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Ardolino's Angels
by Kim Craig

Cancer has to be by far one of the most dreaded and feared diseases facing us today. And unless you have a family member or know someone coping with the disease, it's easy to disregard the possibility the disease might afflict us someday. This article is intended to share the upbeat spirit, attitude and persistence of one woman's struggle with cancer and is also about a small group of "angels" who have organized to support a friend who has touched many of their lives.

Perhaps you know the Ardolino family as active parishoners from the Catholic Church community of St. Francis of Assisi in Raleigh, North Carolina. Both Sharon and Steve, an employee of IBM, have been Eucharistic ministers at the church for number of years. Sharon taught Faith Formation, helped start the church preschool program, taught Creative Movement in the preschool, served on the Women’s Network committee and helped out with various other ministries. Son Brian, 23, and daughter Danielle, 19, attended the Magellan School and Sanderson High School. Both children are now out living on their own.

Sharon Ardolino, wife, mother, and Cancer patient

Sharon Ardolino is 51 years young and has been teaching dance to children most of her adult life. She has also taught adult dance fitness classes. Sharon, an avid dancer and lover of the art of dance taught at DanceFit, NC Dance, Trinity Dance Arts Studio and at North Raleigh Creative Arts.

In September of 2002, both Sharon and husband Steve were diagnosed with cancer within two weeks of each other. Sharon was diagnosed with ductal breast cancer, stage 3. It was not an estrogen positive cancer. There was a large tumor in her left breast; she had it surgically removed in a modified radical mastectomy. They also removed 18 lymph nodes, but found cancerous cells in only one. At the time the cancer had not gone into the chest muscle wall and was pretty much contained. No chemotherapy or radiation was done afterward. Although Steve is currently in remission, Sharon is now facing a re-occurrence of her breast cancer, which has also metastasized to her brain.

These tumors are in non-critical areas of the brain. Her oncologist referred her to a radiologist because she said the chemotherapy drugs did not penetrate the blood/brain barrier. The radiologist's solution was whole head radiation. With no real guarantee of getting rid of the brain tumors, he mentioned that Sharon could be looking at some serious brain side effects in a couple of years (cognitive problems, memory loss, loss of motor function, etc). This caused Sharon to rethink her treatment decisions, and she began to research other options. Currently, she is also pursuing a macrobiotic diet to help with healing.

With staggering bills mounting, both Sharon's and Steve's collective illnesses have wiped out their savings and taken their home. Each day is a struggle just to remain afloat financially. Each day brings new physical, emotional and financial challenges for the Ardolino family, yet they have remained optimistic and upbeat in the face of their adversity.

Sharon finds great joy to share her passion for dance with others; when the cancer forced her to give up teaching dance classes this year, it was hard. She has always been active in her my children’s schools as well with field trips, fundraisers, classroom activities and PTA functions. When not dancing, she is gardening or hiking in the park. She especially loves to grow her own vegetables. She looks forward to traveling as she loves learning about new places and meeting new people.

Sharon is a very incredible person. In a recent visit with her she was excited, cheerful and talking about how she'd like to volunteer at the Duke Children's Hospital and also provide respite services for the parents... and about how she loves the kids and how they could relate to each other and their illnesses.

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