Ceoria Coates, 89, has appeared in the television shows The Chicago Code and Sirens; she played the mother of Percy Julian in a PBS documentary about the famous Oak Park chemist; and she’s appeared in a number of ads and television commercials over her 30-year-plus acting career.
But her latest role — highlighting her battle with cancer — might be her most important. Had Coates chosen a different path, she would not have gotten the care she needed to overcome the disease so she could help spread the word through a new ad campaign by the American Cancer Society.
Coates, an Oak Park resident, was diagnosed with lung cancer in May 2013 but initially declined treatment.
She said witnessing the suffering of her late husband, who was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1997, made her want to give up for fear she would face a similar fate.
The cancer surgery left Coates’ husband with a large scar and nearly a decade of health problems related to the disease before his death in 2006.
“I had made up my mind that I’m not having that surgery; I’m saying to myself that I’m not going through all that,” she said. “I didn’t want my kids and my grandkids going through that.”
But it was her kids and her grandkids who helped change her mind about seeking treatment.
“My daughter-in-law said, ‘You don’t want your grandkids to see you wasting away,'” Coates recalled. “I got so sick of hearing every day that you shouldn’t keep putting that stuff off.”
Meanwhile, X-rays showed that Coates’ tumor in her lung was growing, but she could not get the mental image of the massive scar left on her husband that ran across half of his body where the cancer had been removed.
Coates was haunted by the memory of him undergoing weekly dialysis, his recurring bouts with pneumonia, and a number of other complications that sent him in and out of the hospital for almost 10 years after his cancer surgery.
Coates, who has continued to work into her 80s, socializes with friends, and plays in a local seniors bowling league, was not ready to give up life as she knew it.
Her family ultimately nagged her into going through with the surgery she so desperately needed. She soon realized that the removal of the tumor was far less invasive than her husband’s.
“I was only in the hospital for three days,” she said, noting that a week later she was participating in a local heart walk although, she admits, “I wasn’t going that fast.”
She said the thought of her granddaughter seeing her die in a hospital was one of the largest contributing factors to her decision to go through with the surgery.
“I was glad I listened to them,” she said. “I wasn’t stubborn. I didn’t push back.”
Her story was so compelling that her granddaughter was featured with her in the American Cancer Society’s Advantage Humans ad campaign, which features the stories of cancer survivors.
The ad campaign highlights the importance of the devotion of friends and family members of those with cancer. The message is that their support can mean the difference between life and death.
Daniela Campari, a senior vice president of integrated marketing for the American Cancer Society, said Advantage Humans is more than an ad campaign; it’s a relaunch of the organization’s identity.
She said so many forms of cancer can be prevented and “people are dying unnecessarily because of a lack of awareness.”
“We want everybody to start talking about cancer, and then we will beat it,” she said, noting that Advantage Humans, which features nine cancer survivors, is being run in various markets across the country. The ad that features Coates recently was displayed on the side of a 20- to 30-story building in Times Square in New York.
“This is about them, and their struggles deserve to be the size of buildings,” Campari said.
CONTACT: tim@oakpark.com