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H E A R T SSaluting the fighters, survivors and

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DAILY JOURNALO C T O B E R 1 , 2 0 2 0

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Daily Journal, Johnson County, inD. 3thursDay, oCtober 1, 2020

H E A R T S

Two years later, Pearl Gregory can still visualize the unopened envelope resting on the table in her family room.

A day passed. Then two, and eventually seven before Gregory got around to opening the envelope, the contents of which could have prolonged or even saved the life of a woman who has called Greenwood home for more than half a century.

Gregory knew the letter was a reminder from Franciscan Health Indianap-olis to schedule her annual mammogram.

“I had been very faithful about having a mammo-gram every year,” said Gregory, 77. “Two years

ago, the hospital sends me a reminder, and I just laid it on the end table. I thought, ‘I’m 75 years old, and I still have to have a mammogram?’ I just thought it was time for me to pick up that reminder to go ahead and schedule my appointment.

“Sometimes things happen for a reason.”

A June 18 mammogram revealed Gregory had a mass in her right breast. After 20

radiation treatments, Gregory — who possesses the energy and positivity of a woman with more years ahead of her than behind — was given a clean bill of health.

Married for the first time midway through her freshman year at South-port High School, Gregory started getting yearly mammograms when she was in her 20s. She and her first husband, Keith Holt, had three children together; married four times in all, Gregory had her youngest child during her union with Everett Cundiff.

All told, she is now the proud matriarch of a family that includes three living children (daughter Lisa passed away 19 years ago of lung cancer at 38).Gregory is also a grandmother, great-grandmother or great-great-grandmother to a total of 24.

Family, as the saying goes, is everything. If that means babysitting one of her great- or great-great-grandchildren, running them to a doctor’s appointment or performing any number of helpful tasks, Gregory is more than happy to do it.

“I’m blessed with basically

Longtime Greenwood resident, cancer survivor all about family

StoRy by mIKE BEAS

PHoto by SCOTT ROBERSON

PEARL GREGoRy: BREAST CANCER

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H E A R T S


Many go through life without ever finding a true sense of purpose.

Cancer helped Kerry Skurka find hers.

A longtime cardiac nurse, Skurka was at the height of her professional career when she was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lym-phoma in May of 2008. Her own personal experi-ences as a cancer patient gave her a strong desire to help other ones, and now she does just that as a nurse navigator in the cardio-oncology program at Franciscan Health Indianapolis.

Skurka uses her experi-ence in both fields to help bridge the gap between the two specialties while moni-toring cancer patients for potential cardiac complica-tions during treatment.

“You know how you go through your life wondering what your purpose is?” Skurka said. “I just felt like, ‘Wow’ — all the hard-ships I’ve been through, all the things that brought me to this place, if I can help people so that we can change their outcomes and their treatments and where they stand when they get done with cancer, oh my gosh, it just brings me joy.”

The Brown County resident spent the last six months of 2008 undergoing various treatments, and she has been cancer-free since. Skurka decided then she “wanted to try to give back to oncology,” so she applied to work in the cancer center at Franciscan Health, a place she says she fell in love with while her late

husband, Paul, was under-going treatment for head and neck cancer in 2013.

After applying seven times, she was finally hired as an oncology nurse, but she kept feeling the tug of her roots. As she worked with cancer patients, her instincts constantly led her to point out signs of pos-sible heart issues.

“As I was learning to be a good on-cology nurse, what kept staring me in the face was cardiac,” Skurka said. “If I identify something, I can’t let it go.”

Fate came calling in the summer of 2016, when Franciscan established its cardio-oncology program and Skurka was asked to come aboard as a nurse navigator.

Her experience in both areas, as nurse and as a patient, have made her a valuable asset. Earlier this year, Skurka was honored for her efforts at the India-napolis Business Journal’s Health Care Hero Awards.

“They wanted a nurse navigator who had strad-dled both sides,” Skurka said. “Oncologists and cardiologists do not speak the same language. I was that bridge between the two of them.”

She is the glue that holds the program together, said Dr. Vijay Rao, Franciscan’s cardio-oncology head.

KERRy SKURKA: CANCER SUPPORT

StoRy by RyAN O’LEARy


A HElping

Nurse navigator leans on own cancer experience

(see hand PaGe 5)

In addition to her clinical background, Skurka also has firsthand knowledge of what it’s like to be the one under-going treatment, as well as how hard it is for the families of those being treated; she lost her husband to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2017.

She says that while cancer is hard, survivorship can be equally challenging.

“After cancer, you are never

the same person you were before in so many ways,” she said. “Everybody just expects you to go back and be your old self, you know? There are so many things — survivor-ship is really, really hard.”

In her current role, Skurka does everything she can to help patients get through their treatment with as few short- and long-term com-plications as possible. She does surveillance to make sure that no side effects arise that could interrupt the treatment cycle — and if something does come up,

she works to get it addressed as quickly as possible to get each patient the best outcome.

Having been in that bed herself, Skurka knows how frustrating it can be to go through cancer treatments, and she tries to do what she can to get patients in the right frame of mind.

“Just to try to make them know that they will get through this, one step at a time,” she said. “There are people here to help them. They just have to be willing to let us help them.”

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THE FIGHT AGAINST ALL FORMS OF CANCER


H E A R T S

good health, so I’m thankful I’m able to do it,” she said. “I’m not one to sit on the couch. I can’t do it. Sometimes I like to get in the car and just drive. My body and mind need to keep moving.”

Gregory is the lone survivor of her mother Virgie’s nine chil-dren. Her eldest sibling, sister Mary, was 30 years older than Pearl. Moreover, Gregory’s husband, Walter, passed away four years ago not long after suffering a stroke, and a grand-daughter has also passed away.

Meanwhile, the Pearl of Greenwood just keeps on keeping on.

Every morning for the past five years, Gregory has taken liquid fish oil, liquid B-12 and a multivitamin to help maintain a higher level of overall health and energy.

“Age to me is just a number,” Gregory said. “What motivates me, too, is how helpful I can be to my grandchildren. It makes me proud the family that I came from. I learned from my

mom and oldest sister how to talk to people and to treat them how you would want to be treated.”

Spirituality has always played an important role in Gregory’s life. She attends Southeast Baptist Tabernacle Church in Indianapolis.

“It’s a huge factor,” Gregory said. “I’m a firm believer in the power of prayer. Who can you count on if you don’t have God in your life?”

Gregory’s oldest child, daughter Vickie Willhoite, is 62 and has three daughters, six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren of her own. Willhoite marvels at the many positive attributes her mother possesses.

“My mom is a very happy-go-lucky person. She never meets a stranger, and everyone remembers Pearl. She’s just the life of the party. Everybody loves her,” said Willhoite, who lives in Franklin. “She’s still very spunky. Very full of life.

“She’s 24/7 in her car. The day I have to take her keys will be a sad, sad day.”

At the rate Pearl Gregory is going, it won’t be any day soon.

the Gregory fileName: Pearl Gregory

Age: 77

Diagnosis: Breast cancer (June 2018)

treatment: Has undergone 20 radiation treatments; takes one pill (25 milligrams) of Arimidex daily for the next five years in an effort to

keep the cancer away

What has cancer taught you?

To never put off having your exams. When you’re supposed to have them, you have them.

How has cancer changed you?

To not take anything for granted. To follow up with appointments and to take better care of yourself. you don’t know what’s happening on the inside of your body. I take vitamins every day, and, even though I’m 77, I don’t feel 77. It’s my mental alertness. I was a program man-ager for Volt Workforce Solutions, and I feel that I could go back and

do it today.

What would you tell someone just diagnosed?

Do what your doctors tell you to do and take the medication they tell you to take. Just pray every day that it’s caught in the first stage. If it’s not, pray for God to give the doctors the wisdom to give you the right

treatments and medicines for your stage of cancer.

EnErgEticContinueD from PaGe 3hand

ContinueD from PaGe 4

‘‘‘‘

the Skurka fileName: Kerry Skurka

Age: 62

Diagnosis: Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (may 2008)

treatment: R-CHOP chemotherapy, radiation, intrathecal chemotherapy; com-pleted in December 2008


To enjoy the moment, because you really don’t know what tomorrow will bring. And I think if people did that, we’d have a much better world.


It’s made me a better person. I feel blessed that I had cancer, because it did help me to be a better person.


It’s a very vulnerable place to be, because you’ve lost all control. But you need to let us help you. There are so many people here to help you, and it’s a journey, a journey that you just need to focus one day at a time and get through that day, and then the next day wake up and say, “I’m just going to get through this day,

and I’m going to let people help me.”

After cancer, you are never the same

person you were before in so many

ways. Everybody just expects you

to go back and be your old self, you

know? There are so many things —

survivorship is really, really hard.

KERRy SKURKA

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W StoRy by EmILy KETTERER


arms race

When Dr. David Dunkle was diagnosed with leukemia his freshman year of col-lege, the only options for treatment were 30 minutes away in Indianapolis — no-where local to Johnson County.

Since then, Dunkle, now president and CEO of Johnson Memorial Health, made it a priority of his to provide local, quality cancer care for people in Johnson County, who are going through the same experi-ence he had, he said.

“Cancer care is something that is dear to my heart,” Dunkle said. “As a freshman at Franklin College, everything was in downtown Indianapolis, which wasn’t always very convenient.”

Today, area hospitals are more focused on improving cancer centers, part of Community Hospital South, Franciscan Health Indianapolis and Johnson Memo-rial Hospital. They offer variations of care with a shared goal — combating cancer and putting patients first.

Improvements create better care

Johnson Memorial Health in Franklin

found itself without a cancer center a few years ago after it closed in 2015 due to conflicts related to its partnership with Community Health Network. It was quickly revamped with a new vision for patient care starting in 2016, Dunkle said.

The cancer center was reinvented through a partnership with Amer-ican Health Network to provide medical oncology services four days a week at the hospital. Visits have increased every year since 2016, Dunkle said.

“We kind of had to reinvent ourselves,” he said.

Radiation oncology is not offered at Johnson Memorial, but the network part-ners with Cancer Care Group to provide consultations and locations for radiation services.

Johnson Memorial prides itself on being a local cancer center, providing

Area hospitals make cancer care focal

point of institutions

CANCER FACILItIES

(see arM PaGe 7)

quality care in Johnson County, Dunkle said. Treating cancer locally is dear to Dunkle’s heart, he said.

Reflecting on his own battle with cancer at a young age, providing accessible care to residents in the area is a pri-ority, he said.

“The fact that you can stay local, you can get your tests here, you can do your blood work here, you can get medical imaging here and you can get chemotherapy here … that is key to providing excellent care,” Dunkle said.

Johnson Memorial took an-other step in the right direction this year, hiring an oncology-certified nurse navigator, which are common now in most cancer centers, and serve as guides and support systems for patients battling cancer.

“It’s such a devastating diag-nosis, and a lot of times, people are in shock, so I think that’s a great thing we’ve done,” Dunkle said.

A few miles north, on the southside of Indianapolis, the 65,000-square-foot Community Cancer Center South was built six years ago. It recently under-went an extensive expansion. A sharpened focus on the cancer center makes the experience easier on patients, said Tom Erickson, director of oncology services at the center.

“We’re able to reduce delays and help get the patients the tests and screenings much quicker than if they were spread all over the place,” Er-ickson said.

He called the cancer center a “one-stop shop” for patients. The expansion allows more room for navigators, oncolo-gists, surgeons and patients, all in one building. It added a second radiation treatment machine, and increased the number of chemotherapy infusion chairs by about 30%, Erickson said.

For example, before a cancer patient can go through

chemotherapy, they must first undergo lab tests. Many times, hospitals and cancer centers will do tests one day, and ask the patient to come back the next day to find out if they can go through chemo, Erickson said. At Community, all of it is done in one day.

“That’s better care. It’s fewer trips for the patient to make, especially with the pandemic and COVID, that’s a signifi-cantly safer thing for them to do,” Erickson said.

Community Health also partners with MD Anderson, a nationally ranked cancer center, for it’s treatment pro-grams and physician peer to peer review, ensuring patients are getting the best care, Er-ickson said.

Franciscan Health’s cancer center in Indianapolis is also a one-stop shop. Having a dedicated cancer center allows patients to receive all of their

treatment in one place, which is better for their well-being, said Dr. Peter Garrett, a ra-diation oncologist and medical director at the Franciscan Health Cancer Center.

“It’s hard to be a cancer patient because of all the ap-pointments,” Garrett said. “A patient can come to our lung clinic and they get seen in one visit by all disciplines. Sur-gery, pulmonary and medicine, medical oncology, radiation oncology.”

Cancer care is evolving

Cancer is different than other diseases. It requires sophisti-cated diagnoses, and warrants dedicated spaces to treat it, Erickson said.

“Oncology and cancer care take very sophisticated diag-nostic tools,” Erickson said. “The treatment can be in sequence, so a patient may

receive chemotherapy, followed by radiation therapy, with a follow-up chemotherapy, so they may be coming every day for weeks at a time.”

Heart disease and cancer are the two leading causes of death in the United States, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Preven-tion. In 2020, roughly 1.8 million people will be diagnosed with cancer in the United States, ac-cording to the National Cancer Institute.

“You obviously focus on those things that are the most dan-gerous for the public,” Dunkle said.

Cancer care has come a long way due to an increased focus on research, Garrett said. In fact, survival rates have in-creased to 70% from 40% for a lot of cancers.

“The treatment is much less toxic … immunotherapy is pretty remarkable. I’m seeing

patients now with lung cancer, who if I saw them 10 years ago, they probably would not have lived more than a year,” Gar-rett said.

Cancer is a a chronic dis-ease for those diagnosed with it, which is why Franciscan is also placing an emphasis on survivor support, making sure cancer survivors can return to a normal life, but still manage the long-term effects of the disease, he said.

“There are a lot of survivors out there, which is great, and we need to make sure they are getting back to a normal, healthy life,” Garrett said.

At Community, nurse naviga-tors follow up regularly with patients who are in remission, Erickson said.

“Once a patient starts with us, they’re with us for a very long time,” Erickson said. “You really want the best outcome for patients. This is not an easy disease to hear about.”

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armContinueD from PaGe 6

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Sitting among a group of cancer specialists, receiving the worst news possible, would seem to leave no place for optimism.

Kate Jessen sat next to her husband, Zach, as they listened to doctors explain their daughter had a rare, inoperable brain tumor. Adalynn, just 3 years old, likely had only six months to a year left to live.

The diagnosis was beyond devastating. But before despair set in, Kate Jessen felt something else fill her spirit.

“In that moment, something more powerful took over for me. Normally I would have been the one who was sob-bing,’ she said. “I look back at Zach,

and I’m wiping away his tears, and I said, ‘We have to choose joy here.’ For those words, it’s like God literally took the wheel and spoke for me when I couldn’t speak, helped to hold our family together.

“I still can’t wrap my head around it.”

The Jessens have relied on their faith and tried to remember joy as they’ve dealt with the nightmarish diagnosis. Adalynn is taking part in a clinical trial to attempt to treat the brain tumor, known as diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, or DIPG, and the family has relocated to Cincinnati while she under-goes treatment.

The past three months have tested the family in ways they never imagined. But their belief in God and positivity, as well as friends, family and the community

as a whole, have helped carry them through it.

“Maybe God knew this was the plan. He has been trying to make it the best He can for us, and make it as easy as He can for us,” Kate Jessen said. “It gives me peace and makes me feel like everything is going to be OK. God has the wheel, and he’s doing everything He can on His end.”

Their strength is inspiring to those they have met on this journey, said Dr. Margot Lazow, clinical fellow in pediatric hematology/oncology for the Cancer and Blood Diseases Institute at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.

“Despite the incredibly unfair ob-stacles they are dealing with, they have a wonderfully unique ability to remain positive, find things to be thankful for, and transform the hardships they are experiencing into opportunities to in-crease awareness and improve research efforts/funding for DIPG, to benefit not only Addie Mae, but all current and future children suffering from this disease,” she said.

‘We needed to do something’The Jessens’ lives changed forever in

July, when Adalynn’s parents noticed that her head was tilting slightly.

“It wasn’t a big tilt, just kind of a little bit to the side,” Kate Jessen said. “We thought maybe she slept on it weird. She’s 3, and also a farm girl, so she always has bumps and bruises on her.”

They kept an eye on their daughter,

the Adalynn FileName: Adalynn Jessen

Age: 3

Diagnosis: Diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, a brain tumor found in the brain stem

treatment: 30 rounds of radiation; an investigative trial pill for up to two years

three questions (answered by Adalynn’s mother, Kate Jessen)

What has cancer taught you and your family?

“All of the things that we used to take for granted, it’s all these small things. We’re so thankful for what we have; we have her in our arms this very moment.”

How has cancer changed you and your family?

“maybe God knew this was the plan. He has been trying to make it the best He can for us, and make it as easy as He can for us. It gives me peace and makes me feel like everything is going to be OK. God has the wheel, and he’s doing everything He can on His end.”


“I just try to share with people to not take things for granted, to take a step back. I try to tell people that you take everything in and just appreciate it — the sky, the birds, the quietness.”

ADALyNN JESSEN: CHILDHOOD CANCER

StoRy by RyAN TRARES

PHotoS SuBmITTED

cHOOSing

Franklin family relies on faith through 3-year-old daughter’s cancer treatment

(see JOY PaGe 9)

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H E A R T S

Adalynn Jessen with her parents Zach and Kate Jessen on their Franklin farm. Adalynn was diagnosed with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma or DIPG, a tumor of the brain stem. She is currently receiving treatment at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. Submitted photo by Milestone Moments & Cakery. Below: Adalynn and her father, Zach, eat ice cream and play in between treatments in Cincinnati.

How to helpFriends of the Jessen family have started a GoFundme page to help with the medical costs associated

with Adalynn’s treatment.

Those wishing to help with the fun-draiser can go to gofundme.com/f/

adalynnstrong.

treating it with heating pads on her neck. After about seven days, Adalynn made some comments that she had some slight double vision. That prompted the family to take her to a doctor, who was unable to find a cause for the tilted head, but did not think it was anything alarming.

So, the Jessens went home. Adalynn wanted to go to the park to play, but while there, Kate Jessen noticed she was bumping into things and walking unsteadily.

“I felt like I wasn’t watching my child anymore. At that moment, I had a mom-gut thing where I felt so sick,” she said. “I told Zach that I thought we needed to go to Riley (Hospital for Children at IU Health). We needed to do something.”

They agreed to get a second opinion and called Adalynn’s former pediatrician, Dr. Megan Ciaccio with Johnson Memorial Pediatrics, the next day. The family left the park, and stopped to get ice cream. While Zach Jessen was in the store, Kate Jessen looked in the backseat at her daughter. Adalynn was drooling, speaking in gibberish and had a strange look in her eyes.

Panic overtook her.Not knowing what to do, they

went to Kate Jessen’s parents. Her mother is an ophthalmolo-gist, and Kate Jessen wanted to get her opinion as well as check her pupils and do some rudimen-tary tests. Her mother didn’t find anything clinically wrong, and supported their decision to see Ciaccio for a second opinion. More tests followed, and after a 45-minute exam, the doctor recommended getting a CT scan

of her brain at Johnson Memorial Health.

Ciaccio called them while they were still at the hospital.

“She said, ‘Kate, breath for a minute. There is a mass in her brain, and I think you need to pack your bags and go up to Riley. I’ll call around and they’ll be waiting for you,’” Jessen said. “That’s all we knew.”

‘thankful that we know’Arriving at Riley Hospital for

Children, the Jessens met with the neurology team and waited to get an MRI. Though the previous CT scan had revealed a mass in Adalynn’s brain, the medical team needed to know precisely where it was located.

She spent more than four hours in imaging, where MRIs were taken of her brain and spine. Af-terwards, the family was ushered into a tiny room packed with specialists.

They broke the bad news to Kate and Zach Jessen while Adalynn slept in their arms. Scans revealed she had diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, a brain tumor found in the brain stem. The cancer was on a part of the stem called the pons, which controls essential bodily functions such as heartbeat, breathing, swallowing, eye movement, eye-sight and balance.

(see JOY PaGe 10)

JOYContinueD from PaGe 8

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The cancer exclusively impacts children; approximately 200 to 400 children are diagnosed with the disease each year in the U.S., according to the Michael Mosier Defeat DIPG Foundation. The tumors are inoperable, with ra-diation being the only treatment option.

Doctors told the Jessens Adalynn had 6 months to a year left.

The shocked family went back to their room, trying to regroup. Kate and Zach Jessen’s parents had been forced to wait for news in the parking lot of the hospital, due to coronavirus-related limita-tions on hospital visitors. Kate Jessen went out to tell them the shattering news.

Anger was the immediate reaction. But again, Kate Jessen summoned some source of grace from within.

“I remember looking up at the sky, and saying, ‘Dad, it’s going to be OK. Regardless of what happens, we have to be thankful for today. We have to be thankful that we’re not at home with a heating pad on her neck, that we know,” she recalled saying.

“We’re here. We’re in the hands of people who can help us.’”

‘Impressed and inspired’

With the initial shock of the di-agnosis past, the Jessens needed to figure out an approach to

treatment. They moved forward with Riley Hospital for Children doctors, who suggested six weeks of radiation to treat the tumor. But the family also asked that Adalynn’s information be sent to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, a national leader in treating childhood cancers.

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center told the family they had no clinical trials that would fit Adalynn, and the Jes-sens prepared to start treatment at Riley, where they could stay close to home.

But just as they were about to start radiation, Kate Jessen received a message from Cincin-nati. They had a trial that might be available for the family, the doctor said. Adalynn would be given an investigative trial drug that would enhance the radia-tion’s impact.

There were some concerns. Adalynn would have to take a fairly large pill, difficult for anyone but especially a 3 year old. Doctors were still skeptical that Adalynn would be able to do the trial. But they were offered the chance to try. On the day they tested her to make sure she could swallow pills and would not be distressed during treatment, she passed perfectly.

“We are so happy and proud to see how well Addie Mae is doing. Her neurologic symptoms have improved significantly since starting treatment and we have been able to wean her steroids, decreasing additional side effects from that,” Lazow said.

Adalynn started her radiation treatment in early August, then the trial drug a week later. The process has been rough at times. Even drinking small amounts of liquids caused her to gag and choke, due to the location of the tumor.

Steroids help mitigate some of the symptoms such as headaches, difficulty walking, talking and swallowing, but those come with drawbacks of their own, Lazow said. The drugs caused her body to swell, and she suffers from mood swings.

Still, she has shown incredible strength throughout the treat-ment, Lazow said.

“All of these symptoms, both from the tumor itself and from some of the medications we use, can be really difficult for our patients and their families, but I continue to be impressed and inspired by the incredible strength and resilience that patients like Addie Mae demon-strate throughout this journey,” she said.

‘It’s going to be oK’Throughout treatment, the

Jessens have been showered with love and support, both from home in Johnson County and in the Cincinnati area.

One of the most impactful sup-ports has come in the form of Hank, Adalynn’s new service dog. The sheepadoodle was raised by the Farms Precious Doodles, a breeder in Morgantown whose owner Savannah Kean heard about the Jessens’ story.

Whenever Adalynn was in the hospital, she kept telling her parents that she wanted a puppy. They promised her that after she got out of the hospital she could get a dog. Kate Jessen reached out to Kean, explaining their situ-ation and what they were looking for. Kean didn’t have any puppies available, but she did have Hank, an older dog.

Kean offered to have Hank spend the night with the family, saying that if it went well, she would donate the dog to them.

“We were so excited. He came to the house and spent the night. He literally acts like he’s known us his whole life,” Kate Jessen said. “He has not only touched our lives, but he’s touched so many other lives here.”

Adalynn finished the 30 rounds of radiation treatment in late September, and is set to continue taking an oral pill as part of the clinical trial for the next two years.

With everything the family has faced, the past few months have been the most difficult of their lives. But at the same time, they have tried to live with positivity and love.

Sharing their story has not been easy, Kate Jessen said. But they want to use their experience to hopefully help others going through similarly difficult times.

“If there’s anything good that comes out of it, that’s important to us,” Jessen said. “Maybe our story will help people ... It’s going to be OK.”

JOYContinueD from PaGe 9

‘‘

‘‘ I continue to be impressed and

inspired by the incredible strength

and resilience that patients

like Addie Mae demonstrate

throughout this journey.DR. MARGot LAZoW

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C

H E A R T S

Cancer changed every part of Jill Minton’s life.

As an investigative paralegal, she has experienced stress, mental fatigue and hardship in her work with indigent people charged with a crime. But none of those experi-ences prepared her to deal with the emotions and pain surrounding her cancer.

“I never knew what tired was until I had to go through this,” Minton said.

A breast cancer diagnosis chal-lenged her independence, her relationships and gave her a new outlook on life.

After experiencing an abnormal amount of nausea and fatigue, Minton made an appointment with her doctor. She shared her symptoms, and her doctor ad-

vised her to get a mammogram.

In early April 2019, Minton went to get the mam-mogram, not thinking much of it. Mammograms are routine, pre-ventative care, she recalled thinking.

“It happened out of nowhere. I didn’t think it was a big deal because I had to do a second check before,” Minton said. “But it turned out to be a big deal.”

When she was called back in for a follow-up and biopsy, it didn’t register that it could be cancer. She had been called back in after a mammogram before, she said.

During the appointment, it became clear. The doctors and nurses had all but confirmed it was cancer. So, she got in the car shortly after the biopsy and drove with family to attend a funeral in Virginia, fear hanging over her head.

A few days later, right after the funeral, she received the news — it was stage 2 breast cancer.

Knowing how expensive treat-ment is, her initial thoughts weren’t about fighting the disease, but rather, how she would pay for it.

Charges began racking up im-mediately, and cancer-related expenses took a toll, making it tough to make ends meet. But with both she and her husband working and some surprise donations from family and friends, she has man-aged to stay out of dire straits.

Minton started treatment at Community Cancer Center South, with a bilateral mastectomy shortly after her diagnosis. Com-plications caused her more pain than she could have imagined, both physical and emotional, she said.

For weeks, she relied on her husband for help with everyday tasks she had taken for granted; from picking up around the house to bathing herself.

It took a toll, emotionally, to not be able to take care of herself, and losing her breasts was yet another emotional hurdle. She couldn’t bring herself to look in the mirror for weeks, but eventually made peace with the loss before under-going reconstructive surgery in June.

After the initial surgery, she underwent chemotherapy until January, when she entered the final stage of her treatment, hor-mone therapy.

The chemo brought new chal-lenges — intense bouts of nausea, aches and pains, and hair loss.

She got through it by learning to accept help from others, and taking advice from fellow pa-tients, a source of solace and understanding as they, too, were going through a similar test of physical and emotional endurance.

“I made a dear friend at my second round of chemo, and she helped give me strength while battling a different and more advanced cancer than my own,” Minton said. “This newly made friend and other patients receiving chemo made the four to six hours at the cancer center pass more easily.”

Opening up to others with cancer can be bittersweet, though. Min-ton’s new friend succumbed to the disease, but her memory lives on, she said.

“I miss her dearly, but I carry her memory and advice with me and always will. This is one of the worst parts of cancer to deal with. Not everyone survives, and that can be hard to accept, but

one individual can leave a lasting impact on you,” Minton said.

Though chemotherapy is behind her, she still faces five years of hormone therapy. She has strug-gled to find a drug that doesn’t cause extreme side effects similar to those of the chemo, but remains hopeful. Pain is still present, and symptoms of menopause plague the 43-year-old.

Normal looks a lot different.Physically, friends do a double-

take when they see her for the first time since her hair began to regrow. Once naturally straight, her blond hair grew back curly.

Emotionally, the roller coaster hasn’t stopped.

“I feel like a different person in many ways. Emotionally, I feel like a yo-yo. It is hard to get my words out. I look at an object and I have chemo brain, I can’t think of the word,” she said.

But one word that has stuck with Minton through this journey is gratitude.

To her doctors for finding the cancer early enough to fight it, and for never giving up on finding a treatment that will make her recovery the least painful.

To her husband for being her caregiver, housekeeper and rock to lean on, and on top of all this, took on extra hours at work to help pay the bills.

To her friends, new and old, who stuck by her side during the hardest time of her life.

‘I never knew what tIred was’Breast cancer a life-altering experience for Indy woman

JILL MINtoN: BREAST CANCER

StoRy by LEEANN DOERFLEIN


the Minton FileName: Jill minton

Age: 43

Diagnosis: Stage 2 Breast Cancer

treatment: Bilateral mastectomy; chemotherapy; five years of hormone therapy


To not worry about little things and things I can’t change. Whatever will happen will happen. There are a lot of things that I can’t control and I’ve learned to accept that.


I feel like a different person in many ways. Emo-tionally, I feel like a yo-yo. Cancer made me more accepting of other’s help. Cancer also made me more sensitive to people’s needs.


It is OK to ask for help and let people help you.

Don’t take it to heart if people say the wrong thing; they are trying to help, even if it doesn’t come out well.

Learn self-care; put yourself first and do anything you can to survive.

Please be patient with yourself and reach out to other cancer patients for advice.

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“ “I’m back teaching, doing absolutely what I love to do, because they took care of me. They sent me back to school.

Schedule a mammogram or take a breast cancer health risk assessment at FranciscanHealth.org/BreastCare

Marilyn, breast cancer survivor and first grade teacher

mH E A R T S


Much as he tried, Larry Gray, a painter his entire adult life, couldn’t apply a thick coat of fiction over the reality of his health situation.

Gray’s lung cancer, detected in January 2004, was the result of 44 years of smoking ciga-rettes — a pack and a half a day at one point. Starting with Lucky Strikes as a 14-year-old in the late 1950s, Gray eventu-ally opted for filtered Camels.

The switch in brands was akin to hand-feeding slabs of meat to sharks rather than lions.

“I should have (quit smoking) years ago, but it took something like this to wake me up and see what needed to be changed,” said Gray, who was 60 when the dreaded C-word entered his everyday life

for the first time. “And I did change it.”

He will celebrate his 75th birthday later this month.

A routine physical with Dr. Mac Roller in Franklin included the recommendation that Gray schedule a chest X-ray at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis. It revealed a can-cerous tumor on his left lung. That was a cold splash of re-ality to Gray, a New Whiteland resident whose first suspicion was that years of exposure to paint fumes were the culprit.

With two weeks to go before having to undergo surgery to remove the upper lobe of his left lung, Gray savored the final 10 cigarettes in what would be his last pack of filtered Camels. Shortly thereafter, Gray re-membered he purchased packs of a lesser brand of cigarettes and stored them in the garage refrigerator.

Only they were no longer there. Gray’s wife, Linda,

figuring her husband might eventually make a beeline in that direction, had thrown them away.

“It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be,” Larry said of quitting the habit that had been with him most his life. “My surgeon told me that if I could quit smoking even a day before surgery, that it would help a ton.”

Gray’s surgery at Methodist Hospital was Feb. 13, 2004. Six years passed before Gray was again diagnosed with lung cancer and had to have a

portion of the lung’s lower lobe removed. That surgery was in March 2010.

Indianapolis native Jeff Clegg was only 21 when he started an apprenticeship with Bill Law-rence, Inc., a union painting contractor, in November 1992. It was an experience that introduced him to Gray, a man Clegg strongly feels is a true representation of a previous generation of work ethic.

Gray is like another father to Clegg.

“I wasn’t really scared at all when I heard Larry had cancer.

He’s one of the toughest men I know. He’s in the top three, for sure,” the 49-year-old Clegg said. “Larry just has so many qualities that my own dad (Daniel Clegg, 74) has in his life. So much knowledge that I was able to sponge up. Not just in work, but in life.

“Larry has a faith, and he’s committed to his wife and to his kids. He appreciates every-thing probably 10 times more than when I met him. Larry’s appreciation for life is so much more than it was 30 years ago.”

Gray, equipped with a new lease on life, has forged forward for the last decade, refusing to take even the tiniest of life’s aspects for granted.

“He just has a heart of gold,” said Linda, who has been mar-ried to her husband since Sept. 1, 1974. “He’s just an honest, loving, genuine person. I was scared to death when he was diagnosed. Losing him was my greatest fear.

“When they got everything removed with surgery, it was

like a weight lifted off your shoulders. We were just ec-static. We were so glad.”

Larry Gray doesn’t drink or smoke. He now channels his en-ergies into painting, yard work and the seven grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren he and Linda have.

One of the couple’s great-granddaughters, 2-year-old Baylor Sue Dresslar, clings to Larry as the two enjoy a special bond.

Together, they take walks and feed ducks. The playhouse behind the Gray residence is where Baylor whips up imagi-nary cheeseburgers for her great-grandfather.

Life has been prolonged, and Gray isn’t about to waste it.

“I feel good,” Gray said. “I get tired like anybody else. I use an inhaler in the morning and at night because I have the start of COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary dis-ease), but other than that I feel great.”

Two bouts of lung cancer not enough to slow New Whiteland manthe Gray fileName: Larry Gray

Age: 74

Diagnosis: Lung cancer (Jan-uary 2004)

treatment: Surgery to remove upper lobe of left lung and a later procedure to move a 2-inch wedge of the lower lobe of the same lung. Takes eight pills daily, two of Colestipol and one each of Pravastatin, Lisinopril, Finasteride, Hydro-chlorothiazide, Tamsulosin and Dutasteride. most help with prostate health or cholesterol management.


It’s taught me not to take things for granted, and it’s what you

do after the fact that matters. How you look at life and how you treat others.


I just don’t take things for granted that I used to. Like waking up in the morning. I have a granddaughter, who, when she was 19 developed Hodgkin’s lymphoma. I saw myself in her. How she felt and how she acted. She’s 23 now and doing great.


The way I did it, I thought I have to beat this. It’s like my surgeon told me, ‘Whatever you do, keep doing it because once you sit down, you stay down.’

shades of Gray

StoRy by mIKE BEAS


LARRy GRAy: LUNG CANCER

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