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

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
Note from Tim: Rollie was our Survivor Spotlight a year ago and someone that I have known since my high school days as the father of a fellow track and cross country runner at Sheboygan South High School. In the midst of my own cancer experience and during the time of my transplant I was blessed to share many hours with Rollie in a cancer support group that met at Bethany Reformed Church. Rollie was the senior member of the core group of four men that made up this group. I was the youngest. Irving VandeVrede and Don Fickett, who both recently left their earthly lives to live in their eternal home, were the other two. As it should be, I learned much from these incredible men and all of us learned much from Rollie!

Appreciating Life:

It’s been well under control all this time. I go in to see Dr. Bettag every month. My blood work has been normal. If someone didn’t know any better they wouldn’t even think I had cancer. The only complaints I’ve had have been with upper respiratory infections. Whether or not my immune system is being challenged I don’t know… but I do worry about it and I hope that Dr. Bettag can shed a little bit of light on that. I’m able to function all of the time… I just feel like you know what! Outside of that I am appreciating life as it comes and I am grateful for each day.

March 22nd – Rollie’s Cancer-versary:

It was the 22nd of March in 1996 that it was first detected. It had been there for some time before that which I was completely unaware of. I went in for a physical in the morning and that afternoon the nurse called and told me the doctor wanted to see both me and my wife Pat after office hours. The first thing I said to Pat was, “I have Leukemia!” She said, “Oh, don’t say that!” But I knew what blood work they did and I knew the only work that couldn’t have been completed earlier was the blood count, and he wouldn’t have called to see us if it was something minor. When I got into his office I asked him, “How high is my white count?”

By that time he had already made an appointment with Dr. Bettag and I saw him the next morning. I had gotten to know Dr. Roger Klettke through my work in the Clinic lab so I asked if he would look at the blood smear too. When I met with him he asked me if I wanted to look at it so I looked at it myself. “What do you think?” he asked. “Well,” I said, “if I was working in the lab I would say the guy has chronic leukemia.” He said, “I agree!”

I was on Interferon for one year, Hydrea for three years, and I’ve been on Gleevec now for about four years. And I hope I am here to set a record and prove the long-term effectiveness of Gleevec! I think I was probably one of the first in the area to be put on Gleevec.

One thing I do think about is that the Gleevec that I am on has never really been tested over a long period of time and we don’t know what the limitations of that medication are. So far I haven’t noticed any ill effects from it. My blood chemistry, liver and spleen are all fine and those would be the first to show any indication that things were going awry. So each month I come with a little trembling and trepidation wondering just what they’re going to find. But so far it has been good.

Getting Both Quality & Quantity of Life:

I was told that the typical history of the kind of leukemia I have usually allows for two to four years of survival. I’m a worrier anyway so when that four-year mark was approaching I really struggled. Dr. Bettag noticed it right away and assured me that it wasn’t strange to feel what I was feeling. Now I am almost eight years out! It doesn’t bother me anymore. I’ve lived a good life. I have a good family, friends, and people in the church who have been very supportive all this time. There are plenty of times now that I go all day and don’t even think of it. In April I will be 79 years old. What more can one expect of life?

And it’s not just that I am alive… I am leading a productive and useful life. If I would have had to stay on Interferon, I think it would have been a different story. I knew it was a risk when I switched to Hydrea but it was important for me to be comfortable and be able to do some of the things I wanted to do but couldn’t because of the side effects of the Interferon. But I didn’t know how well it would contain the cancer. But I had decided that quality of life was more valuable than quantity. And then, of course, Gleevec came along!

Remembering Others & Having Faith:

I’ve really had a couple of set backs with Irv and Don not making it. They were both very dear friends. And we all shared a lot together. Both Irv and Don had a tremendous faith and that has helped me. Don was so upbeat his last days right up until the end and his funeral service was something special. Don continues even in death to inspire and encourage me a whole lot.

I think the key to the whole thing is having faith and believing that God is watching over you. If He can count the hairs on your head and the feathers on a sparrow, well, we are more important than that!

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