LIFESTYLES
WEEKEND, JUNE 17-18, 2017
Pyrosomes
swarm the
coast/4C
‘King of
Accordion’ at
Wildhorse/3C
Visiting
Ritter Hot
Springs/10C
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Loretta Wells was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2000 and her husband Randy Wells was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2009.
Want to get involved?
Survivors of cancer meet monthly for support, advice
For more information about
Kick’n Cancer New Begin-
nings or an intake consulta-
tion, contact Debra Shampine
at Roundup Athletic Club at
509-301-2295.
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
There are more than 100 different
kinds of cancer, but there area even more
ways to be a cancer survivor.
Some survivors have lingering
physical effects, others gain new worries
that every new bump or sniffl e might be
cancer. Some do their best to leave their
illness in the past while others throw
themselves into advocacy.
Whatever their situation, survivors are
always welcome on the second Tuesday
of each month at 1 p.m. at St. Anthony
Hospital, Pendleton for lunch. No
cancer-related subject is off the table. At
last Tuesday’s gathering they joked about
one breast cancer survivor’s memorable
“bye bye boobies” party before a double
mastectomy and she talked about how
uncomfortable and strange it can be to
wear prostheses.
That’s the point of the group — to be
able to share tips and commiserate with
people who have been through some-
thing similar and won’t shy away from
the awkward parts.
Loretta and Randy Wells
The Wells family knows what it means
to survive cancer. Loretta Wells was
diagnosed with breast cancer in 2000 and
her husband Randy Wells was diagnosed
with prostate cancer in 2009.
Loretta went through surgery and
chemotherapy, and it was a rough
experience. Even months afterward
she was still tired from the chemo and
experiencing muscle weakness from the
surgery. That’s when Debra Shampine of
the Roundup Athletic Club convinced her
to let her help.
“My immune system was really low
and I couldn’t do a lot, but she was really
good about showing me how to do this
stuff,” Loretta said.
Out of Shampine’s early efforts
to help cancer survivors rebuild their
strength came today’s Kick’n Cancer
Contributed photo by Randy Wells
Randy Wells goes through pro-
ton therapy treatment for prostate
cancer in 2009 at Loma Linda Univer-
sity Medical Center in California.
Contributed photo by Randy Wells
Loretta Wells holds her new grand-
daughter in 2001 shortly after her
chemotherapy was completed.
New Beginnings, which offers support
to cancer survivors. The nonprofi t’s
Spirit Program offers cancer survivors a
free year’s membership at the Roundup
Athletic Club, free fi tness classes, a
personal trainer, a massage once a month
and counseling from a nutritionist.
Loretta said the support of after-cancer
programs like Kick’n Cancer and the
survivors’ luncheon is important, because
the need for emotional support doesn’t
end when the cancer goes into remission.
“After I was done with my treatments
and the doctor said I was released, it
scared me to death because you have
someone watching you at all times to
make sure you’re OK, and I wasn’t going
to have that anymore,” she said.
Nine years after Loretta’s cancer
battle, Randy was diagnosed with pros-
tate cancer.
“When I thought he would have to
go through what I did, I was in tears,”
Loretta said.
But Randy was lucky. He was accepted
into a proton beam therapy program at
Loma Linda University Medical Center
in California, which he called a “radia-
tion vacation” due to the treatment’s rela-
tively side effect-free nature. At the time
men who didn’t go down to Loma Linda
for treatment for prostate cancer had to
go through surgery, and he said he was
grateful to Sen. Bill Hansell, who was
the fi rst man from Umatilla County to
get treatment at Loma Linda in 2000 and
blazed the trail in getting local insurance
companies to pay for treatment there.
Randy said after he was done with
treatment he quickly returned to his
previous level of health and hasn’t
noticed lingering physical side effects,
other than getting “hooked” on frozen
yogurt while in California.
Mentally, however, he acknowledged
that cancer changes you.
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Rosemarie Atfi eld has been diagnosed with cancer three times. First she was
diagnosed with breast caner, then kidney cancer and lastly skin cancer.
“Every time something happens, you
wonder, is that going to be cancer?” he
said.
Rosemarie Atfi eld
Pendleton resident Rosemarie Atfi eld
has had cancer three times, but still insists
she’s “one of the lucky ones.” She wasn’t
even sure her story was worth including
in a news article about cancer survivors.
In 2003 she had a double mastectomy
to remove breast cancer that was caught
early enough that she didn’t need to go
through chemo or radiation. Two years
later she started losing a signifi cant
amount of weight for no apparent reason
and insisted that her doctor perform
a pelvis-to-shoulder MRI. That MRI
caught her early-stage kidney cancer,
which was taken care of by removing
part of her kidney. Since then she has had
two different skin cancers that were again
fi xed by surgery instead of months-long
treatments because she noticed some-
thing was wrong and went to see a doctor.
“People don’t pay attention to their
bodies the way they should, especially if
they’ve been healthy,” she said.
See CANCER/2C