Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2007-09-13, Page 7“Cancer doesn’t touch your life - it reaches out with one hand and chokes you, then slaps you up the side of your head with the other.” These were the words spoken by Melinda TenPas of Brussels at the recent Relay for Life event in Wingham. A vibrant young woman, known for an easy laugh, often heard at her own expense, TenPas was 38 years old when she discovered a lump in her right breast. “I had reached over for something and felt it with my arm,” said the 2007 Team Member for the Brussels Terry Fox Run, taking place this Sunday. “It just seemed to have suddenly appeared.” A couple of days after the discovery TenPas saw her doctor, who, she said, didn’t seem particularly alarmed. “Or then maybe it was that she didn’t want to alarm me.” A mammogram was booked for five days later. “In the meantime the lump had doubled. You could see it now. And when I would roll deoderant on under my arm it was like riding over bumps.” The mammograms and ultrasound revealed TenPas had a particularly virulent cancer. “The tests had been on Friday and the doctor called me Monday morning and said we needed to talk.” The doctor stressed a sense of urgency and suggested removal of all the affected areas. While her grandmother had breast cancer when she was in her 60s, TenPas said it was not something she’d ever thought could happen to her. “My head was just spinning with so many thoughts and questions. How can this be happening? Why me? And how am I going to tell the kids?” A vivacious spirit with a strong sense of humour, a self-proclaimed “goofball”, TenPas said she struggled to stay strong, to listen and take in everything that the doctors were suggesting. One thing was clear however. Shewas going to “fight like hell. Givingup was never an option.”She had her surgery within twodays, and once healed beganradiation, every day for 16 days atKitchener’s Grand River Hospital. “Radiation wasn’t too bad, just a rectangular area of burned skin. I was a little tired and run down but I think a lot of that comes from driving back and forth every day.” TenPas’s family, including her three children were very involved in what was happening to her. “My kids (Sadie, 14; Brody, 11 and Hayden, nine) would come with me for the treatments. They would sit in the waiting room and count the seconds they could hear the buzzing when I was being zapped. I think they really entertained the older women in the waiting room.” A month after she completed radiation, TenPas met her greatest adversary. “I knew I was a tough cookie, or at least I thought I was, until I met Mr. Chemotherapy.” “Chemo is made up of different chemicals for certain types of cancer. It’s as different as ordering a pina colada instead of a beer, and after several months of this, you thank your lucky stars it’s over. You hope you never have to receive this liquid cocktail again.” She was hospitalized three times during the treatments. “You feel pretty good the first day or so, but by the third it was always rough. I was so sick. And I would ache so badly, I just couldn’t take it anymore.” The nurses warn patients of the potential side effects. “I thought if anything good comes out of this, it would be that I might shed a few pounds,” says TenPas. This was not the case. Besides losing her hair, vomiting for days, having multiple hot flashes, achy muscles and joints, she also gained weight. TenPas feels fortunate at least that she could receive her chemo at Wingham District Hospital. “What a tremendous staff of doctors and nurses in the chemo unit. I met manywonderful people undergoing chemotreatments, especially my ‘breast’friend Abi (Corbett, Brusselsresident and 2006 Team Member).”Now that it’s behind her TenPassaid she can’t express enough the gratitude she has for each and every hospital, doctor, nurse, friends and family members, especially my mom and dad, my husband Brian and my three “beautiful” children. Talking about the ordeal and its effect on her family brings tears to TenPas’s eyes. “I know it was hard on all of them too and that’s what upsets me the most.” While she says she now lives from one three-month checkup to the next TenPas said that should she find herself in the same position sometime down the road, she will fight as hard again. “I want to be here for my children. I tell myself every day, I’m tougher, I’m stronger and I’m the winner here. Cancer will not win this battle. If needed, I’ll beup for kicking cancer’s ass again.”“I am a changed person because ofcancer, not just in my appearance,but as a whole. I look through adifferent window now; things thatwere once so important suddenly seem foolish. I try not to sweat the little things, except if I’m taking another hot flash. I savour moments and cherish memories, friends and loved ones.” “I’m going to enjoy my life to the fullest. And try to get back to the old Melinda.” THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2007. PAGE 7. On the Run Melinda TenPas of Brussels, with good pal, Lacey, is the 2007 Terry’s Team Member for the annual Terry Fox Run being held this Sunday. Registration is at 10 a.m. and the run begins at the Optimist Clubhouse. (Bonnie Gropp photo) Melinda TenPas 2007 Terry’s Team Member CORROSIVE Battery acids Drain cleaners Oven cleaners TOXIC Pesticides Rat poison Cleaning Fluids FLAMMABLE Gasoline BBQ starter Solvents REACTIVE Pool chemicals Ammonia Bleach IN EVERY HOME THERE ARE PRODUCTS THAT NEED SPECIAL CARE. YOU’LL RECOGNIZE THEM BY THESE WARNING SIGNS. The County of Huron Household Hazardous Waste Disposal Program is an opportunity for you to clear potentially dangerous wastes out of your home and dispose of them in an environmentally safe manner, at no cost to you. THE COUNTY OF HURON 2007 HOUSEHOLD HAZARDOUS WASTE PROGRAM 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM September 22 Works Yard, 445 Josephine Street, Wingham (North Huron) No PCB’s, commercial, infectious or radioactive wastes will be accepted. For more information contact the County at 519-524-2188. SERVICES PROVIDED BY HOTZ ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES INC. WINGHAM & DISTRICT HOSPITAL HIGHLIGHTS “Excellence in Rural Health Care” Whether your loss results from death, divorce or childhood issues, recent or some time in the past, recovery is possible. Advance Registration - $35. Call Kathy at Huron Hospice Volunteer Service, Wingham Site – 519-357-2720. Guiding kids through life’s storms from hurt, through healing to hope – for grieving chil- dren. Advance Registration. Call Kathy at Huron Hospice Volunteer Service, Wingham Site – 519-357-2720 Need a new or replacement card? The Ministry of Health holds a card replacement clinic at the hospital regularly. An appointment must be booked by calling 1-888-376-5197. Visiting hours are 2-4 p.m. and 6-8 p.m. daily. If you are ill, please do not visit our patients. GRIEF RECOVERY OUTREACH PROGRAM RAINBOWS ONTARIO HEALTH COVERAGE Phone: 357-3210 Fax: 357-2931 Website: www.lwha.ca REMINDER TO VISITORS By Bonnie Gropp The Citizen TOLL-FREE 1-877-513-5333 Learn how to talk to others about their smoking