Day of Hope 2020

Day of Hope The Seventh Annual

PROuDly PRESENTED By

A BENEFIT FOR MARIAN CANCER CARE PATIENTS AT MISSION HOPE CANCER CENTER

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2020 |

santamariatimes.com

FRANK COWAN CONTRIBUTOR

Mission Hope cancer patient John Linder poses by gladiolus he brings to the center.

John Linder sees the world

THROUGH ONE EYE, BUT SEES IT FULLY

‘I do full dress clown costume, makeup, hair piece. I make balloon animals, and have more fun than the world can deal with.’

JENNIFER BEST

Contributing Writer

When visitors to Mission Hope Cancer Center meet the colorful sprays of gladiolus in the reception lobby, they’re experiencing an ongoing gift of gratitude from John Linder.

“I do it as a thank you gift for all those people who made my recovery as great as it has been. I went

through a lot of bad times which I worried about, and in Mission Hope I got involved with people who knew what they were doing and brought me to a life I know I can live out and enjoy. I’m very proud to say I found them,” Linder said.

The Orcutt grandfather’s cancer journey began three years ago when a dermatologist spotted an abnormality. Biopsies confirmed squamous cell cancer which was removed.

A year later, Linder awoke to a badly swollen eye.

A tour of doctor’s offices led to the cancer rediscovery and a referral to Mission Hope, where he met Dr. Case Ketting.

Deep biopsies in his right orbital turned up cancer that couldn’t be treated simply with radiation or chemotherapy.

After 14 hours of surgery to remove the affected cells, the cancer was gone, but so was his right eye.

“My optic nerve would have been ruined by the radiation, so it was best to take it out during surgery,” Linder said.

He also experienced a 50 percent loss in hearing in his right ear, but calmly explained a new hearing aid should make up for the loss.

Rounds of radiation at Mission Hope wrapped up his treatment.

“As far as I know, I’m free and clear of cancer and very happy for it,” Linder said.

These days retired from gas station, automotive garages and restoration businesses, Linder serves as professional clown to his grandchildren.

FRANK COWAN CONTRIBUTOR Please see LINDER, Page 4

Mission Hope former cancer patient John Linder.

Roselina Vega Solorio fights for her life, custody of children ‘My children are my rock and motivation.

I want to be a great role model for them.’

IVETTE PERALTA

Contributing Writer

Roselina Vega Solorio, a Mexican immigrant who arrived in the United States with her parents in the late 1990s, always considered IVETTE PERALTA, CONTRIBUTED PHOTO herself a strong, healthy, and highly energetic woman. In April 2019, Roselina Vega Solorio is a stage four Hodgkins Lymphoma survivor however, devastating life circumgrateful for a second chance at life and the care and compassion she stances put her strength to the test. received at Mission Hope Cancer Center.

Follow us online: 00 01

facebook.com/santamariatimes

When she migrated to this country she had no trouble keeping up with two jobs to help cover household expenses. She was a farmworker in the fields of California’s Central Valley until her family decided to make Santa Maria their new home. Soon after, she started working cleaning hotels and at Allan Hancock’s childcare center.

Here she also met her ex-partner and became a mother of two.

“I soon realized that I was in an unhealthy relationship. When I got married, I didn’t know that my ex-partner used drugs. There were times when this person put

twitter.com@santamariatimes

my children’s lives and mine at risk,” she said, referring to her now one-year-old girl and two-year old boy. So one day, Vega made the decision to leave him and go live with her parents to ensure a better future for her children.

But as things got better, a gray cloud overtook Vega’s life again.

She started experiencing health problems. “For me, getting sick or missing work to go to the doctor was not an option, because I needed to provide for my children and without the financial support

instagram.com/santa_maria_times $1.50 • D • Copyright2020

Please see VEGA, Page 4

2 | DAY OF HOPE | Wednesday, August 26, 2020

SANTA MARIA TIMES

Day of Hope

The Seventh Annual

FRANK COWAN, CONTRIBUTOR‌

Taryn Timothy is a volunteer mentor at Day of Hope and a cancer survivor.

CANCER SURVIVOR sets goals and guts it out

‘Don’t let this define who you are.

If anything, I hope this helps the best parts of me shine a little more.’

JENNIFER BEST

Contributing Writer‌

‌Taryn Timothy’s biggest fear as she faced breast cancer wasn’t the disease itself. It wasn’t the treatment or the outlook.

“I didn’t want cancer to define me. Was I always going to be ‘the friend who had cancer,’ or would they say, ‘Look, there’s Taryn. She’s done this, that and the other.’ Cancer isn’t forever.

Don’t let this define who you are. If anything, I hope this helps the best parts of me shine a little more,” she said.

The 34-year-old Santa Marian was diagnosed in March 2019 with stage three ductal carcinoma HER2-positive, BRCA-negative breast cancer, an aggressive, hormone-driven, non-genetic cancer.

“I never prayed for my cancer to go away, because I knew I’d be fine. I have three sisters and a mother who aren’t as tough, so if it had to be one of us, it had to be me. I always prayed for my sister, who’s five years into trying to conceive. If God owes me one, I prayed he’d pay it forward to her,” Timothy said.

As an athlete, she understood how to play a game, how to set goals and work toward them, gut it out to the finish.

“In soccer, you learn you have to put your mind to something.

Knowing you have to work at something to conquer it played a factor in beating this with such positivity,” Timothy said.

Her family, friends and employer, Rugged Radios, rallied behind her, running fundraisers that fed into Mission Hope Cancer Center’s various programs as she went through surgery and chemotherapy to achieve 100 percent cancer-free status.

“It really does take a village to beat cancer, and Mission Hope is my village, from the people at the front door to the ladies in the lab to my awesome doctor (Dr. Rob-

ert Dichmann) who always had my best interest in mind and a smile that made all my worries go away. The nurses there are amazing. They’re not just doing a job; they’re your friends,” Timothy said.

Today, she is a Day of Hope Ambassador, has been a guest speaker during Cruzin’ for Life, and serves as a mentor to other patients.

“When it’s all said and done, everyone needs someone who understands and can relate to what they’re doing, and I think it’s important now for me to be there for somebody else. My family was extremely supportive, there for every appointment, but they couldn’t quite wrap their heads around what I was going through mentally or physically like someone who’s been through it already,” Timothy said.

She encourages patients to work through the process, rather than spend energy worrying.

“I’m happy to be that person who will do whatever it takes to help put someone else’s mind at ease during this entire situation.

They don’t need to be scared of the c-word. Chemotherapy isn’t something that should keep you up at night; it’s something that should push you forward,” Timothy said.

For the rugged outdoorswoman, chemotherapy helped Timothy realign her priorities.

“Cancer sucked. It really did, but by no means was it going to burst my bubble. It made me want to work to live instead of live to work. Instead of putting off until next year, let’s do it now. Why not?

Money’s not going to the grave with me. It’s a matter of wanting to fully live,” Timothy said.

Her journey has turned her from an “outgoing, pretty obnoxious over-sharer” to a “pretty nuts, outgoing, obnoxious even bigger over-sharer,” but her family, friends and longtime boyfriend stick with her. And she’s back to the woods where they enjoying hiking, camping and backpacking together.

“Your comeback is always stronger than your setback. This is just a moment in your life when, unfortunately, it’s just crappy, but it doesn’t have to define who you are,” Timothy said.

FRANK COWAN PHOTOS, CONTRIBUTOR‌

The Camacho family celebrates the end of Serina Camacho’s treatment at Mission Hope at a family barbecue.

From left: Alyssa Camacho, Zander Murdock, 7, Albert Camacho, Serina Camacho. Mykah Murdock, 5, Joaquin Carmack, son in-law, Jo Jo Murdock, daughter, and Kevin Murdock, son in-law. Photos taken prior to COVID-19 pandemic.

Sharing a positive outlook to overcome

‘The main thing is, don’t think it’s the end. It’s just a new beginning.’

JENNIFER BEST

Contributing Writer‌

‌Serina and Albert Camacho have given a lot to their community. They’re foster parents, fundraisers, a soccer coach and a postal worker. And when Serina was diagnosed with stage-three breast cancer, the community stepped right up to give back.

“If it wasn’t for the help from everybody, we wouldn’t have gotten through it, not just the financial part, but the being there,” Serina said.

Raised in Oceano but long since a resident of Santa Maria, Serina discovered her first cancerous growth during her first routine mammogram in 2018. The growth was determined to be benign and left in place.

Months later, when the nipple on her other breast inverted, another mammogram followed by biopsy turned up a malignant growth.

Surgery to remove three lymph nodes and the initial growth turned up yet another growth which resulted in a mastectomy.

She went through three rounds with Adriamycin, “the red devil,” so nicknamed for the red hue pushed into her vein to chase away any remaining cancer cells, before taking on additional chemotherapy treatments and radiation treatment.

“I felt tired, but I felt like I had to go to work because I couldn’t

Serina Camacho, left, and her daughter-in-law Jojo Murdoch share a moment at a family barbecue.

The Camacho family gathers around Serina Camacho, center, back row, at a family barbecue. just stay home. Work kept my mind off stuff,” Serina said.

Initially, she didn’t tell her co-workers about her personal health challenges. She kept her union representative in the loop while she balanced mail carrying

with doctor’s appointments until coworkers began asking.

“That’s when they started fundraising and the meal train.

It really shocked us,” Serina said.

Please see CAMACHO, Page 4

Support from friends, family, Mission Hope pays off in cancer fight ‘I thought I had a hernia. The urologist thought I had an infection. Anna suggested we get blood work done and that came up with the cancer.’

JENNIFER BEST

Contributing Writer‌

‌Before COVID-19, there was cancer. Kevin Andrews was just getting back up to speed when the shelter-at-home mandate was put into place, but in his preCOVID down time, he’d manage chemotherapy, surgeries and a wedding with the support of family, friends, Mission Hope Cancer Center, 17 Strong and a variety of wedding professionals.

“My wife is a nurse and has been a driving force behind everything that’s happened. She not only had the knowledge, but the resources,” Andrews said.

Kevin and Anna were engaged in September 2018. Two months later, he was diagnosed with germ cell cancer.

“I thought I had a hernia. The urologist thought I had an infection. Anna suggested we get blood work done and that came up with

the cancer. They called me with the diagnosis in the morning and I was in surgery that afternoon,” Kevin said.

The fast-growing form of testicular cancer had already made its way to his lymph nodes. When the first surgery and initial round of chemotherapy didn’t do the trick, Mission Hope’s Dr. Robert Dichmann referred Kevin to USC for a second surgery during the winter of 2019.

“I was very fortunate in that the surgeon I got created a new procedure that replaced the sternum-to-pelvis incision with a four-inch incision through the muscle wall around your belly button. It affects your abdomen, so there’s been a bit of recovery after that, but it’s been fairly easy,” Kevin said.

There were some oddities in his recovery: “One foot got super cold while the other was super

hot, random, and there was some nerve affectation along the inside of my leg for awhile.”

But the effects were nothing he couldn’t handle with his sweetheart at his side.

“My wife was the one who pushed me over the edge to get it checked out. I’d dealt with it for two or three weeks figuring I’d recover, probably had a hernia, my body was doing it’s thing.

I put it off probably longer than I should have, but we were fortunate to catch it when I did,” Kevin said.

He wasn’t gung-ho at the thought of chemotherapy, so sought out a second opinion from a homeopathic doctor.

“He looked me square in the face and said, ‘What’s going on, you have to take care of right now.’

If I had waited, it would have been a lot worse,” Kevin said.

They’d planned to get married

in June 2019, but with medical issues at hand and encouragement from their community, Kevin and Anna bumped up the date six months.

“For her to be able to make the calls that needed to be made if I became incapacitated, we felt moving up the date was most beneficial,” Kevin said.

From there the small-town circle kicked in. Kevin’s mom was talking to a friend “who knew someone who knew someone who was a wedding coordinator.” Wedding industry professionals joined forces to put together a special wedding ceremony at Rava Winery on two weeks notice in January 2019.

Kevin worked his way through chemo while Anna did the heavy lifting for the wedding.

“They went above and beyond.

It was pretty special,” Kevin said.

They enjoyed a brief honeymoon in Avila Beach, all he could handle at the time, and later a trip to Hawaii. They’d held off on a trip donated by 17 Strong

which has now been delayed by COVID-19, but they continue looking ahead.

“Community support has been a big deal to us through his whole thing. We’re supper blessed by the community around here, from Mission Hope to family and friends and even strangers who all made a huge difference in all of this. They let us handle our business and at the same time they were there for us,” Kevin said.

He was especially grateful to Holly and Steve Teixeira of 17 Strong for their ongoing encouragement and support.

“They’ve been pretty influential in this whole situation. They’ve been extremely patient with me, amazing through this whole thing.

Their organization is pretty special. It’s been a huge blessing to interact with them,” Kevin said.

For more information about 17 Strong, the Five Cities-based nonprofit focused on the needs of patients ages 17 to 40, visit seventeenstrong.org.

00 01

Wednesday, August 26, 2020 | DAY OF HOPE | 3

SANTA MARIA TIMES

A Benefit for Marian Cancer Care at Mission Hope Cancer Center

Exercise training paves road to cancer recovery ‘Even if I felt crummy when I started, I always felt better afterward.’

JENNIFER BEST

Contributing Writer‌

FRANK COWAN, CONTRIBUTOR‌

‌ llen Beck credits much of her E return to full health and activity to Mission Hope cancer exercise trainer John Malinowski. When she felt more like melting into a sleepy puddle on her couch, he prodded her to get to the gym.

When she thought she couldn’t, he convinced her she could.

“I didn’t realize how weak I had become because before cancer I was going to pilates and in great shape. I don’t think I would have gotten back to 100 percent without John,” the Arroyo Grande woman said.

Beck went through rounds of radiation and chemotherapy at Mission Hope Cancer Center in the fall of 2018. During the course of her recovery, she was referred to Malinowski and Mission Hope Wellness Center.

“I was interested in the exercise program, and the facility is really carefully cleaned so it feels a lot safer for cancer patients than a regular gym, but I felt really lousy.

I wasn’t up to doing it until two months post treatment,” Beck said.

From left, Ken Tawzer, a world champion weight lifter, Mary Tawzer, three time world champion weight lifter, and Custom Workout gym owner Marc Gatson. Photo taken prior to COVID-19 pandemic.

Weightlifting, family, provide strength to keep on fighting CONTRIBUTED PHOTO‌

Ellen Beck works out with Marian Cancer Care fitness trainer John Malinowski.

The outpatient wellness center provides Mission Hope patients comprehensive, 12-week exercise programs that include psychosocial analysis, nutrition coaching through the registered dietitian, and personalize exercise programs to develop upper extremity muscular strength, endurance, reduce fall risk and address dysfunction of the arm

and shoulder.

Programs include group exercise classes which encompass a generalized muscle strengthening routine for major muscle groups, balance activities, and stretching. They also include walking class, golf group and an aquatic exercise class.

Please see BECK, Page 4

FRANK COWAN, CONTRIBUTOR‌

Cancer survivor Connie Glenn-Wemple walks with her dog Chloe in Orcutt Community Park.

Donor program

INSPIRES

avid walker to overcome ‘I had my loved ones and friends with me all the time, but I always saw women there who had no one.’

JENNIFER BEST

Contributing Writer‌

00 01

‌Many Mission Hope Cancer Center patients hit the chemotherapy treatment room with a friend or family member in tow, a partner in treatment who helps keep company, lift spirits, provide emotional support and a ride home.

Those who face the treatment alone may instead be greeted with gift bags from an anonymous donor with intimate knowledge of the process.

Licensed clinical social worker Ashley Hahn selects the patients, lets the donor know where that patient is in treatment, then steps back.

“I think about where I was at that point in my chemo, relating to where she is in her journey, and put together a gift for her. I intend to do this forever. It gets to me so much to think that maybe I could

be helping other women through this journey,” said the donor.

The donor’s program has touched the heart of Connie Glenn-Wemple, an avid walker who was shocked by her own breast cancer diagnosis in late 2018.

“I didn’t believe it because I’m the healthiest person in the world. I still don’t believe it, to tell you the truth. I never get a cold. I never get sick. I got my tonsils out when I was 10 and haven’t been sick a day since then,” she said.

Glenn-Wemple felt the lump shortly after receiving her shingles vaccination.

“I thought it was just an enlarged lymph node reacting to the shingles vaccination; that it would take care of itself,” she said.

Out of an abundance of caution, she mentioned it to her doctor, and a biopsy led to a lumpectomy and removal of lymph nodes, chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

“For being a cancer thing, it couldn’t have been better. They give so much love and support.

It’s a terrifying thing when you first go into the infusion room, but the nurses are working with patients; people are laughing and talking. They make it a place of levity and lightheartedness,”

Glenn-Wemple said.

After surgery, a substantial lump emerged under her right arm again.

“It scared me to death,” she said.

But it turned out a nicked nerve led to a fluid buildup that was improved through physical therapy.

Glenn-Wemple said she was very lucky during chemo because, between all three of her adult children, she was covered.

“I had my loved ones and friends with me all the time, but I always saw women there who had no one. I’m sure there is more need for a program like this than I could see. I hope it’s a program that can grow,” she said.

Due to COVID-19 limited visitation policies are now in place, and cancer patients are not allowed visitors during treatments or exams.

These days, Glenn-Wemple is back up to long walks with her dogs. She averages 5 miles a day, though it’s not unusual for her to walk nearly 20 miles in a day.

“I think my health was to my benefit. I’m a fantastic walker.

It’s the most therapeutic thing I can do for myself because I do my best thinking while I’m walking,” she said.

‘You just do what you have to do.’

JENNIFER BEST

Contributing Writer‌

‌For more than two decades Mary Tawzer, of Los Alamos, has faced off with cancer through surgeries and chemotherapy, radiation therapy and hair loss.

Her fitness and strength as a champion weight lifter, inspiration from her grandchildren and support from her team at Mission Hope Cancer Center have carried her through.

“My family is my biggest support and the reason for life and the reason to fight. I have to be there for these grandchildren. I have to get to know them and hug them and love them and let them know they have a grandma. I can’t let this not happen,” Tawzer said.

Her journey began 22 years ago with a lump in her breast.

“I was very naive. I thought since my doctor said not to worry about that there was nothing to worry about. So I didn’t,” she recalled.

The lump would grow, then recede, then return, but it was ever present.

When a urinary tract infection sent her to the hospital, her primary care doctor got a look and recommended a biopsy.

“I’m a do-what-we-gotta-do kind of person, so I went with it,” Tawzer said.

The biopsy led to surgery, chemotherapy and radiation treatments on her lunch hour as she continued working.

“You just do what you have to do,” she said.

It was a lesson she would repeat endlessly as first her husband (Ken Tawzer) and son (Clay Tawzer) and finally she, entered the world of competitive weight lifting.

“I’d been lifting a little at the gym to get in better shape, but there was no way I was wearing the wrestling suit and putting my fat legs out there,” Mary said with a laugh.

But competition organizers wouldn’t let her off that easy.

They helped her learn proper form to compete in strict curl, and they let her wear sweatpants. Her husband also signed her up for deadlift at her first competition.

“I was the only girl, so of course I won, but it was fun. It was kind of addicting,” Mary said.

She continued training, traveling and competing with her husband and son, earning six different world championships.

She was benching (125 pounds

raw), deadlifting (308 pounds) and squatting (115 pounds) her way into the record books, when a regular checkup turned up cancer in her lymph nodes seven years ago.

“I wasn’t going to let it get out of hand again. There was surgery to have that removed, then more chemo and radiation. I just kept working. It’s not fun, but I knew I had to do it,” she said.

But without lymph nodes, heavy lifting was out. Training could lead to lymphedema and complications.

“It broke my heart. I really enjoyed it. I hated training, but I loved going to the meets and seeing people, getting to know different people. It becomes like family,” Mary said.

But her experience weightlifting had given her the drive to get through that second bout with cancer.

“Just the fact that I was stronger helped me keep working, helped me get up at 3 a.m. to work a full shift and still go through treatment. I don’t think I could have done that without weight lifting and what it did for me,” Mary said.

Fast forward another five years to a bout with pneumonia that led Mary back to the hospital, where masses of cancerous cells were found in her stomach lining, breast, liver and lymph nodes in her chest.

She’s on a treatment that helps shrink masses and continues to lift as her energy levels allow.

And the lifting community’s affinity with the Tawzer family panned out.

Clay and Ken returned to lifting to increase breast cancer awareness.

Inspired, Gus Rethwisch of World Association of Bench and Dead Lifting, invited Mary to compete in a relatively new class for people with disabilities.

Mary tears up as she tells the story of that phone call, with Rethwisch introducing a new division for cancer patients, and his desire for Mary to be first to enter.

With her doctors’ approval, she returned to light lifting, and in November the Tawzers traveled to Las Vegas for the WABDL World Championships. Mary benched 60 pounds, deadlifted 104 and earned her seventh world title.

“It was very special to me. I mean, it’s 200 less than I was doing 10 years before, but still I did it, and it felt good and we spread the word about early detection, well checks, because that’s going to save your life,” Mary said.

Mary Tawzer, three-time breast cancer patient and seven-time world champion in weight lifting events, works out.

4

| DAY OF HOPE | WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2020

Vega From 1

of their father, looking out for them was more difficult,” she said.

One day, she felt an excruciating stomach pain accompanied by uncontrollable vomiting she couldn’t ignore, and finally headed to the emergency room.

Not even morphine controlled or lessened the pain I felt,” she said.

She had to stay three days under medical observation and was diagnosed with what medical professionals believed was a highly developed pancreatic cancer. “I

Linder From 1

“I do full dress clown costume, makeup, hair piece. I make balloon animals, and have more fun than the world can deal with,” he said.

He also enjoys helping his mother-in-law, Diane Barr, get around town on her errands, following NASCAR, and keeping house while his wife, Debbie Lutzow-Linder, wraps up her career in nursing.

At 78, he maintains the family motorhome for short trips to San Simeon, Refugio or El Capitan on Debbie’s days off, and he looks forward to

SANTA MARIA TIMES

was told I probably didn’t have much time to live,” she said.

After receiving a series of medical exams in April 2019, Vega was diagnosed with Stage 4 Hodgkins Lymphoma.

In addition to the uncertainty her health status caused her, her ex-partner filed for divorce shortly after learning of her diagnosis and demanded full custody of their children.

Vega began to enter a state of depression. “Now I had a double burden, two battles to fight, and I felt like I was losing everything.”

Mission Hope’s staff was crucial not only for her cancer treatment train trips and cruises in coming days.

“I love traveling with my wife, flying around the States to visit relatives. It really makes me happy,” Linder said.

Though he sees the world through one eye now, he sees it fully and thankfully.

“I had excellent experiences with Mission Hope. Dr. Ketting was just extraordinary. He has a bedside manner that’s impeccable. He has knowledge of the world of cancer like you could not find anywhere else, I think.

He really has my admiration very much. If I had to do it all again, he’s the only doctor I’d want to deal with, so Mission Hope is my hero,” Linder said.

FRANK COWAN CONTRIBUTOR

Mission Hope former cancer patient John Linder.

Beck From 3

“There’s great camaraderie that’s built up with people coming in over a 12-week program, and sometimes people make friendships that carry on outside

the walls of the wellness center,” Malinowski said.

Patients have developed their own hiking groups, golf gatherings and coffee klatches.

“There’s a strong psychosocial connection to the program. People are getting more benefit than just the physical benefit of exercise,”

but in addressing her emotional well-being. “They gave me hope back,” Vega said.

“John Malinowski always strived to learn Spanish to communicate with me and other patients. There is no doubt these people have a passion for what they do,” she said.

“Also, every time I attended a session with my (psychological) therapist, I came out of there feeling so much stronger and happier. I appreciate having Mission Hope’s staff who can empathize with me. I know some have survived cancer themselves.”

Spanish support groups and

wellness classes also provided Vega the opportunity to reflect, learn and motivated her to persevere, especially when she felt she could not see the light and dealt with the struggling side effects of chemotherapy.

“If I am not well, those around me won’t be either. My family and I have learned to eat healthier, to live better. Also, this whole experience tested the strength I always knew I had. I faced two battles at the same time and I won,” Vega said.

Now, several months after the complete remission of her cancer, Vega emphasized the importance of prioritizing personal health.

“Don’t be afraid to ask for help, even if the cost of the healthcare services concern you, and you wonder how you will pay. I want you to know that there are programs out there that can support you,” she said.

Vega is grateful for a second chance at life and hopes to resume the English and child development classes she was enrolled in at Allan Hancock College to eventually achieve her dream of becoming an elementary school teacher and give back to her community.

“My children are my rock and motivation. I want to be a great role model for them”, Vega said.

Camacho From 2

Parents on the youth soccer teams Albert coached began delivering meals. Friends held fundraisers with local restaurants. Women Helping Women stepped up. Mission Hope helped connect the Camachos with a variety of financial aid programs.

“The people that work at Mission Hope are so wonderful,” Serina said.

“It’s a family atmosphere even though it’s a horrible thing to go through. They make it a lot easier.

We laugh and joke. The nurses there are like our sisters,” Albert said.

But Serina said her greatest supporters have been Albert and their kids.

“This is something that affects everybody. I don’t think there’s anyone in this area that hasn’t had a family member or friend or someone who they know who’s been affected by this disease. It’s not something to be ashamed of; it’s something to rally around and figure out how to stop it,” Albert said.

They created “Fighting Cancer Camacho Style” T-shirts and shaved their hair when she lost hers.

She also took full advantage of Mission Hope programs including the Appearance Center’s wig certificate and access to hats and scarves.

Malinowski said.

And in Malinowski, they’re getting more than a coach; they’re finding a cheerleader.

“At first it was daunting because I was so weak. I felt really lousy so I wasn’t up to doing it until maybe two months post treatment. John kept after me until I started, which

FRANK COWAN, CONTRIBUTOR

Albert and Serina Camacho.

“My daughter in law, Jojo Murdoch, and I went in there and played with the hats and scarves and mirrors and had a blast,” Serina recalled.

There were issues with insurance, including out-of-network expenses and lack of coverage for infusions.

“Part of the situation at Mission Hope is they make you apply for medical aid even though we weren’t able to qualify. We figured we’d be denied. It turns out they have a lot of programs to help. Whatever insurance didn’t cover, we were able to cover with these fundraisers and Mission Hope programs,” Serina said.

Her peers at the post office set

up a raffle, and other fundraisers followed.

“Every little bit really does help.

People need to reach out and dig deep. There are lots of different organizations that want to help, so many willing people, so you don’t have to feel overwhelmed.

Don’t give up. There’s something out there. There are always people there to help you,” Albert said.

Together, the Camachos share a positive outlook.

“The main thing is: don’t think it’s the end. It’s just a new beginning. You have to adapt to what’s handed to you and have the strength to push through.

That’s where friends and family come in,” Albert said.

was a good thing,” Beck said.

She figures she would have started walking on her own at some point, but that simple exercise, she said, would never have gotten her back to form.

“John is really kind and encouraging. When I have an appointment, I can’t just say, ‘I don’t feel like going.’

I feel committed to going, and that’s been great for me. When I went, even if I felt crummy when I started, I always felt better afterward,” Beck said.

Since her treatment, Beck said she hasn’t been sick once.

“I think the biggest thing has been the regular exercise. It strengthens your immune system,” Beck said.

Day of Hope The Seventh Annual

A Benefit for Marian Cancer Care Patients at Mission Hope Cancer Center proudly presented by inspire sponsors

even t partn er s

AN AFFILIATE OF

pr esen tin G med ia spo n so r s

h o pe spo n so r s

www.missionhopecancercenter.com

d iG n ity spo n so r s

j u stice spo n so r s

su pportin G media spo n so r s

e x c e l l e nc e s p ons ors

00 01