News

Benefit to aid religious educator stricken with cancer

By Amanda Lauer
Compass Correspondent

KIMBERLY -- Sometimes, when a person devotes her life to serving others, it's hard to be the recipient of help. That is the case for Patt Birling, who has worked for the Green Bay Diocese in various capacities for years.

Birling, currently director of faith formation at Most Blessed Sacrament Parish in Oshkosh, was diagnosed with multifocal glioblastoma multiforme, a type of brain cancer, in April of 2006.

A charity benefit and spaghetti dinner will be held Nov. 3 at Holy Spirit Church in Kimberly. Debbie Peters of Combined Locks, who serves on the committee organizing the event, has known Birling for 15 years.

"I met (Patt) while she was the high school religious education coordinator at Holy Name Parish in Kimberly and I volunteered to be a catechist," said Peters. "I started teaching religion at Holy Name, and she and I became very good friends. Then, later on, she also encouraged me to start working for the diocese and also to enter the Commissioned Ministry Formation program. She had always been very active in that program."

Commissioned Ministry Formation is a nationally accredited program of the Green Bay Diocese which prepares lay people for parish ministry.

Birling, 59, whose father was an Appleton obstetrician and gynecologist, has always had a love for life, noted Peters.

"She is very well known for her annual Amelia Earhart birthday parties. She loves EAA (the Experimental Aviation Association). She loves aviation," continued Peters. "She has (also) been known to show up at meetings dressed in silly costumes. She's just always been full of life and finds a reason to celebrate just about anything. That's probably what I love about her the most. She definitely knows how to celebrate life."

Another way Birling and her husband, Dave, have celebrated life is through foster parenting. The couple has taken in more than 30 foster children while raising their own two children in Kimberly.

Jessica Potter was one of those foster children. She was with the family from infancy to age 6 and the Birlings consider her to be one of their own children. Potter and her husband, Chris, are expecting their first child in March, and that baby will be the sixth Birling grandchild.

"I learned all of my moral values from them at a young age," said Potter. "I call them Mom and Dad because they've always been there for me. They're the only people that really and truly cared for me and taught me to do great things. My mom is the greatest person ever."

Birling has been a good role model for all of her children, said son, Mike.

"If there ever was a role model for me, I always knew it was my mom. But it just keeps getting proven day in and day out by how strong she is," he said. "I've never seen somebody that's as strong as she is. No matter what happens to her on a daily basis, she's never concerned about herself."

Birling's daughter, Jody Ryan, agreed. "I am mostly amazed at how much physically everything is taking a toll on her, but she's more concerned with everybody else, that they're having a good day. She tries to stay on top of everything. As difficult as everything is, she's so much concerned about everybody else and how they're doing."

Despite some recent setbacks, Peters said that Birling continues to battle her cancer.

"They're still trying to treat it," she said. "(Patt) was originally diagnosed in Oshkosh with the medical team at Mercy Medical. But then she looked into treatment through Duke University in Raleigh, N.C. Her treatments are prescribed from the medical team at Duke University, but she receives those treatments at Mercy Medical."

While the prognosis is guarded, Peters said Birling's doctors have a positive outlook. "They told her that, if the treatment is effective, the sky's the limit. She can beat it. They certainly have not given up hope."

Mike Birling thinks his mother's strength comes from her family and her faith.

"You always hear about cancer in the news and how it affects different people, but when you're going through it as a family, the strength that you need to have and the strength you need to get from God, it's really allowed our family to try to get through this the best we can," he said.

Peters agrees. "What makes things so rare about (Patt) is that she still gets up every morning and thanks God that she's still there. I have never heard her once say 'Why me?' I know she's deeply saddened by all this and her anxiety level is high, which is normal. But her faith has always remained very strong."

Being able to continue to work has been a blessing to Patt and Dave, Peters added, because the health insurance, while limited, is the only coverage the couple has. Dave has not been employed since March of 2006, when the company he was working for left the area.

"He has been her primary caregiver ever since she's been diagnosed," Peters said. "She was experiencing seizures so she's unable to drive. She went through chemotherapy, she went through radiation, she had brain surgery. She goes down to Duke University every eight to ten weeks."

While the Birlings are thankful that a benefit is planned for them, Patt wasn't particularly receptive to the idea at first, her daughter said.

"She said, 'I don't want everyone to do that for me. They can help out other people, we're fine,'" Jody Ryan said. "But (her friends) kept insisting on it, because they wanted to help with all of their medical bills and everything. My brother and I told them, 'This is God's way of your friends helping you out the same way if it was someone else struggling with a disease, you and Dad would be right there doing what your friends are doing for you.'"

The money raised will be a blessing, added Ryan, but most important thing will be the support and fellowship of friends and family, whether or not her mother is physically able to attend the event.

"When I told them they were expecting over 500 people, she was shocked," said Ryan, who told her mother: "You've touched so many other people's lives."