athome Written by: Bailey Hemphill
New Featur e
Family Success Story The McIlnay’s
M
eet the McIlnay Family—Family Spectrum’s first featured successful family—Shawn and Tonya, and their children Parker, Britt, and Maren of Bennington! Shawn is a middle school teacher/coach at Bennington Jr./Sr. High, and Tonya is a veterinarian with her own practice. The family also has two pets: Abby, a golden retriever, and Skeet, a retired quarter horse.
From left: Tonya, Maren, Parker, Shawn, Britt, with Abby
Shawn and Tonya are celebrating 15 wonderful years together. They say their marriage has successfully formed their family because they believe in having a strong marriage and being united in their family values and in how they raise their children.
she thought it could have been benign. Instead, she waited to tell him the day before her biopsy, the diagnosis, she says, “hit him like a truck.” Once they knew she had breast cancer and had established a plan, they told the kids that mommy needed treatments. Fortunately, the kids were young enough that they didn’t understand the severity of the situation completely, but they still knew Tonya was sick. She went through eight treatments of chemo for 16 weeks, and then almost seven weeks of radiation. But she and Abby struggled through their cancers together and today are proudly in remission.
A couple of years ago, Tonya noticed that Abby was acting differently during one of their daily runs together. Tonya took Abby into her office and did a physical where she found a ruptured intestine caused by a cancerous mass. Abby had to go through six months of chemo, which made her lose her whiskers, and surgery performed by one of Tonya’s colleagues. But Tonya says that Abby fought through it: “Dogs handle it better than people.” Little did Tonya know that all of the work she was doing to help her dog battle cancer was preparing her for her own encounter with cancer.
Tonya believes her biggest supports were faith and her family and friends. “Just knowing that it’s out of your hands—that a plan was set a long time ago—that takes the worry away.” Her friends, veterinary colleagues, and family participated in a head-shaving party for Tonya, and Shawn even shaved his head so that she wouldn’t feel self-conscious. Although the kids didn’t want to be bald, they chose to wear bandanas in support as well.
In January 2010, Tonya was diagnosed with breast cancer. She initially found the lump during a selfcheck but didn’t tell Shawn right away because
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The best outcome of the cancer was that it made Shawn and Tonya’s marriage stronger and their kids more caring and aware of their parents’ lives. Also, it brought Tonya and Abby closer together. Tonya says that Abby is already very protective of the family, but after fighting cancer alongside Tonya, she has become more intuitive and always knows where Tonya is in the house. The family has learned not to take things for granted, to truly see the people around them, and to not stress the little things. They have also realized how important it is to have life insurance and finances in line because, when something life-changing happens, everyone needs to be on the same page. “Any time you can turn something that is a challenge into something positive, it makes everyone grow SPECTRUM stronger together,” Tonya says.
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• • • • September 2011
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