Reporter ISSAQUAH | SAMMAMISH
Friday, November 15, 2013
www.issaquahreporter.com
Sammamish approves EFR funding formula
Issaquah and district 38 yet to make final decision BY LINDA BALL
Shelby Ruge and Eastlake swimmers look at the clock during one of their last practices at the Redmond Pool
LBALL@ISSAQUAHREPORTER.COM
KELLY MONTGOMERY, Issaquah & Sammamish Reporter
JUST KEEP SWIMMING Eastlake teacher and coach fights for her life
BY KELLY MONTGOMERY
“I think most of the tears I cry are happy tears.”
KMONTGOMERY@ISSAQUAHREPORTER.COM
Two years ago, 28-year-old Shelby Ruge decided she was young, able and ready for an adventure. So she packed up her life in Kansas City, Mo., and moved to Seattle where she began teaching science and coaching girls’ swim at Eastlake High School. “I started drinking a lot of coffee. A lot of coffee,” she said. And in February of 2012, she found a mass in her chest and assumed it was due to her caffeine intake. “I thought I’d cut down on coffee and see if it went away,” Ruge said. “And being a teacher, I didn’t want to deal with sub plans and go take care of it, so I put it off until May.” The mass began hurting, so Ruge went in for a biopsy. It was negative for cancer. “They told me it would probably grow a little bit bigger, but since it was benign, I didn’t have to worry about it. And then in June, I had some really, really sharp pains and I just didn’t feel right. So I went back in and they checked it again, and it looked different than before, so they did
Redmond and Eastlake swim teams in their pink out shirts. PHOTO COURTESY OF KATE AGNEW
another biopsy.” Ruge was told that it was most likely nothing and not to worry about it. But the following Thursday, on June 27, she got the phone call. The mass was in fact cancerous. It was something that she somewhat expected, Ruge said, but that didn’t stop her from feeling overwhelmed with emotions. She was home visiting her family at the time. “I immediately started crying,” she said. “It was really, really hard to accept.” After 20 minutes of tears, Ruge decided she was done. She needed to be strong for her family, her
friends and ultimately herself. “Going to the infusion floor and seeing little kids...they have it worse than me. So there’s no reason to cry.” Ruge has no family history of cancer and tested negative for the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. So the chances of her being diagnosed with breast cancer were very, very slim, she said. The cancer spread to her lymph nodes under her arm, and they are unsure as to whether it is present in her lungs. Ruge said that children in Missouri contract a bad flu that can leave scar tissue in the lungs, and a CT scan will not show the difference. Her next scan should
– Shelby Ruge reveal a lot more information, but for now she continues with her weekly chemotherapy treatments as she hopes for the best. “It was just a very bad hand,” she said. And as a healthy 28-yearold, Ruge had signed up for the cheapest insurance plan. After being diagnosed, Ruge had already established herself as a patient at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance and decided she wanted continue her treatment at the facility. But it wasn’t covered under her plan. “I had made my mind up that regardless of the amount of money that I was going to have SEE SWIMMING, 8
The Sammamish city council voted unanimously Tuesday night, to approve the new funding formula for the partners in Eastside Fire and Rescue. The formula results in the five partners – Sammamish, Issaquah, North Bend and King County Districts 10 and 38, paying 85 percent based on assessed valuation and 15 percent based on calls for service. In addition, all partners will share 25 percent of the cost for fire station 81, the Pine Lake station, and station 72, the Maple St. station in Issaquah. The reason for sharing the 25 percent is because stations 81 and 72 each have 5 percent more “move ups,” or calls outside their geographical area. All five jurisdictions have approved the new formula with the exception of Issaquah and District 38. “All of this was bloody avoidable, frankly — it was totally unnecessary,” said Sammamish Mayor Tom Odell. “The result of the funding model is something that I’m happy with…we just wish to formalize certain aspects of it. We do appreciate the fact that, for most of the time this city has been in existence, we have been members of a larger organization.” Odell said four of the SEE EFR, 3