and sister Rachael Pagley, both of New Castle, and five grandchildren.

    Flanagan was heavily involved in mental-health organizations because of her son, Kevin.

    She is a founding member of Families in Touch which became the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill and served two terms on the Mahoning County Mental Health Board. She attends St. Patrick Church in Youngstown and is a long-time member of he Lake Milton Boat Club.

    Her goal is for her Ovarian Cancer Foundation to become part of the Ohio Ovarian Cancer Alliance, which is affiliated with the National Ovarian Cancer Alliance. With the help of Lark Dickstein-Rienharth, a member of the foundation board, the organization is applying for nonprofit status.

    “My children, my friends and myself are totally committed to getting out the information about the early signs of ovarian cancer and an accurate early detection test for ovarian cancer. Early detection is crucial to survival,” she said.

Rose Mary determined to get

foundation off the ground