DATE: Thursday, August 28, 1997             TAG: 9708270170

SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN             PAGE: 03   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: THUMBS UP 

SOURCE: BY SHIRLEY BRINKLEY, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   77 lines

MARLENE CAPPS CANCER SURVIVOR, MEDICAL STUDENT, MOTHER

Life has taken Marlene Capps on several detours, but she is on the road to achieving a goal that seemed out of reach a few years ago.

Capps, 29, who has a high pass average at Eastern Virginia Medical School enters her second year of study this fall.

Tucked in with the books and papers will be some help with tuition. She is the recipient of a $1,000 Women's Forum Foundation Scholarship Award, which provides funds for older women who return to college; and scholarships from the Lincoln-Lane Foundation and the Norfolk Foundation.

Although she had planned to attend medical school at a younger age, the interruptions in her plans will make her a more empathetic, compassionate physician, Capps says

Capps graduated from Nansemond-Suffolk Academy in 1986 and earned a bachelor's degree in biology in only three years at Virginia Tech. In 1989, she married Mark Capps and earned a medical technology certificate at the University of Virginia. Her long-range plans were to attend medical school.

Capps had just received papers to apply to Eastern Virginia Medical School in 1990 when she was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease. The disease, which affects the lymph nodes, accounts for 3 percent of all malignancies in the United States. The survival rate, however, is only 54 percent.

``I threw the application papers in the trash,'' she said. ``People don't realize how fast your life can be turned upside down.''

While receiving radiation treatments over the next three months, Capps worked at the Transplant Immunology Department at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital.

``I could have radiation therapy and then go upstairs to work,'' she said.

During the six years that Capps worked at the hospital, she was awarded two employee merit awards, the Sentara Opportunity for Improvement Award, and the C.A.R.E. Award.

When Capps completed radiation treatments, she was told by her doctors that she would probably never have children. That was the day that having a family became Capps' first priority.

She and her husband, Mark, moved to a log house in the Chuckatuck area, and had three children, Meghan, 4; Brandon, 3; and Hannah, 1.

``Every now and then, Mark would mention medical school to me, but for a long time, I didn't know if I would live or not. It took five years for that `black cloud' to back off enough, but now I think it was a springboard for me. After five years, it is statistically improbable that the disease will come back, so we decided that I should go to medical school.''

Acceptance to EVMS involved passing an examination and more.

``They not only consider your grades, but life experiences,'' Capps said. ``I told them that I could offer more than books can teach you . . . something that only experience can teach you. I had been a patient with a serious condition.''

After her acceptance to EVMS, Capps had to develop a highly-organized schedule in order to find time for study, and her family.

The Capps' leave home at 6:30 a.m. daily to drive their pajama-clad children to her mother-in-law's home in Newport News. Once there, Marlene goes on to EVMS and Mark gets into another car for the two-hour drive to his job in the Research and Development Department at Philip Morris in Ashland.

Capps studies at schoolreserving time at home for preparing dinner, and spending time with the children.

Last year, her extra-curricular activities included organizing a Christmas party for homeless children at EVMS and participation in the Student American Medical Association.

``You have got to be good at time-management and have excellent support,'' Capps said.

Capps faces three more years of schooling and a residency before she can hang out her ``shingle.'' Although she hasn't made a definite decision, she is considering pediatrics.

``I know this is a selfish endeavor for me to put my family through, but I think this can be a positive thing,'' she said. ``With my perspective, I know the human element of medicine . . . I want to treat the whole person. I have the excitement and `heart' to make bad things easier for people. I have only love and respect for the doctors who made treatment so much easier for me.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by JOHN H. SHEALLY II

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu