Now married, Marc and Debra support each other through life’s ups and downs. Their advice? Listen to your body, seek answers, and don’t face challenges alone.
Laurie Johnson was diagnosed with late-stage breast cancer in 2007 when she was around 40 years old. Laurie Johnson was diagnosed with breast cancer in her 40s. Despite the late-stage diagnosis, she had excellent medical care and a supportive family that helped her through treatment. L
Tim Sashko recounted his cancer journey, which began on November 17, 2020, when he experienced involuntary arm movements. Initially diagnosed with a hemorrhagic brain tumor, he underwent surgery on November 19, 2020, at Evanston Hospital.
Do those checkups, do those checkups. No excuses. Don't care what you got going on. Mark it on the calendar, make sure you get there. It's very important to do those wellness checks.
“When I first got the news it took the wind out of my sails but it makes you look inside and re-evaluate yourself and what you are looking to get out of life. They give me one year to live if I did nothing but I want more than one year. Now I’m looking at my life as a lifetime. I’m hoping to get another 20 at least.”
Jim: “I, like everyone, know friends and family, people that have been diagnosed. I felt I was particularly lucky because none of my family members had even been diagnosed, let alone had it, or died from it. I just felt like I can give back, pay it forward—and then whoops, it'll be me. I didn't realize it was going to be me who got diagnosed. Whether you guys personally have had cancer, we all need to help out the world. And this is one way to do it. I didn't choose to ride a million miles on my bike. But, I walk a bunch of laps and raise a bunch of money. “
Maria: “I was numb. I didn't even think about it that long when she told me about it, you know, and then I went through it right away because she said was very early, otherwise I would probably be worse if I didn't go through chemo. I'm cancer-free right now.”
Summary
“My first experience with cancer was with my grandfather. He was undiagnosed lung cancer that had metastasized to the brain and I got a phone call that he was going into emergency surgery craniotomy and this was in 1996. They opened him up realized the magnitude and how much the spread was closing back up and he never regained consciousness and I held his hand when he passed away and it was really incredibly moving to me that science couldn't find it. He was undiagnosed. He was a lifelong smoker and it was frustrating to me that nothing could be done.”
Bo Cooke's grandfather had undiagnosed lung cancer that spread to his brain and ultimately led to his death. Cooke, who was in high tech at the time, saw an ad for a job running a Gamma Knife Center in Spokane, Washington. The Gamma Knife is a non-invasive brain surgery center that uses gamma radiation to treat tumors in a single day. Cooke and his team have been able to successfully treat hundreds of patients with brain tumors with a tumor control rate of about 93%. Cooke has become an advocate for patients seeking this treatment, and he has successfully advocated for insurance companies to cover it. Cancer continues to touch Cooke's life on a regular basis, and he has seen an increase in the number of younger patients with metastatic disease. Spokane has become a hub for cancer care, with groundbreaking research and collaboration among medical professionals. Cooke's mother also had colon cancer and was successfully treated by a leading colorectal and oncological surgeon.
Philipsburg, MT
Ever since Diana’s older sister passed away from pancreatic cancer, she has been praying for people with cancer. She mentions one of her friends from the bridge club saying, “without us, she couldn’t be where she is”. She believes that having a community is an important part of battling cancer and that “People’s positive attitude means a difference”.
“I’m not an expert at the disease. I’m not an expert at the greater cancer of things, but I would say I’m an expert in me. I know, if I eat something, how I’m gonna react or what I do or how I feel, you know. You know you. And nobody can tell you how you know you better than yourself. So it’s almost a journey of self-exploration, understanding your own body, your limitations, your psychological state, and putting everything together to help you. So, you know, instead of having a coach all the time, you be the coach.”
Tek Reginsky’s cancer experience began in 2002 years ago when he was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. After going through chemotherapy he was in remission for 9 months before his cancer came back. Over the course of his battle against cancer, Tek joined a number of cancer support groups, sharing his story while listening to others. With his wife being his biggest support system and a daughter on the way, Tek was motivated to win his fight against cancer. He underwent a stem cell transplant and had his last treatment the same year of his diagnosis.
“If you don’t have a positive attitude about what’s going on in your life and keep going, it’s not going to get you anywhere. I could sit back – and even actually this last year I sat back - I thought “why is that getting filled up with fluid”. I was feeling sorry for myself, I was like “hm that’s really stupid.’ [laughs] So as old as I am, I’m going – so I just kept going, I kept making doctor appointments and all this good stuff. You have to have CT scans, you know what it is, having a history of cancer, my history stinks, so they do a lot of CT scans, whatever else happens. You keep fighting away and if it’s time for you to go, I guess it’s time for you to go, but I’m not quite ready yet.”
“I remember visiting a man who had come down with Parkinson's disease, and he had been diagnosed very shortly after he had retired. And he told me that he and his wife had saved all their life and then when they were gonna both retire they were gonna do things. And his advice, he says “don't wait till you retire to do things”. And I think that drove home the point after I got cancer I had said to me don't wait, it's time to enjoy life, do things. And I have been. But I think that just pushed it to the front burner. And so i started visiting places-- my wife and I went to Hawaii, cause that was one place I always wanted to go-- I have done a lot of international travel since that, but I think cause I enjoy traveling --and I always thought well I'll wait till I retire-- but I didn't. I started taking trips and started to do things on my bucket list that I probably would have pushed off if i didn't have cancer.”
“I don't think I coped particularly well. I think I internalized it. Far too much. And I have ever since, because I have little kids and you hate just let them see you like that. So I internalized it, I would recommend against that. There's a lot of great Facebook groups that I'm in, not for [cancer], but my daughter was born with cleft lip and cleft pallet and so I’m in a support group for that.”
Kristen Edwards is the daughter of a cancer patient that lost his battle during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. She spoke of the difficulties of dealing with cancer during the pandemic and other family challenges/difficulties that arose over time. Kristen was in the ICU with her sister, as her husband had suffered from a heart attack, when their father had informed them over phone that he had stomach cancer and that it had spread to his lymph nodes. He began treatment after being diagnosed in January and began treatment the following February. COVID unfortunately hit the country during March and made it essentially impossible to visit for quite a while.
“I have 4 beautiful grandbabies, and I want to be here for every single one of them, so that’s my goal. One is only going to be 1 in July, and so yeah, I got a lot of years yet. I have four beautiful reasons. I have a mother and I have a daughter, and I just feel like I have a bigger purpose than this. This is not the end of my calling. I have a bigger purpose.”
Roberta “Bobby” Olesen was diagnosed with metaplastic carcinoma in June 2020. It is a fast growing breast cancer that makes up less than 1% of all breast cancers. Bobby was quickly thrown into chemotherapy in July, and had surgery to remove the lump in December. However, there were still cancer cells in that lump so she is still finishing chemotherapy. Luckily, she has an amazing community of family and friends and a persisting positive attitude that has supported her throughout her cancer experience.
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