For terminal cancer patient, a selfless mission

She wants to do the best she can with what she’s got, which so far is about $600 and a few months.

“I have to raise money for cancer because it helps me fight my cancer,” says Pam Lamb, 46, sitting in the red room at Region 10’s Meadowcreek Center. “I want someone to find a cure so that other people don’t have to have what I have.”

What Pam Lamb has is a few months to live — doctors aren’t sure how long — and a terminal bout with liver cancer. The woman with an intellectual disability has a penchant for Wonka bars and a passion for stuffed bears. She was healthy for most of her life, until this summer when she turned the color of a Magic Marker highlighter.

“It was weird. When I looked into the mirror I said, ‘Whoa! Something’s going on here! This isn’t right! I’m turning yellow!’” she laughs. “Everyone was laughing because I was yellow.”

They laughed, but they were worried. They knew her new skin tone was a harbinger of something serious. A quick trip to the doctor and some gallbladder surgery led to the unhappy discovery.

A bad prognosis

“After my surgery, my doctor said ‘I have some bad news for you.’ He said ‘Pam, you have cancer.’ It really shocked me,” Ms. Lamb recalls. “I told my friends and they cried and hugged me. I told my family and they cried and hugged me.”

The prognosis wasn’t good. It still isn’t. Four months ago the doctors gave her six months to live, but she’s doing OK despite the pain that the disease inflicts. Still, the cancer is aggressive and beyond treatment and, with help from the Hospice of the Piedmont, the only medications Ms. Lamb takes are for pain.

“Some days are good. Some days are bad,” she says.

It was her diagnosis, prognosis and circumstance — and those bad days — that led to her fundraising effort.

“I don’t want my friends to have a cancer like mine,” she said. “I want to help others find a cure for it so no one has to have it, again.”

To that end, staff at the Meadowcreek Center tossed a little fundraising party complete with Ms. Lamb’s bears, dancing and goodies. Her friends, many of whom are also intellectually challenged, contributed their limited amounts of personal spending money to the cause. So did staff at the center.

The effort raised slightly more than $600, but Ms. Lamb is not disappointed. It’s $600 more than the cancer society had before, she notes, and another party is scheduled at her church, University Baptist Church.

“There’s going to be dancing and everyone will have fun,” she says.

While spending her last days helping others, Ms. Lamb is teaching lessons to those who work with her.

‘She’s quite a lady’

“She’s pretty amazing,” said Lisa Hearl, of Meadowcreek Center’s residential services. Ms. Hearl and the Region 10 staff have known Ms. Lamb for more than 20 years. “She wanted to do this for others and she’s got such a great attitude, even on bad days. A lot of people have told me that they can’t imagine having the same poise and grace that she has shown. She’s quite a lady.”

For Ms. Lamb, that’s just the way life is.

“I have a lot of friends and they care about me and I care about them,” she says. “I just want to help while I can.”