The 12th annual American Cancer Society West Polk County Relay for Life will be June 12 and 13 on the University of Minnesota, Crookston campus. The overnight event kicks off with registration for cancer survivors and teams from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Friday, with opening ceremonies at 6 p.m. Entertainment, food, silent auctions, games and a variety of other activities will go on throughout the evening and morning until the closing ceremony at 5:30 a.m. Saturday.
   
Proceeds from Relay for Life will be used for research, cancer prevention and detection programs, and patient services in Polk County. This year’s co-chairs are Lori Hoerner and Juanita Lopez, both of Crookston. Luminaries in honor or memory of loved cancer patients are available for a donation of $10 by contacting any team member, Hoerner at 281-6291 or Lopez at 281-2040. People who’d like to volunteer with the event can also call them.
   
From now until the Relay, the Times will publish stories of local residents and their experiences with cancer.

Shirley Reitmeier’s story
Shirley Reitmeier, 48, of rural Crookston, was diagnosed with breast cancer on Feb. 1, 2008.
   
"Dr. Bell wanted us (Shirley and husband, Leroy) to have a plan before leaving the office that day, which was a Friday," she explained. "So I called a dear friend in Fargo who’s a surgeon. He said, ‘Tell your husband I only work on celebrities and I’ll see you Monday morning.’"
   
Shirley had a lumpectomy to remove the tumor the following Tuesday. After healing from the procedure, she met with an oncologist, who offered her two choices for treatment courses: six weeks of daily radiation or brachytherapy, which involves placing radioactive "seeds" within the breast to infuse the area with intense radiation for a shorter period of time.
   
"I chose the brachytherapy. I went back to surgery and had 14 tubes put in my breast on a Thursday, came back Monday and had intensive radiation three times a day for a week," she explained. "When it was all done, they just snipped off the tubes, pulled it out and sent me home."
   
She went home Feb. 29, "so I got it all done in one month. When I came home March 1, I wondered what the heck happened the past month," she said.
   
A lot of people have asked her if she would do this therapy again versus going once a day for six weeks, said Shirley. "I would even though for the moment it was quite painful. When you don’t have a choice, though, you do what you have to."
   
Shirley’s cancer – the size of a pencil eraser – was caught very early with a mammogram, which is why she didn’t need to undergo chemotherapy. Early detection also saved her from having to remove the breast, which is still done for more advanced  cases but not nearly as often as it once was.
   
"The reason they caught it so soon was that I’d had a mammo six months before and this was my follow-up from that," she said. "I did everything right up to that point.
   
"My biggest campaign is for women to get their mammograms, follow through and stay on top of them, and do your breast checks," said Shirley. "If you think the mammo hurts – which I don’t – try going through radiation or more advanced treatment."
   
Her oncologist has her on a five-year plan for treatment, which includes a shot every three months to induce menopause and a daily dose of a cancer pill for another four years in addition to mammograms twice a year.
   
The radiation has left her with severe scar tissue in the breast, complicating the process of scanning for lumps. When a benign lump was found, "they had to some digging around with ultrasound," she said, which caused her to get painful charley horses in the breast. She also developed mastitis and a yeast infection in the breast.

"But I’m here and I survived cancer, with relatively few lasting effects," Shirley asserted. "It could have been much worse."   
   
Acupuncture treatments have provided substantial relief from pain and she highly recommends them to cancer sufferers. Many insurance policies, she was surprised to find out, do cover it for cancer patients and others with pain issues. Body massage is another therapy she’s found helpful, she added.
   
Other than a grandmother, no one in Shirley’s family has had breast cancer. Still, she decided to have genetic testing done to see if she carried the breast cancer gene.
   
"Thankfully, I don’t carry the gene," she said. "I only have sons, but I did it for my grandkids and nieces, and if my siblings choose to get tested.
   
"I never thought this would happen to me," Shirley said. "I guess it’s just the luck of the draw."
   
Her involvement with Relay goes back years before her cancer diagnosis, as she and her husband would go to support the cause and buy luminaries to honor those they knew who suffered from the disease.
   
"Then all of a sudden when you have it, the whole thing takes on a different meaning," said Shirley. "When you go out there see your name on the bags, it’s very humbling. It puts a different spin on it."
   
Her Relay team is in charge of this year’s survivor supper, she said, and she’s hoping to have a large wall display similar to one hanging from the Donaldson Hotel in downtown Fargo recently. It consisted of several long, colorful streamers dangling high on the outside wall. What the streamers were made of was the unusual part: bras.
   
"What a perfect way to plant the seed of awareness for breast cancer," said Shirley.