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

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
Note from Tim: Linda was diagnosed with Thymoma in January of 2002 and was our Survivor Spotlight in November of that same year. We spent some time together recently to get an update. Linda told me that she didn't think she was the best example because she still worries, she still thinks about cancer, and she has a tough time when tests and exams approach. Don't we all? What Linda does that I think makes her such a wonderful example is she hasn't let her cancer experience prevent her from enjoying the many things she enjoys doing. In fact, she will tell you that she enjoys much of her life more now than before cancer!

It's been about two years now since I was diagnosed. Just a couple of weeks ago I went to Indiana for my CT scans and check up. I have to say that it can be really tough the days before these tests and while I wait for the results. I get myself all upset and depressed and I prepare myself just in case the results aren't so good. I think I use that as a defense mechanism and it's a way of protecting myself so if I get some bad news it's not such a big blow. I've been told it gets easier, and maybe it has gotten a little easier, but it's going slow! I have to be very difficult to live with when I get closer and closer to those tests. But the results were very good!

I couldn't say for sure, but I probably think about cancer every day, but not in a bad way. It's not like I wake up every morning and think, "Oh my gosh, what if it comes back again." I think more about some of the experiences that I have had. If, for example, I find myself thinking about surgery or something that wasn't real pleasant and my mind starts down that road I just tell myself that there's really no purpose in that, so I just take my mind somewhere else. There's no reason to relive those things. And not all of the experiences of cancer have been bad, so I might start thinking about some of the good experiences. So it's not like thinking about cancer will put me in a bad mood or anything.

I'm not sure how other people deal with it... maybe they handle it better than I do. I still worry and I think I will always worry. But when I don't have any tests and I'm feeling okay I'm on this big "high." I enjoy life so much more and get more pleasure out of things. This is my favorite time of the year because I love being in the woods bow hunting. I've always enjoyed that but now it's that much better. Words just can't describe it.

I was in pretty good shape before I got sick. While I was in the hospital I had to miss some days of walking, but other than that I think I only missed one day of walking through chemo and that was as much because there was this big blizzard... and I didn't feel good. And I continue to walk. The fall after I was diagnosed I couldn't use a compound bow because of the surgery so I used a crossbow. But by the next year it wasn't a problem. I continue to work on my karate. Now, as a matter of fact, I'm working to be a black belt candidate. It's really getting tough! I've stayed very active and now I'd say that physically I am 100% of where I was before all of this.

Emotionally I think I might still have some work to do. For example, for a while I really focused on trying to do things that I enjoy doing. But, as we all know, there are things in life that we have to do whether we enjoy them or not. So I have to continue to work on that.

I am a Christian and I have faith and I know He's always there. But this is such a big thing it really takes your faith to the limits. If I wasn't a person of faith I really don't know how I would have gotten through this. In the end it has brought me closer to God and it has given me even more faith that there is a God. You just can't go through something like this and experience all the wonderful things along the way, things that I believe were miracles, without believing in God. Sure, I wish I wouldn't have had to go through this and I wish I didn't have to deal with the tests and the uncertainties for the rest of my life... but it's not as though I am mad at God. Selfishly, my faith in God means that if I'm in trouble I know He's right here with me and I don't need to find Him.