{"id":1552,"date":"2018-02-01T09:00:45","date_gmt":"2018-02-01T14:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/?p=1552"},"modified":"2018-02-13T14:42:16","modified_gmt":"2018-02-13T19:42:16","slug":"kristy-smorol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/?p=1552","title":{"rendered":"Kristy Smorol"},"content":{"rendered":"

Defining Inspiration\u00a0<\/em><\/h1>\n

By Lorna Oppedisano | Photography by Mary Grace Johnson<\/a>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

If you\u2019d have asked Kristy Smorol if she was inspirational when she was 8 or 9 years old, she\u2019d probably have told you she was just living her day-to-day life.<\/p>\n

Day-to-day life meant visits to doctors and hospitals, chunks of time out of school and rounds of chemo treatments for not one, but two, childhood cancers.<\/p>\n

Now, as communications director for the American Heart Association, she gets to work with survivors every day. Many of them are asked to be inspirational nominees for the AHA\u2019s annual Heart Walk. Sometimes, they say they\u2019re not inspirational. Maybe it sounds cheesy, Kristy said, but to hear what they\u2019ve been through and are going through is inspirational to her.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think inspiration\u2019s in the eye of the beholder,\u201d Kristy said. \u201cI might think my story is whatever, or they might think their story isn\u2019t that much, but their story might be what somebody needs to hear.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was due to her childhood battles with cancer that Kristy ended up working for a nonprofit. It was a \u201cwinding road,\u201d though, she said.<\/p>\n

When she was 8 years old, Kristy couldn’t breathe out of her nose. After a myriad of sinus medicines, specialists and diagnoses, it was decided that a polyp, or growth, was blocking her airways. During surgery to remove it, they realized it was actually a tumor, and couldn\u2019t be removed.<\/p>\n

She was diagnosed with b-cell non-Hodgkin\u2019s lymphoma and underwent seven weeks of chemo and half a year of maintenance.<\/p>\n

Then, the night before one of her appointments, Kristy slammed her foot on a linoleum tile, bruising a small bump that had already formed. At first, it was thought to simply be a plantar\u2019s wart, but after examination, it was found to be a rare type of cancer, called primitive neuroectodermal tumor, or PNET. While the disease is usually found in the brain or bones, Kristy\u2019s case, along with another patient\u2019s at the time, caused doctors to create another branch of classification, called peripheral neuroectodermal tumor, since it was in soft tissue.<\/p>\n

It was a lot for her mother, father and brother, Kristy said, but for her go-with-the-flow family, \u201cit kind of became normal life. It went on for so long, since it was two cancers,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was a long period of time of just, that was what we did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because of her experience with cancer, Kristy was selected to be the telethon spokesperson for the Children\u2019s Miracle Network, which included an interview, photo shoot and on-air time.<\/p>\n

Kristy was a natural. Reporters like Carrie Lazarus even joked with her, telling Kristy she\u2019d take their jobs one day.<\/p>\n

So, when it came time for college, S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, a top-rated journalism school in her hometown, was a perfect fit.<\/p>\n

When she got there, though, Kristy realized she wanted to take a slightly different direction of study. She loved being behind the camera even more than being in front of it, and opted to become a producer. She was hired at CNYCentral shortly before graduation, and spent seven years there as a newscast producer.<\/p>\n

Eventually, Kristy wanted to settle down in a job with more typical work hours. She was drawn to the nonprofit sector, and, with her background of health complications as a child, the job at AHA was a great fit.<\/p>\n

While it took her time to get used to the office atmosphere \u2014 \u201cI found that I couldn’t make phone calls in the quiet office,\u201d Kristy said with a laugh \u2014 the position as communications director gives her more time to spend with her husband and, as of last year, newborn son.<\/p>\n

In her last five and a half years with the AHA, one of her main takeaways is the truly huge impact of the heart.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour heart is connected to everything,\u201d she said, adding that even though she\u2019s been in remission for 24 years, she still had to see a cardiologist when she was pregnant with her son.<\/p>\n

As communications director, Kristy\u2019s been involved with a number of projects, including Tobacco 21, which you can read more about on page 18, legislation for mandatory hands-only CPR training into schools and legislation for mandatory screening of newborns to detect congenial heart defects.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been really great to be part of these sweeping changes and make a huge difference,\u201d she said. \u201cWe talk about the fact that you can educate someone, but you\u2019re only reaching that person. Whereas if you can do policy change or environment change, then you\u2019re really reaching hundreds or thousands of people. And you can really make a big difference that way.\u201d SWM <\/em><\/p>\n

For more information on the American Heart Association, visit heart.org<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Defining Inspiration\u00a0 By Lorna Oppedisano | Photography by Mary Grace Johnson\u00a0 If you\u2019d have asked Kristy Smorol if she was inspirational when she was 8 or 9 years old, she\u2019d probably have told you she was just living her day-to-day life. Day-to-day life meant visits to doctors and hospitals, chunks of time out of school…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1574,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[531,517,544,133,160,516],"class_list":["post-1552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-american-heart-association","tag-february-2018","tag-kristy-smorol","tag-lorna-oppedisano","tag-mary-grace-johnson","tag-the-go-red-edition"],"gutentor_comment":0,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/SWMFebKristy-3.jpg?fit=6016%2C4016&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1047,"url":"https:\/\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/?p=1047","url_meta":{"origin":1552,"position":0},"title":"Tammy Wilkinson","author":"Staff","date":"August 31, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Theater for the Senses By Lorna Oppedisano | Photography by Mary Grace Johnson Theatre Du Jour founder Tammy Wilkinson is changing the meaning of \u201ctheater.\u201d With her 3-year-old business, Tammy aims to facilitate as much interaction as possible amongst everyone involved, from theater-goers to performers. \u201cYou can see a show\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Featured"","block_context":{"text":"Featured","link":"https:\/\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/?cat=99"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/TammySep2017-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/TammySep2017-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/TammySep2017-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/TammySep2017-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/TammySep2017-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1909,"url":"https:\/\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/?p=1909","url_meta":{"origin":1552,"position":1},"title":"Renee Duffy","author":"Staff","date":"June 29, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Food for a Cause\u00a0 By Lorna Oppedisano | Photography by Mary Grace Johnson\u00a0 A little more than seven years ago, self-proclaimed foodies Renee and Tim Duffy were sitting with local chef Kevin Gentile, pitching him an idea that would eventually become Philanthropic Foodies, the annual event that\u2019s raised more than\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Featured"","block_context":{"text":"Featured","link":"https:\/\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/?cat=99"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/ReneeSWM-4.jpg?fit=1200%2C798&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/ReneeSWM-4.jpg?fit=1200%2C798&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/ReneeSWM-4.jpg?fit=1200%2C798&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/ReneeSWM-4.jpg?fit=1200%2C798&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/ReneeSWM-4.jpg?fit=1200%2C798&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1456,"url":"https:\/\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/?p=1456","url_meta":{"origin":1552,"position":2},"title":"Dr. Wendy Scinta","author":"Staff","date":"January 1, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"A Lifestyle of Health By Lorna Oppedisano | Photography by Mary Grace Johnson Weight loss can be an intimidating concept. 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