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Loe family standing strong against the storm By Michelle Boswell mboswell@thepaperofmiami.com Gary and Lisa Loe have been pillars in Peru for many years. Now they are leaning on their faith in God, family, and friends to get through a tough time. Gary Loe, who was a mailman in Peru for over 30 years, was diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer that had spread to his bones three years ago. After he went through chemotherapy, the prostate cancer went into remission, but he has continued to manage bone cancer. In November 2019, his PSA levels went up and it was determined the prostate cancer had returned. Loe had been taking a pill for nine months that was not effective all while disputing with the insurance company to approve a new pill. After several denials to have access to the new pill, Loe is going through chemotherapy again. He will have six infusions, three weeks apart. He has had one treatment so far. “He’s doing pretty well now but he had a bad week last week. He had chemo and spiked a fever. He was dehydrated from being so ill from chemo and we had to go to the emergency room. He’s doing so much better now,” said Lisa. Gary has been going to Parkview Hospital in Wabash for treatment and his oncologist comes from the IU Medical Center. Gary, well-known to those who have had sons or daughters in sports at Peru High School over the years, has happily been a part of Peru Tiger teams for many years. “With the pandemic, we are trying to keep him away from people, but he just loves his Peru High School sports,” Lisa explained. Gary has been keeping the score book for the Peru High School basketball team for about 25 years and has helped with the high school football team since the early 1990’s. He used to help with the “chain gang” along the sidelines before the 90’s. Loe also keeps stats for the high school baseball team and keeps the score book for the high school girls’ basketball team. Loe used to coach girls’ basketball as well. “We gotta get him well. This is what he lives for,” said Lisa. Lisa was a preschool teacher for many years in Peru but retired when her father became ill. She came out of retirement and has recently been serving as an aide, riding the bus with special needs students as a part-time job to help pay bills. Then COVID-19 came along, and she felt she needed to protect Gary from contracting the virus, so she had to leave her job. Lisa
Gary and Lisa Loe along with their daughters, left to right, Amber, Niki and Mandi. said “I wish there wasn’t COVID. Gary is such a people person. He needs people.” The Loes have three daughters, Mandi Bielanski, Niki Rodriguez and Amber Loe who have rallied around their parents to help wherever they can. “Mandy goes to a lot of appointments because I get flustered. Nikki and her family just moved here from Michigan to help and Amber, who lives in Schererville, Indiana, comes once a month to help as well,” said Lisa. While the daughters have been helping their parents, a granddaughter, Sammi, has come to stay with the Loes and that has been a lift to their spirits. “She’s good medicine for us so we don’t sit around and stew and worry,” Lisa said.
Lisa’s brother, Gary Downing, has also been helping keep things in shipshape around the Loe household. He has been mowing their grass and carrying salt for the softener. As Lisa put it, “a lot of odds and ends jobs that need done but we just can’t do it.” While their family has stepped in to help wherever they can through this difficult time, the community has also been reaching out to the Loes. “We are thankful to live in this community...all the phone messages and prayers…we are blessed. I think every church in Miami County has us on their prayer list. We are so blessed,” Lisa said. Ask anyone who has heard the words, “you have
See Loe, Page 2
Marriage licenses, Page 2. Photos from the Peru vs. Wabash game, Page 5. Police reports, Page 7.
September 16, 2020
Proudly Serving Miami County
Vol. 1, No. 32