CANCER SURVIVAL A REASON TO WALK.

Byline: Amy Raisin Staff Writer

CANYON COUNTRY - Marlene Calderone participated in the Revlon Run/Walk for Women cancer fund-raiser last year because it was a good cause. This year, she'll wear a ``survivor'' sign on her back.

Four months after last year's walk, the 62-year-old Canyon Country resident was diagnosed with cancer in both breasts. The chemotherapy that followed produced months of nausea, hair loss, chronic nosebleeds and stomach problems.

``I'm through with the chemotherapy, but the chemotherapy's not through with me,'' said Calderone. ``I have the fear of recurrence. I try to remain positive but, in the back of my mind, every ache I think, Is it back?''

Always a stickler for annual checkups, the Pennsylvania native and retired medical lab technician didn't think much of the pea-size lump found in her breast last September. However, not only was the tissue malignant, doctors found a different cancer in her other breast.

Before the bilateral lumpectomy, Calderone tried to calm herself - ``At least I'll still have my breasts.''

Then came news the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes.

Now, just a month free of the grueling chemo treatments, Calderone is preparing herself for a double mastectomy sometime this summer.

``I'm scared. How I'll feel psychologically without breasts, I don't know yet,'' she said. ``If I were younger, it would probably - it's hard now, but it would be even harder.''

Although Calderone has siblings in Southern California, it is her close circle of friends that has seen her through the fight for her life, she said.

Dale Cantrell, who had asked Calderone to be her daughter's godmother 28 years ago, accompanied her sick friend to every chemotherapy treatment and cared for her at her Van Nuys home after the biopsy.

``What a horrendous thing to have to go through by yourself,'' Cantrell said. ``Like anyone else, if you don't have family, hopefully you have a couple of good friends in this lifetime. I could never not be there for her.''

Cantrell always knew her support was appreciated, but she says she will never forget the moment her reserved, intelligent friend let her know just how much.

``We took her out for a birthday brunch last month,'' Cantrell said. ``She's kind of quiet usually; she doesn't always express her feelings a lot. But after we made a toast to Marlene she said she wanted to say something.

``She got emotional. She thanked me and said she couldn't have done it without me. I got so choked up.''

Calderone, who will walk with friends, already has her race number and survivor sign for the Revlon Run/Walk for Women on Saturday, May 11 at the Los Angeles Coliseum.

And instead of supporting someone else whose name is displayed in the blank space, this year it will read: Marlene Calderone, breast cancer survivor since September 2001.

For information about the Revlon event, log on to www.revlonrunwalk.com.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Cancer survivor Marlene Calderone of Canyon Country will walk in the Revlon Run/Walk for Women on Saturday, May 11.

(2) Marlene Calderone, 62, who completed a series of chemotherapy treatments, will participate in the Revlon Run/Walk as a breast-cancer survivor.

David R. Crane/Staff Photographer