Gift from Villa Park dentist lets woman smile through cancer treatment

All that sadness, fear, worry and panic bubbling inside Noreen Thermos unexpectedly spilled out in a bucket of tears right there in the dentist chair. And she knows what caused it.

“It was the Holy Spirit,” insists Thermos, who was getting a tooth implant when she was moved to share her burden with Dr. Peter Noto, her dentist, who lives in Villa Park. “I'm just sitting there and _ boom! _ it came to me. I asked him, ‘Do you do any pro-bono work?' Then I broke down and told him the situation.”

Life has delivered a cruel twist for Thermos' younger sister, Nancy Placek, an energetic mother of two who already survived one brush with death. Placek, 56, had cancer a decade ago at the same time as her mom, and they both beat it.

“I had breast cancer and was clear for 10 years,” says Placek, who lives in Downers Grove. “And then all of a sudden it came back, and it had already spread to the liver and the bones.”

The devastating diagnosis of Stage 4 breast cancer forced Placek to begin her fight again, and from a much-worse starting point than last time. Her husband, Dave, 52, got laid off from his job in construction management and still hasn't found new work in this recession.

While she has fun running her business that sticks giant birth-announcement storks in the yards of people with newborns, Nancy Placek needs to make more money. So she works part time selling fashion jewelry at Nordstrom in Oak Brook. Through a state program, the Placeks have insurance that covers her chemotherapy and cancer treatment through the University of Chicago Hospitals.

But before the treatment could start, Nancy Placek had to get rid of an infection in her mouth. She hadn't been to a dentist in years, had no dental insurance and couldn't begin to pay for all the work she needed.

“There was so much work to be done, and I needed the work done before I could get treatment for my cancer,” Placek says.

When Thermos' story about her sister spilled out in the dentist chair, Dr. Noto of Westchester Dental Center soaked it all in. His father, Louis, died in March of pancreatic cancer at age 68, and he understands the helpless feeling cancer can foster.

“It's a way to help me since he couldn't help his father,” Nancy Placek figures.

“I'm a dentist. I couldn't cure her cancer,” says Noto. “But I felt that I could improve her overall well-being by eliminating her infection and elevating her confidence by also giving her a beautiful smile as she proceeds through the rigors of cancer treatment…It seemed like the right thing to do.”

Noto immediately scheduled an appointment in April with Placek.

“I just broke down and cried. I couldn't believe it,” a grateful Placek remembers. “I told him, ‘I've been praying for miracles and you're my first miracle.'”

Noto found a tooth near the front that was abscessed.

“Because of the urgency to start chemo, the best strategy was to take the tooth out to eliminate the infection,” Noto says.

Removing the tooth and infection readied Placek for chemo. But Noto wasn't done.

Placek, who wore braces as a kid and later as an adult, has a beautiful smile. But the new gap showed whenever she flashed that smile.

“I wanted her to be able to smile,” Noto says. He put in a more expensive, cosmetic ceramic bridge with a new tooth. To make that match with the rest of her mouth, Noto redid her old fillings in the more lifelike ceramic. The entire dental bill would have been $6,600, but Placek paid nothing.

“Just when you feel the world is going cold, an angel walks into your life. I just didn't know it would be a dentist,” laughs Placek, who shows off an even better smile now. “To me, Dr. Noto is an angel on Earth. I will always see him in that light.”

The nice smile even helps Placek in her job.

“I've got to look as good as I can for as long as I can,” Placek says, adding that her bosses and fellow workers at Nordstrom have been very understanding and helpful as she struggles with bone pain and fatigue.

“I have a lot of love in my life,” Placek says, writing out the words to make sure she thanks people in addition to her sister, dentist, employer and co-workers. “My husband is extremely loving and supportive. My parents are so caring and giving all the time, and my friends are the truest in the world. I have the most beautifully spirited children. They are my God-sent treasures, and I couldn't live without them.”

Brett Placek, 19, a sophomore at Northern Illinois University, says, “The No. 1 thing she has taught me is to be positive and enjoy the good things in life.”

“It's just how she's always been,” agrees 22-year-old Brittany Placek, a senior at DePaul University. “Following in her example, I don't want to focus on the cancer. That just gives the cancer energy. I've learned to focus on the love and strength our family has together because that's where the positive energy belongs the most.”

“After comforting them for so many years, now I'm getting the feedback,” Placek says.

Dave Placek has given himself an education in cancer, healthy foods and cures, just as he re-educated himself in energy management in the hope of finding a new job.

“It's a tough, tough time,” he says, adding that the entire family feeds off Nancy's energy and attitude. “If you could measure strength with a mental-ometer, I think she could beat anybody.”

The Placeks and Notos will spend Thanksgiving with their respective families, giving thanks.

Thermos says she wishes someone would read this story and offer Dave Placek a job before the bills force them to give up their house. She figures if the Holy Spirit can solve her sister's dental woes, the Holy Spirit can find her brother-in-law a job. Maybe even do something more.

“Who knows? Maybe in five years there will be a cure and the world will be happy,” Nancy Placek says. “But I know I have a ton of struggles in front of me.”

Help that has come her way feeds her faith, says Placek, who describes herself as “extremely spiritual.”

“I just feel so blessed,” she says, explaining how her illness has helped her realize that “everybody has some talent or some way they can help” other people.

Placek needs a few more miracles to beat this cancer. But she's grateful for the one she got from her new dentist.

“I will be forever grateful to this man for his extreme generosity and compassion,” Placek says of Noto. “I hope the rest of the world will see it in my smile.”