A cancer burden made lighter by laughter

Penny Stapleton sat on the front row at Perry Arts Center Friday, January 24 without even as much as a clue that every musical interpretation, every comedic performance, and every theatrical word that was rendered from the stage in front of her, was all for her benefit. 

“I was just coming to see the show,” Stapleton said. “We were standing in the long, around-the-building line right along with everybody else. Tyler was walking around and making announcements to people, and when he got to me, he said, ‘You shouldn’t be standing out here in the cold.’ Then he grabbed me and took me inside and sat me on the front row with my best friend, Angie.”

The gentleman who pulled Staples from the line was Tyler Bryant, director of the day’s show titled, “The Laugh ‘Til It Hurts Improv & Music Show,” and although he’s managed performing arts programs in the past, this was the first improvisation challenge that he took on. It was also the first production that was set in place to benefit an individual person. “We [Murder With Friends Entertainment] have done programs in the past where the proceeds went to nonprofit organizations,” Bryant said. “We’ve raised funds for Perry Public Arts Commission, Perry Players Community Theatre, The Museum of Aviation Foundation, and Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame. But this was the first time we did something with the plan to give the funds to a specific person in the community.”

Bryant was pleased with the outcome. He feels that Stapleton is deserving of what was done and much more. “I’ve known Penny for ten years; we met in February 2010,” he recalled. “Hers was the first ribbon cutting that I ever attended at the Perry Chamber. I remember just knowing—when I met her—that something was special about her. If you’ve ever been around Penny, you see that she’s a mother to everyone, she’s a friend to everyone, she has a positive and upbeat energy about her, and she has a sense of humor. And none of that has changed despite a terrible disease attacking her body.”

The terrible disease of which Bryant spoke is known as invasive lobular carcinoma. Stapleton talked about the day that she realized that something was wrong. “First of all, I want everyone to know how important it is to do self-examinations, because I’m the one who found it. I felt the lump in August, and I was diagnosed in September.” She went on to say, “I didn’t know that there was more than one kind of breast cancer, and the one that I have—even if I’d had one of those scanned exams [mammograms] two months earlier—it wouldn’t have shown up.”

As a small business entrepreneur, Stapleton is the owner of Daisy Patch Flowers in Perry. Her insurance doesn’t cover any of the medical attention that she needs for treatment. Even the outside assistance that she is eligible for, she said, requires deductibles because it’s the beginning of the year, and recent business at her store has been slow.

“People have been going around telling others that I’m closing because I have cancer, and I’m not. I’m certainly not,” Stapleton stressed. “I don’t have a husband, I don’t have a boyfriend; my parents have been gone since the 90s and I don’t have family support. It’s me and me alone.” The business, she said, is how she supports herself and pays all her bills.” Angie knew about my struggles,” Stapleton said, “and she worked with Tyler to make this whole surprise happen.”

Not only is Angie Cline the person who Stapleton calls her best friend; she’s also the owner of Central Computer Services in Perry and served as the producer of the improv and music show that was put on for Stapleton’s benefit. “I just knew we had to do something for Penny,” Cline said. “As a small community and being another woman who owns a business, I figured that we needed to do an event to raise funds and awareness so that people could kind of rally around her at this time when she needs somebody in her corner the most.”

Cline took on the challenge of securing the building and getting the donations coming in for Stapleton’s cause. She admitted that keeping the event a secret wasn’t easy. “Tyler and I had to move quickly because we were doing everything on short notice. Penny could just pop in at my store at anytime,” she said with a laugh. “I could be on the phone talking to [Tyler], and all of a sudden, I couldn’t say anything more because she’d be here.” Although she and Bryant are the two who are given the most credit for pulling everything together, Cline said it’s very important for the community to know how much they are appreciated for showing up in great numbers and being there for the event. “We couldn’t have done it without them,” she said.

Friday’s show was a success. Bryant said they were able to present Stapleton with over $6,000 in financial assistance. His favorite part of the evening, though, was near the closing when two of the performers sang, “If You Believe” from the movie, “The Prince of Egypt.” Bryant said, “During that time each of us walked up to Penny, gave her a hug and presented her with flowers that we’d actually purchased from her shop. That idea came about when we thought, who gives flowers to a florist? And then we decided that we would, so we did. You could see the tears just rolling down her face. It was a very emotional moment for everybody.”

Stapleton said that she was almost at a loss for words when she came to realize that the entire show had been presented in her honor. “Overwhelmed,” she said. “I was completely and utterly overwhelmed.”