Tek Reginsky

Video Block

Double-click here to add a video by URL or embed code. Learn more

“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.

Gloria Olawsky

Video Block

Double-click here to add a video by URL or embed code. Learn more

“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.”

Duane Neugebauer

Video Block

Double-click here to add a video by URL or embed code. Learn more

“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.”

Kristen Edwards

Video Block

Double-click here to add a video by URL or embed code. Learn more

“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.

Roberta Olesen

Video Block

Double-click here to add a video by URL or embed code. Learn more

“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.