By Bob Strohm
bstrohm@wbcowqel.com
With the Crawford County Relay for Life event inching closer, April’s team captain meeting was the perfect opportunity for some inspiration.
Three out of the four honorary survivors for the 2016 Crawford County Relay for Life attended the meeting Thursday night at Galion Community Hospital with Larry Zellner and Barb Fox speaking about their diagnosis of cancer and road to recovery.
Fox, diagnosed with uterine cancer in November of 2010, explained what she went through when she received the news that she was sick with cancer.
“I was in denial because I have M.S. (multiple sclerosis) as well. They were telling me cancer and I am sitting there going, ‘No I am in a relapse.’ So mine went really fast,” Fox said. “I was diagnosed, and had another biopsy to confirm it, and I was in surgery that afternoon. It was like surgery, then chemo, then radiation, and then cancer free for me.”
Fox explained that receiving the news that she was cancer free on Oct. 6, 2011 was the best news she had ever received.
Fox shared her feelings about being selected as an honorary survivor for the 2016 Crawford County Relay for Life.
“It is really special to me. It is amazing, you go through this, you survive it, and you stand up in front of everyone else, that maybe even going through it at the time and say, ‘Hey this is possible,’” Fox said.
Zellner was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2011, with his road to recovery taking five years to complete before he was given the news of being in remission.
“I’m in remission right now. I started with chemo in 2011 then went three years with a certain type of chemo, it’s called BCG. I didn’t feel that it was going away okay,” Zellner said. “So I wanted a second opinion and I got a second opinion, and I started regular chemo with a port, and I went through 12 treatments of that.”
Zellner explained that his road to recovery took longer because his cancer had spread.
“What really happened was my bladder cancer jumped over to my lymph nodes, and what started was I was going to have my bladder taken out, but I didn’t because the cancer had spread,” Zellner said. “So I started the chemo, made it through my treatments and it had disappeared from my lymph nodes and so I still have to go in for some checkups and CT Scans.”
Zellner spoke about what it means to be named one of the 2016 honorary survivors.
“It is a great honor really. We have been with Relay, this is our third year I think, and it is a great honor to be a cancer survivor,” Zellner said.
With the battle of their lives in front of them, Zellner and Fox both explained that they had a lot of great support behind them.
“I have wonderful friends and family and my mom went to every chemo with me. My friends were there for me. They all showed up after my surgery. Everyone within the community, and within the church. It really helps you get through something like that,” Fox said.
“Friends and family have been great. My sister took me to my treatments, because they are long days, six to seven-and-a-half-hour treatments, and then my wife would come pick me up in the evening. I had a lot of support from our family and our church. We had a lot of prayers and it has really been great,” Zellner added.
Mary Stuckart, who was the third honorary survivor in attendance, was diagnosed with renal cancer on Dec. 8, 2003 in which she needed multiple treatments to overcome.
“I had my right kidney removed, and had surgery again in March,” Stuckart said. “At first I didn’t respond to radiation or chemo, so I had to have the kidney removed. They had to use cryoablation. They took probes and went in and froze it causing the tumor to freeze, shrink and die.”
While the cancer cells were frozen to be kept in check, Stuckart still needs to go in for checkups.
“I just had my first check-up. The doctor said everything looked good,” Stuckart said. “I have to go back in six months for a CT scan, and then a CT scan each year.”
Stuckart explained that prior to diagnosis she had experienced no symptoms of being sick.
“I had no symptoms for kidney cancer. It was an incidental finding on the MRI,”
Stuckart reflected on how it feels to be named one of the honorary survivors for this year’s Relay for Life event.
“It is really nice, I’ve been working with relay ever since they started in Crawford County, and I didn’t have cancer until 2003 so I was working with relay before. It is a great organization for research and education,” Stuckart said.
During the meeting, the team captain gave updates on the various fundraising activities that they will be participating in leading up to the Relay event. After the various fundraisers were discussed, shout-outs were given to the Leading the Fight team for raising 78 percent of their goal in donations, while team Rebels for a Cause was celebrated for achieving 76 percent of their goal. Team AEP was given special commendation for being the newest team to sign up for the relay.
As the meeting wound down May’s challenges were given to the teams. Those challenges include having the most survivors registered by the May meeting, attending the May meeting and attending another team’s fundraiser.
The next meeting will take place at 6:30 p.m. on May 19 at the Eighteen-Oh-Three Taproom. Honorary survivors Mary Stuckart and Melanie Wheeler are expected to speak about their road to remission.