South Jersey Inspiration: All About Mary

…From the pages of South Jersey Magazine…

Mary Cella has been fighting Ovarian Cancer for nearly five years. She wants you to know who she is and what she looks like. She is one of the faces of Ovarian Cancer and she wants everyone to know what she knows about this disease, which has been called ‘silent’ for too long.

Mary Cella is the 62-year-old mother of two grown daughters and grandmother of six, all of whom she absolutely adores. Cella is the type of person who lights up the room when she walks in. All of 5’2”—with face-framing blonde hair—she is impeccably dressed. Her makeup and nails are perfect. For such a tiny lady, she has a big voice. She exudes enthusiasm when she speaks. She has a presence and inner strength that have helped her weather many storms in her life.

Cella says she will never forget the day her daughters brought her a copy of South Jersey Magazine. It was February 2005. In it was a story about Dara Marcozzi, a pregnant, 31-year-old Haddonfield woman who learned she had ovarian cancer during her first prenatal ultrasound.

Cella had been fighting the disease for two years at that point and her heart raced as she read about Dara, her strength, and how she co-founded a local group of Ovarian Cancer survivors called “Teal Magnolias” with fellow survivor Maryellen “Mimi” Yurkow. The group’s purpose is to educate women of all ages about ovarian cancer and to raise money for research. Finally, the disease everyone called “The Silent Killer” was being talked about. She knew she wanted to be involved. The article mentioned an upcoming fashion show Teal Magnolias was running to raise money for the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition (NOCC). She called the number right away. Initially, she was told there were no tickets left. Then, when she mentioned that she had the disease, there was a brief moment of silence. The woman on the other end of the phone then said, “How many tickets do you need?”

Mary asked for 12 tickets and brought a group of family and friends with her to the event. She made sure she met everyone she could from Teal Magnolias, including Dara and Mimi, whose stories had inspired her to make that initial call. Since then, she’s been to every monthly meeting and has devoted herself to telling anyone who will listen about the symptoms of the disease and myths that surround it. “I’m so tired of hearing people call Ovarian Cancer the ‘silent killer,’” Mary asserts. “I’m afraid no one will listen. Ovarian cancer is sneaky, and it’s hard to detect. Women have to be vigilant if they have any suspicion that something is wrong.”

Cella had that suspicion herself in 2002, and was told by not one, but two doctors that she had nothing to worry about. But she knew they were wrong and kept asking questions. “I had always been relatively thin and found myself gaining weight. I was 57 at that point, so I wasn’t too worried, until I lost some weight and everything shrunk but my stomach. And there was a strange shape to it. It just didn’t feel right.”

During her annual gynecological exam, she discussed this with her doctor, and was given pills for diverticulitis. After a month, the problems persisted, so she saw her family doctor. He also told her she was perfectly healthy. “It was what I wanted to hear, but something didn’t feel right.” She insisted on having more tests run. The doctor agreed and scheduled her for and ultrasound and MRI.

The results were shocking. The doctor told her there was a “mass” in her abdomen, and that she would need to have a hysterectomy.

Her head was spinning. She had so many questions, but didn’t know where to go. “I thought, ‘Who is going to help me? How am I going to deal with this?’” She called her sister, Kathy DeLuca, a nurse, who told her what tests she would need. She called her brother in law, Robert DeLuca, an accountant who did a lot of work with the big hospitals in Philadelphia. Deluca put her in touch with Dr. Stephanie King—the “angel” Cella credits with saving her life.

Cella met with Dr. King, and she says she felt comfortable immediately. Dr. King listened to her symptoms and ran some further tests, confirming what Cella says she already knew. She had ovarian cancer. Worse yet, it had progressed to stage three. Through the terror and disbelief, Cella decided right away to face her cancer head on. With the help of Dr. King and her staff, including Jeannette Rodriguez, RN, a plan was devised to try to shrink the mass and remove it, then start a course of chemotherapy. From the outset, Cella insisted that her family not treat her any differently. She knew they were deeply worried about her, and she decided that putting on a brave face would be the best way to handle it. It was the way she always handled things. By the time she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, she had already been through one life changing tragedy.

In 1996, her beloved husband of 34 years, Edward “Eddie” Cella, died in a single-engine plane crash that also killed his brother, Raymond. Cella says she was so devastated, she couldn’t return to the home she and Eddie had built just a year before the accident. She lived with one of her daughters for a year, until she felt it was time to go back home. She and her sister-in-law, Karen, had also decided to continue running the business their husbands had worked so hard to build. Cella says running the West Berlin Bus Service, which transports special needs children to schools all over Camden County, was an important step in the healing process for both women.

Dealing with Eddie’s death taught her that she needed to face trouble head on, figure out what to do next, and move forward. Eddie would have wanted it that way, and she still had a family who needed her. That strength proved to be her biggest weapon in what had now become the fight of her life.

She met with her doctors and together they charted their course of action. She says she feels lucky to have such caring and positive doctors and nurses who have assured her at every step that medicine is advancing every day. They say there is always reason to keep hoping and keep raising awareness and money for research. She stresses that if you are fighting this disease or any other, and you don’t feel comfortable with what the doctor is telling you, “Walk out, and go find another doctor.”

“Dr. King would never lie to me,” says Cella, “but her positive attitude keeps me going. I know I’m sick, but somehow I leave her office feeling healthier than when I went in. I really believe that has helped me to keep a positive attitude myself, and to keep living my life to the fullest.”

For Cella, looking like herself has also been cathartic. “Even when I’m sick, I try to look my best. It helps me in some way,” she explains, adding that her blond hair is actually a wig that was made with her own hair by wigmaker Joe Minnitti in Cherry Hill.

“It’s so important for me to go on living my life. I have a positive attitude and I think that is what is keeping me going. I want every woman to know, no matter how old or young she is, that you have to be in charge of your own health. You have to ask questions. Your life depends on it. But I also want them to know that you can still live a wonderful life while you are fighting ovarian cancer.”

She knows. As this article is being written, Cella is headed to Atlantic City to see a concert with her daughter and son-in-law, and her boyfriend Carl Lackey. He’s been by her side for seven years, and has sat with her through surgeries and chemotherapy. But tonight, it’s all about the music