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

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
Note from Tim: As we begin our fifth year of this supportive newsletter I asked Audrey Swita, our first Survivor Spotlight in the very first issue of this newsletter, if she would be willing to be our “Survivor Spotlight Update!” I have a great deal of love, respect, and admiration for this lady and her husband Bob. Cancer has been a big part of their lives since Audrey’s diagnosis in 2000. But together, this amazing couple simply continues to do whatever needs doing!

I was diagnosed on October 2nd of 2000. I went through four rounds of chemo to shrink the tumor prior to surgery and then had a lumpectomy followed by radiation. I was on Taxotere for a while but I got really sick from that. We decided to do the stem cell transplant in April of 2001.

I was cancer-free for about a year and a half. In January of 2003 I found another lump and found out it had spread into the bones so and I’ve been on chemo ever since then.

I’ve been on more different treatments to mention along with radiation and Zometa for my bones. I’ll keep doing what I’m doing until it stops working. I don’t know what Dr. Matthews is going to do after that. Hopefully something new will come along. He did try to get me on a trial that has not yet been approved for breast cancer but the insurance company refused to pay for it. But I know he’s working on it.

When the cancer came back in 2003 I asked Dr. Matthews what I might be able to expect and he said he didn’t know. I might make it six months, a year, two years… he just didn’t know. And this month is two years! Right now I’m feeling well enough that I still think I’m going to be here for a while.

I really feel good about what we have done and I don’t think I would have done anything differently… and that is important to me. I try to keep current with cancer by reading the magazines that I get, and I may point a few things out to the doctors. But I have a lot of faith in the doctors and I’m confident that they know what they are doing.

I have met so many interesting people that I would not have met had I not had cancer. And everyone at TLC has meant so much to me. I look at all of these people as very positive things from cancer. I think we sometimes get into a rut as we get older. We don’t go out of our way to make new friends. But cancer has given me a chance to create many new friendships.

On the other hand, it has been very difficult for me to accept that I cannot do the things that I used to do and still would like to do. I can’t drive anymore because I get dizzy spells, my eyesight isn’t very good any more, and my reflexes have slowed. So I miss that independence and that gets frustrating. Now I have to rely on Bob and other people for that.

I sometimes feel guilty about that… but Bob has been so supportive! I want so badly for Bob to be able to have a life of his own and I know all that he is giving up for me! After 44 years of marriage, I guess I’m just one of the fortunate ones that has a husband to take such good care of me! And I have so many others, like my sister Eileen and so many other family and friends. I realize that not everyone else has so many supportive family and friends and I really appreciate that!

I’m really not scared of dying… after all, we’re all going to die sometime. My hope now is that I will still be around in May when our first granddaughter graduates. But I don’t worry if today is the day I’m going to die or if tomorrow is the day. When I go, I go… and there’s nothing I can do, beyond what I am already doing, that is going to change that. So I just don’t worry about it. I think I will know and feel when the end is near. And, if not, I have prepared things for my funeral. Some may think that’s morbid… but I don’t want to leave all of that for Bob and the kids to worry about. And I know what I want!

So I just take it one day at a time! I still make plans for things that I want to do… but I also realize that there is so much I cannot control. And every night when I go to bed I thank God for another day and pray for everyone else who is sick. I’ve still got a really good life!

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