Survivor Spotlight: JOANNE D'ALTON : Breast Cancer Survivor
Summer, 2007

Survivor Spotlight: FRANK YINKO : Colon Cancer Survivor
April, 2007

Survivor Spotlight: NANCY LAARMAN : Ovarian Cancer Survivor
January, 2007

Survivor Spotlight on MIKE LEMAHIEU : Colon Cancer Survivor (with liver metastisis)
December, 2006

Survivor Spotlight on MARY LICHTERMAN : Breast Cancer Survivor
September, 2006

Survivor Spotlight: JIM HAMMERLING : Multiple Myeloma Survivor
July, 2006

Survivor Spotlight: LORI SCHULTZ : Breast Cancer Survivor
May, 2006

Survivor Spotlight Update: BOB SHAROT : Head & Neck Cancer Survivor
May, 2006
Note from Tim: Bob is the kind of guy that always has a smile on his face, a happy gleam in his eye, enthusiasm in his voice, and joy in his words. He doesn’t stop by my office and chat as much as he did when he was in treatment (good for him, not-so-good for me) so I especially appreciated the opportunity get an update on his life after cancer treatment.

March 8th was the two-year anniversary of the physical with Dr. Kerpe that started all of this! I went through chemo and radiation in the summer and fall of ’04 then had surgery at the end of ’04. It’s been a little over a year since we completed all of the treatments. I feel myself getting back to normal, although I’m not really sure what normal is! I guess just like the thousands of people that have gone through this, I don’t think I will ever reach a total comfort zone. Recurrence may always be somewhere in the back of our minds. I think that is a healthy thing because you have to really appreciate and respect all of the lessons and the experiences that something like this offers you. But life must go on! And the farther in time we get away from it the better I have started feeling mentally and physically.

In our first interview I compared cancer with a hurdle race and each hurdle was another process, like chemotherapy or radiation. Well, I guess now that particular race (cancer) is over and it’s like I am back in the phase of training. I am back to watching my diet, exercising, and doing the other important things that I was doing prior to the diagnosis of cancer. I hope I never have to run that particular hurdle race again but I’ll keep training. And Linda and I will keep doing the things we love to do… taking walks along the beach, going for bike rides, going for little weekend trips, relaxing, and just enjoying life.

The funny thing is as we were going through this we thought, “This isn’t so bad!” But now when we reflect on it all we realize what a difficult thing it was! But we are also able to reflect on the wonderful people we met along the way. The wonderful staff has become part of our family!

I wouldn’t say that I am glad that this happened to me. I think there are speed bumps we all go through in life; whether it be in a marriage, with your family, raising our children, or an illness. These are things that are going to happen. I don’t think you can ever really prepare yourself for them but when they occur you need to face that challenge! This was a challenge, a big challenge, that we had to accept and overcome while we continued to live our lives!

We’ve noticed one interesting thing over the past several months. When something like this happens some of your friends come to your rescue and are there for you, but not all of them. Some friends, who we thought we were pretty close to, sort of avoided us. They called maybe once or twice but never really tried to get together like we usually did. I think people are afraid of what they might see. “Is he going to be the same Bob that we used to know? Or will he be frail, skinny, and bald?” Or maybe this was a reminder that this could happen to anyone… even them. But now that we have started to recover and things are getting back to normal, they are starting to resurface again. But, on the other hand, there were those friends that were always around… to give us a moral boost or do whatever they could do to help.

I read the newsletter when it comes out and one common theme that pops up every time is that after cancer it seems everyone has to sit down and readjust their priorities! Spending time with family, taking time to smell the flowers, that’s what it’s all about! I think Vince Lombardi had it right when he said it should be the Lord first, than your family, and then the Green Bay Packers. But I’m not too sure if all of us really live that way.

Linda and I just take things a day at a time. We enjoy life a little more. We have moved things up… things that we always talked about doing have become things we are doing! This experience has just reminded us that life is precious and we just don’t know how long we will be around to enjoy it!

Survivor Spotlight on MATT RILEY : Medullablastoma Cancer Survivor
December, 2005

Survivor Spotlight on MARTY TEN PAS : Breast Cancer Survivor
September, 2005

Survivor Spotlight Update on RALPH LEMP : Prostate Cancer Survivor
September, 2005

Survivor Spotlight Update on SANDY AMWEG : Breast Cancer Survivor
June, 2005

Survivor Spotlight on STEVE PHILIPPS : Prostate Cancer Survivor
June, 2005

Survivor Spotlight on IONE HEINEN : Breast Cancer & Colo-Rectal Cancer Survivor
April, 2005

Survivor Spotlight Update: DON FICKETT : As Told By Caregiving Champion: LINDA FICKETT
March, 2005

Survivor Spotlight Update on AUDREY SWITA : Breast Cancer Survivor
January, 2005

Survivor Spotlight on BOB SHAROT : Head & Neck Cancer Survivor
January, 2005

Survivor Spotlights on DIANA BRAY & MARY SCHMEISER : Diana - Lung Cancer, Mary - Breast Cancer
October, 2004

Survivor Spotlight Update on GENE TE WINKLE : Melanoma Survivor
October, 2004

Survivor Spotlight Update on MARY ANN HAMMES : Breast Cancer Survivor
August, 2004

Survivor Spotlight on ART WESENER (Colon Cancer) : with Caregiving Champion JOANNE WESENER
August, 2004

Survivor Spotlight on JUDY FRIEDERICHS : Breast Cancer Survivor
June, 2004

Survivor Spotlight Update on PAT JENKINS : Breast Cancer & Hodgkin's Disease Survivor
June, 2004

Survivor Spotlight on: DR. PHIL WALKER : Prostate Cancer Survivor
March, 2004

Survivor Spotlight Update on: Rollie Huibregtse : Leukemia Survivor
March, 2004

Survivor Spotlight on: PEGGY KERR : Colon Cancer Survivor
January, 2004

Survivor Spotlight on EUGENE TEWINKLE : Melonoma Survivor
November, 2003

Survivor Spotlight Update on LINDA BURKART : Thymoma Cancer Survivor
November, 2003