The NIC Sentinel

Issue date: 3/10/08 Section: Life

Beverly with her late husband, Larry Seaton.

It was Sept. 17, 2002, and Beverly Ingersoll, office manager at NIC's Riverbend Professional Technical Academy, was living her worst nightmare. Her husband and best friend of 35 years, Larry Seaton, had just been diagnosed with lung cancer that had already spread in a dangerous manner to his brain.

Ingersoll said she noticed something wasn't right months earlier in June of 2002 when Larry started forgetting things, such as driving directions and where he would put stuff.

"Never in my wildest dreams was I prepared for how horribly things were about to change in my life," Beverly Ingersoll wrote in her book "4 Months Of God's Mercy," which detailed her and Larry's last four months together.

Ingersoll became increasingly worried about her husband's health in Sept. 2002 when his memory loss became so great that he could not remember the address of the company he was supposed to be delivering to for his company. According to Ingersoll, this was a major red flag because her husband was an expert at reading maps and finding addresses. She finally convinced him to see their doctor.

"I never told Larry what to do or demanded things from him, but I felt he desperately needed to see our doctor," Ingersoll wrote. When he again refused, I was near tears and said that I was extremely concerned and needed him to see the doctor for my own peace of mind."

She said Larry didn't react much when doctors told him he had three brain tumors as well as tumors in his lungs. His brain was so swollen that doctors told him if they didn't get the swelling down right away that he would die in the next 24 hours.

Ingersoll said she rushed Larry to the hospital where their children and families met them. Larry was admitted and started on medicine to reduce the swelling in his brain. While he was resting, Ingersoll had finally received a chance to comprehend how quickly her life had changed now that her husband was fighting for his life.

"My initial reaction, of course, was shock at the news as I knew something

was wrong. I just didn't have any idea it would be cancer since he was not in any pain and didn't act like he was sick," Ingersoll said. "After that had time to sink in, I totally relied on the Lord, since this was too big for me to handle or even comprehend the entire scope of what was happening."

Continued...

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