Profile in courage: artist, writer and breast cancer survivor

By Susan M. Wicker Guerrero

PITTSFIELD – Mary Ryer’s works of art, in oils and black and white pencil, hang from several walls in her home.

In addition, she is a writer and has had poems and articles published in more than 40 publications.

Mary Ryer is also a recent breast cancer survivor. Her art and writing helped her get through four sessions of intense chemotherapy and their devastating aftermath, as well as 33 radiation treatments after being diagnosed in January.

“I’m very lucky,” she said. “I wrote and drew all the way through.”

Born in Lenox, she befriended a boy, Richard “Rick” Ryer, who lived in the same apartment building there.

She moved to Pittsfield with her family when she was merely five years old and the boy and his family moved to another part of Lenox.

Reunited with childhood friend

Years later, after graduating from Pittsfield High School, she met Rick Ryer once again, while both attended Berkshire Community College (BCC). After college, they married and eventually had two children, a boy, Gregory, and a girl, Pamela.

These days, Greg Ryer lives in Pittsfield. He and his wife have two boys.

Greg’s married sister, Pamela Deveny, lives with her family, which includes two boys, in Townsend.

Mary Ryer was a stay-at-home mom for many years, while her children were growing. During that time, she always painted in one form or another. She has been painting since she was 16 years old, when she took a watercolor class at Berkshire Museum.

At first, she worked completely in oils. Then, in the 1980s, she changed to black and white pencils. One of her works of art with this medium shows two cats sitting near a window.

Switched to using colored pencils

Then, two years ago, she said she wanted a change and switched to colored pencils. They give a softer look to her landscapes, which Mrs. Ryer likes. One shows hundreds of multi-shaded green leaves on plants growing above a doorway.

She works from photographs as well as from pictures in books and magazines.

Every Tuesday from 9:30 a.m. to noon, she takes art lessons from Violet Wilcox, another talented Pittsfield artist.

When Mrs. Ryer’s children started high school, she took a job as a nanny with a family for 11 years. She also worked as an aide for both kindergarten and special education students in the Pittsfield Public School system for about five years.

When her husband retired in 2003 from Berkshire Gas Company, so did she.

Published in magazines

Mrs. Ryer’s articles and poems have been published primarily in children’s magazines such as Humpty Dumpty and Once Upon a Time. However, she’s also written for adults and had articles published in writing magazines.

She has a writing desk in a spare bedroom and writes on schedule just about every day. A sign on her desk reads, “Well-behaved women never make history.”

She’s an early riser, getting up between 4:30 and 5 a.m. After having her morning coffee, Mrs. Ryer then works on her writing for anywhere from 20 minutes to several hours.

She’s currently engaged in writing a book slated for children aged eight through 13 years old. It includes poems and unusual historical facts about America. Once it’s completed, she’ll start looking for a publisher, she said.

Never had a symptom

Last January, her annual mammography came back positive for cancer. An only child, both of Mrs. Ryer’s parents died from that disease. Her mother succumbed to bladder and lung cancer, and her father, who was a smoker, died from lung cancer.

“I never had a symptom,” she said.

There was no lump since the cancer was deep inside her body and the mammography detected it.  There were more tests administered and then a biopsy revealed cancer cells.

Mrs. Ryer said in her case, getting cancer may have been partially genetic. Unlike many women, she said the diagnosis failed to fill her with fear. Instead, she took the news in a matter-of-fact manner.

She went to an oncologist who talked her into receiving chemotherapy and radiation after she had a lumpectomy rather than complete mastectomy.

One positive thing about chemotherapy is one can predict the days when one feels ill. It’s usually a few days after a chemo treatment, she said.

While spared from suffering nausea, which many cancer patients who receive chemo have,  Mrs. Ryer said she experienced a deep, overwhelming tiredness and felt extremely bad. She would have no choice but to go and lay down, she said.

Competed 33 radiation sessions

After she completed the four chemo sessions, she began going five days a week for radiation.  She needed 33 sessions. Toward the end of them, she said, she was also nearly at the end of her rope but she persevered. She finally finished in mid-August.

She lost her hair completely but it’s growing back, little by little. She’s on medication for the next five years and doctors are monitoring her carefully. She has to go for check-ups every three months to an oncologist, a radiation specialist and her surgeon.

Get annual mammographies

Mrs. Ryer has a few words of advice to give to women.

“If you’re concerned about getting cancer, get the mammography,” she said.

It was because of early detection, doctors were able to remove her cancer. A quiet, gentle person, Mrs. Ryer said she never felt anger over getting cancer nor did being a victim ever cross her mind.

She had a strong support system, which helped her on her journey. Her husband, Rick, was by her side. Friends helped with meals, bought her gifts, flowers and even a teddy bear that read “Get Well.”

Her son, a nurse at BMC, helped with all the medical aspects of her disease, and her daughter would travel to Pittsfield to take her to appointments.

“The kids were very supportive,” she said.

Went through rough time

Still, there were days when she felt like giving up. She just didn’t think she could function. She would not feel like cooking and would ask her husband to go out and bring something home to eat.

“Then the next day I’d be fine,” she said.

These days, Mrs. Ryer is back at her writing desk in the mornings. She’s still working on her art with colored pencils.

She and her husband eat in a healthy manner and appear to be enjoying retirement.

Her cancer journey, however, is never completely out of her mind. She has a mammography scheduled for January.

“I’m a little nervous about it,” she said.

If cancer were ever detected, would she go through chemotherapy and radiation again?

Mrs. Ryer paused, thought about it, then said she would not like it, but she probably would do the treatments.

Would try to help others

She also said if someone she knows is diagnosed with breast cancer, she would help cook meals and take the person to doctors’ appointments.

“I would try to help others out,” she said.

Mrs. Ryer’s perseverance in overcoming breast cancer while remaining a kind and gentle person, with an artist’s and writer’s demeanor, is a shining example for everyone.

It’s also a testimony to the resilience of the human spirit.

Posted by Susan M. Wicker Guerrero on October 18, 2012. Filed under Arts and Entertainment,Community News,News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry