Fancy Hat Party raises money for MCV’s Hospitality House

“It’s not the events in your life that define your character,” figure skating champion Scott Hamilton told the audience. “It’s how you deal with them.”

Speaking Friday to about 555 people at the annual Richmond Hospital Hospitality House Fancy Hat Party, the Olympic gold medalist and two-time cancer survivor recalled how his optimism and faith in God helped him overcome testicular cancer and then a brain tumor.

Hamilton’s visit helped raise money for the Hospitality House, a nonprofit organization that provides affordable lodging and nonmedical services to families and patients from other areas in the state facing medical crises. MCV’s Hospital Auxiliary opened the house in 1984. It operates solely on donations and this year’s Fancy Hat Party raised more than $58,000.

Hamilton talked about his life-changing battle with the testicular cancer that doctors diagnosed in 1997. Twenty years earlier, his mother died of cancer. Although his doctors urged him to take the discovery seriously, Hamilton said he chose to approach cancer the same way his mother did – with humor, dignity and optimism.

But like many cancer patients, Hamilton said he had difficulty keeping an upbeat spirit, especially when he underwent 12 weeks of chemotherapy. He described losing his hair and becoming lethargic with a puffy face and less agile body

“I looked in the mirror and saw a different person,” he told the audience. “I hit the lowest low I’ve ever hit in my life.”

At that point, he said, he didn’t even care if the chemotherapy worked or not, and side effects led him to believe he was losing his fight against cancer. Still, his optimism prevailed.

“It was cancer that was losing,” he said, explaining that his symptoms were a sign of cancer fighting to stay in his body. “Chemotherapy is not easy. It is what you make it.”

In November 2004 Hamilton faced his second bout with cancer. Diagnosed with a brain tumor, he told the audience, the stakes were different because he had a new wife and a young son. Taking a photograph of his wife and son from his pocket, Hamilton, proudly held it up for the audience to see.

Showing his trademark optimism, Hamilton joked that when first discovered he had a brain tumor he thought: “At least it’s not something I use a lot.”

Since the discovery of his tumor, Hamilton has undergone treatment and remains hopeful.

“Things are looking good,” he said about results from his February checkup.

With the diagnosis of the brain tumor came the discovery of the role it played in Hamilton’s mysterious childhood illness. Standing 5’3″,” Hamilton told the audience that the tumor, typically diagnosed in children, had stunted his growth.

Before leaving the podium, Hamilton identified two types of people in the world: takers and givers.

“The takers eat better but the givers sleep better,” he said. “I hope you all sleep better.

Mae Shelton of White Stone in Lancaster County found Hamilton’s talk spiritually uplifting.

“I was so thrilled with his positive attitude and his faith. I am so thrilled people talk about their faith in public,” she said after Hamilton’s speech

So, from where does Hamilton draw his optimism? After his lecture, Hamilton said that he has overcome so much in his life that his upbeat attitude seems natural.

“I just don’t take it so seriously,” he said. “I know that everyday is beautiful if you make it that way.”

Not living life to the fullest ranks among the skater’s pet peeves.

“It frustrates me when I see people who look at their life as something to endure. Life is phenomenal.”

Glen Gornto, operations manager of the Hospitality House, said he has long been a Hamilton fan.

“Being a cancer survivor and sportsman, he’s been a positive spirit for the 25 years or so that I’ve been watching him,” he said.

Hamilton’s battle with cancer motivated him to become more active in cancer research and education programs such as the “Scott Hamilton CARES Initiative” and the “4th Angel Mentoring Program.”

“There are three angels in your life,” Hamilton told the crowd. ” Your oncologist, the oncologist’s nurse and your family.”

A fourth angel, he said, was missing when he underwent chemotherapy. That fourth angel to him represented a cancer survivor and confidant who could offer support and advice based on personal experiences.

The 4th Angel program he established matches cancer patients with survivors of the same diagnoses and provides peer counseling. Hamilton also founded Chemocare.com, a Web site that educates newly diagnosed patients about chemotherapy using easy-to-understand language.