By Scott Brinton
Together, the family winds through the quiet residential blocks around their central Merrick neighborhood. At times, they head north up Meadowbrook Road, all the way to Eisenhower Park on Hempstead Turnpike in East Meadow, before returning to their Bedford Avenue home. The Gruols figure the trek to Eisenhower is 10 miles round-trip, but most of their hikes are 3 to 5 miles long.
Bernadette, a student at Chatterton Elementary School and an avid basketball player, calls the family's outings "bicycle boot camp." Bernadette, 10, sees herself as a coach for her mom and dad, who are training for what many would consider the journey of a lifetime -- the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer in New York City.
Maria Gruol was stricken with breast cancer six years ago, at age 41. She has battled the disease ever since, enduring a mastectomy, numerous chemotherapy treatments, radiation therapy, a stem-cell transplant and this past year, radio-frequency ablation to burn out a cancerous tumor in her liver. After undergoing the stem-cell transplant, she remained in virtual isolation for a month in the hospital. She saw her children only once, briefly.
Since first being diagnosed in 1997, Gruol, now 47, has been cancer-free more than once, only to have the disease return, as it did in July. She's now undergoing weekly chemotherapy doses, fighting to survive.
Despite her constant fatigue and pain, Gruol has committed to taking part in the Avon walk, which is set for Sept. 20-21.
Paul Gruol, 53, who grew up in Merrick and graduated from Calhoun High School in 1969, will join his wife for the almost 40-mile, two-day trek, in which some 3,200 people are expected to take part. "It's going to be spectacular," Paul said.
The walk will get under way at the South Street Seaport, pass the hollowed-out site of the fallen World Trade Center, then head to the Bronx and Van Cortland Park. The couple will overnight at Randall's Island after completing 26.2 miles on day one. The next day, they'll walk 13 miles and return to the South Street Seaport.
Maria, a former Citibank operations manager, has participated in the Avon walk four times. Last year she was undergoing cancer treatments when she took part. She will do the same this year. She's also had to cope with torrential rains and near-freezing temperatures in Rockland County, where the walk was previously held in October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
Maria refuses to quit her fight against cancer. Her two children give her the strength to survive. "I can't stop," she says, sitting in the dining room of her comfortable home, with a red-and-white sign on the wall that reads, "A good mother makes a happy home."
"What choice do I have?" she says. "I'm not ready to give up. Physically, I don't feel like I'm ready to give up."
She is more fatigued than she was in 2002, however. Because she's more worn down, "This time, it was emotionally harder to get going" for the Avon walk, Maria says.
Some days she has had to miss "bicycle boot camp" because she's too tired. She fully plans, though, to be at the Avon walk, by her husband's side.
The Gruols are participating in the event because it serves as a fund-raiser for breast-cancer research and education. Over the past decade, the walk has raised more than $250 million. Last year the Gruols alone collected $11,000 in pledges. Thus far this year, they've raised $8,000. To take part, walkers must commit to raise at least $1,750 in pledge money.
The Gruols don't want any woman to experience the horrors of breast cancer. "I see what my wife goes through year after year. I'd love to see a cure in my lifetime," says Paul, 53, who is the manager of Modell's Sporting Goods in Lake Success, a board member at the Cur of Ars Church school and a member of the Bellmore-Merrick Community Wellness Council.
The Gruols are also taking part in the Avon walk to honor Maria's sister, Jody Alaimo, who died in 1990 of breast cancer, at age 42, after battling the disease for six years. She left three children, ages 20, 17 and 16, all of whom came to live with the Gruols in Merrick after their mother's death.
Thirteen years have passed since then, but Maria still feels the emotional scars of her sister's death. A large portrait of Jody is hung in the Gruols' living room, along with two framed, brilliantly colored photographs of wildlife, shot in Africa by Maria's oncologist. The Gruols purchased the photos at a hospital fund-raiser for cancer care.
Paul's brother, David, who is in cancer research at the Sidney Kimmel Center in San Diego, will also participate in this year's Avon walk, as will the Gruols' neighbors and long-time friends, Patty and Don Schuster.
The Gruols hide nothing about Maria's disease from their children, who fully understand that it can be fatal. Both Michelle, 13, a student at Merrick Avenue Middle School and a soccer enthusiast, and Bernadette burst with pride as they speak about their parents.
"Mom does this [the Avon walk] so she just doesn't have to see anyone go through what she did, and Dad does it for the same reason," Michelle says. "This way, they can raise money for research."
Bernadette chimes in, "I think it's nice for them to walk to raise money for people with breast cancer." She adds that, last year, she and her sister donated their savings of $120, which was intended as spending money for family vacations, to the Avon walk.
Maria continues to care for her children and tend to her home, despite her illness. She became a homemaker shortly before she was diagnosed with cancer. Since then, she's hardly slowed down in driving her daughters to and from sports practices and school functions.
"That's what keeps you going, Maria -- keeping up with them," Paul says with a laugh.
"Exactly," she replies, smiling.
Maria also says she has received enormous help since her diagnosis. "I have a lot of support," she says. "I have a large family and friends who just jump right in."
The Gruols say that, despite their hardship, they remain hopeful. Speaking of his wife, Paul says, "She is a role model, an inspiration and one of life's true heroes to her two daughters, her family, her friends and everyone she has touched. She has taught me to have the courage to stand up to adversity and never give up hope."
Maria says, "Keep a positive outlook -- that's all I try to do."
Speaking of the world-famous cyclist who beat cancer and then won the Tour de France five straight years, she says, "I want to be the Lance Armstrong of breast cancer."
How to help
Send donations to the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer to: Avon Foundation, P.O. Box 742509, Cincinnati, Ohio 45274-2509, or Maria and Paul Gruol, 166 Bedford Ave., Merrick, N.Y. 11566.
For more information or to register for the upcoming Avon Walk for Breast Cancer Sept. 20-21, log on to www.avonwalk.org, or call 1-877-Walk-Avon.
