Quackenbush family tested by vow — in sickness and in health

   When Art Quackenbush crashed to the Canton gym floor last November, his family, a community and a team of medical wizards helped to pick him up. Within days, his wife Cindy discovered she needed a similar medical miracle. Hands reached out again.

   Over the next seven months, Art and Cindy revisited lifelong lessons of love, commitment, loyalty, courage and friendship. They carry a debt of gratitude for their children, doctors, nurses and neighbors, not only because their lifestyle was preserved, but their lives were saved.

   The Quackenbush odyssey began two nights before Thanksgiving when Art, retired Canton athletic director and longtime Section X basketball referee, insisted on stopping to watch a girls basketball scrimmage. He wanted to check on the progress of some players he had mentored.

   When a referee was needed, he walked out to his car, retrieved a whistle and started working the game. He was backpedaling when he stumbled, lost this balance and fell backward, smashing his head on the floor and knocking out his front teeth. He was knocked unconscious.

   Cindy answered a call at home, urging her to hurry to the gym. This was nothing knew for this spouse of 49 years. In the last 20 years, she had shepherded him through pulmonary issues, lung tumors, heart attacks and 12 stents.

  Art, always the master of the one-liner, quipped: “I’m the pipeline to a cardiologist’s retirement.’’

  This instance was no joke. Cindy’s mind raced when she reached Art.

  “My friends told me that his head bounced off the floor. There was blood everywhere from a big cut on the back of his head, and he was unconscious for five minutes. But an EMT applied a procedure to his chest and woke him up.’’

   Art was stretchered to the local hospital, where it became apparent he suffered from a brain bleed. He needed more sophisticated care, but rain had grounded the helicopter and plane. So he was whisked away by ambulance to Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse.

  While he was being stabilized, Cindy felt poorly after two days and checked in with the emergency room. She was diagnosed with AML, acute myeloid leukemia, an aggressive cancer in which normal bone marrow is crowded out by leukemia cells. The result is that red blood cells, platelets and normal white blood cells diminish. If left undiagnosed, it can become fatal within weeks or months. Only one in three patients survives more than five years.

   That’s when their family took over. Their son Jay drove Cindy to Boston where their daughter Katie worked at Mass General Hospital. Cindy started a seven-week regimen of chemotherapy. There were stem cell transplants, immunology therapies and regular clinic visits.

  The Canton community responded. She received a quilt from her friends and dozens of cards. Art was transferred to an assisted living facility to begin his rehabilitation. While all this was swirling, their youngest daughter, Meggie, delivered a baby girl, Molly.

   Around Christmas time, Katie drove Art across town to visit Cindy. That was their Christmas gift – a reunion. They reveled in a relationship that started in 1974 when they met at an Ogdensburg watering hole, The Brewery.

  Cindy, a native of Natural Dam and graduate of Carthage High School, completed a tour of the Ogdensburg elementary schools in an era when administration moved teachers often. She retired in 2005.

  Art described himself as the “Marco Polo’’ of college students. After winning a Section IX basketball title at Warwick Valley in Orange County, he enrolled in Cortland, then Orange County CC, served a stint as a communications specialist in Vietnam, returned to the states for his degree at Brockport, and completed graduate work at Potsdam and St. Lawrence University. He took a full-time elementary position in Morristown in 1974, eventually becoming basketball coach and twice taking the Green Rockets, with the likes of Richie Marshall and Danny Spilman, to the regional finals.

    In 1986, Quackenbush moved to Canton as head of student affairs and athletic director, attending every event after school. It prompted the family move from Ogdensburg to Canton. He retired in 2007.

 Cindy has been in remission for more than 100 days and Art continues to regain strength and mobility. Their watershed moment occurred in late June when they returned to their Canton home for the first time in seven months.

  Cindy, doing all the driving, described the trip as a blessing.

  “It is surreal to be away from your home that long and never know if you are going to make it back home.’’

   “We were gone 7 months, and we didn’t know if we’d be allowed to go. We just wanted to get home for our son John Henry’s wedding. When I got to the Adirondack Mountains, I just teared up. I never thought I’d see them again. They were so beautiful to see.’’

  When they reached their own driveway, they learned how they had been embraced by their neighbors. The Metcalfs had taken care of Ginger, their Golden Retriever. Neighbors collected the mail and shipped the bills to Jay. The refrigerator was stocked with food. The lawn was mowed. The house had been cleaned. All winter, their driveway had been plowed. The transition to home was seamless.

  “I have to say this Canton is the best town you could live in,’’ Cindy said. “We’re just starting to see people. We can’t thank them enough.’’

  The highlight arrived two days later when John Henry said his vows with Lauren Horbert at the Whiteface Club & Resort just outside of Lake Placid. The daylong rain broke long enough to accommodate an outdoor wedding.

   “At the wedding, when we came into the reception and everybody you love is right in front of you,’’ Cindy said. “It was amazing.’’

  The wedding cemented a lesson in commitment and loyalty.

  “If it wasn’t for Cindy, I wouldn’t be here,’’ Art said. “Ever since I started with the heart things in 2003, it’s been 20 years of health challenges.

  Cindy said she cherishes a note her daughter Katie sent.

  “She wrote us a card of how we were an example of sticking with a marriage. The whole loyalty thing – sickness and in health.’’

  “Your family is No. 1 and your friends are No. 2. You really start to appreciate the people who love and take care of. I can’t say enough.’’

         Morristown native Jim Holleran is a retired teacher and sports editor from Rochester, and an active bed builder. Reach him at jimholleran29@gmail.com or view past columns under “Reflections of River Rat’’ at https://hollerangetsitwrite.com/blog/