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The project was developed
by Kyle Petrocine, renewable
energy manager for Wallowa
Resources Community Solu-
tions; Matt King, renewable
energy advisor for Wallowa
Resources Community Solu-
tions; and Wallowa Resources
Executive Director Nils Chris-
toffersen. Local contractors (in-
cluding Vern and Marti) built
the installation.
As the turbines of two
pumps are rotated by the flow
of West Side Ditch water, the
pumps create approximately
154,000 kilowatts of electrical
power annually — enough to
run irrigation, lights and heat
for the farm and the SPS Auto-
SURVIVOR
Continued from Page A1
Throughout her treatment
she missed just two days of
work. When too tired to stand,
she draped her upper body
across a tall countertop to sup-
port her weight as she taught.
Her husband David, also
a teacher, was shocked and
scared.
“Normally when younger
women are diagnosed with
breast cancer, it’s an aggres-
sive form, and mine was,” she
said.
Fortunately, the cancer was
caught before it reached her
lymph nodes. She had both
chemotherapy and radiation
treatment. The intensity of the
treatment caused her to lose
November 2, 2016
Wallowa County Chieftain
motive Repair shop and more.
Then the water just keeps on
flowing. It will flow another
four miles, Vern Spaur said.
“It can be used again and
again. I’m pretty blessed to live
where I live and have plenty of
water. In this case (hydro pow-
er) provides power for our en-
tire operation. I feel pretty good
about it because I have a pretty
small (ecological) footprint.”
There are plenty of other
ranches on down that four-mile
stretch of ditch from the Spaur
Ranch, and Vern Spaur consid-
ers himself to be just the first
among the many that may be
part of a micro-hydro boom in
Wallowa County.
Irrigation systems are one
good point of entry into mi-
cro-hydro power because the
water in the ditch is free of fish.
Channeling irrigation water
through hydroelectric gener-
ators makes double use of it,
and mountainous terrain means
there are many candidates for
project sites thanks to gravity
flow.
At least 10 other Wallowa
County hydro projects are ei-
ther under consideration or in
the feasibility phase, accord-
ing to Jed Jorgensen, Program
Manager for the nonprofit En-
ergy Trust of Oregon, which
was the primary funder of
Spaur’s project.
Energy Trust has funded
about 10,000 renewable en-
ergy sources over the last 15
years. According to Jorgensen,
assessment work is underway
on the Westside/Poley-Allen
ditches near Lostine as well as
the North Prairie Creek Ditch
near Joseph. Other piping and
hydropower projects are being
evaluated along the Alder, Hur-
ricane and Ruby Peak ditches.
Six additional stand-alone hy-
dropower projects also are be-
ing assessed.
“From my perspective Wal-
lowa County is special because
there is a real concentrated
amount of hydro potential in
the county among irrigators,”
Jorgensen said.
Wallowa Resources’ Chris-
toffersen said the Spaur Ranch
is exactly the sort of two-birds-
with-one-stone project his
organization was designed to
promote.
“The vision is something
we’re still proud of today,”
Christoffersen said. “Vern and
Marti Spaur are contributing in
a broader way, not just to food
production but to renewable
energy.”
“I was blessed by the fact
that I was made aware of Wal-
lowa Resources and other ave-
nues of financing,” Vern Spaur
said. “I encourage other farm-
ers interested in hydro to con-
tact Wallowa Resources.”
Wallowa Resources can
help ranchers and farmers ap-
ply to the Energy Trust of Ore-
gon and other qualified sources
for money to offset installation
costs.
The work of EnergyTrust of
Oregon is well recognized. In
partnership with the Farmers
Conservation Alliance, they
have created an Irrigation Mod-
ernization Program that recent-
ly was awarded the 2016 State
Leadership in Clean Energy
Award from the Clean Energy
States Alliance. That program
receives support from Oregon
legislators as well. U.S. Sen-
ator Ron Wyden (D-OR) said
the program “reaffirms what
we in Oregon have long known
— our state is all about figuring
out creative solutions that bene-
fit both the environment and the
economy.”
State Sen. Bill Hansell
(R-Athena) made time to visit
the Spaur Ranch for the unveil-
ing of the second hydro project
and to familiarize himself with
what small hydro is doing in
Wallowa County.
“I think out here in Eastern
Oregon we have all sorts of op-
portunities like this,” Hansell
said. “We’re going to find a cu-
mulative effect that will be very
beneficial. I’m really commit-
ted to this type of innovation.”
her hair, but she opted not to
wear a wig — even while at-
tending her 20th high school
reunion.
Martin’s type of cancer
was aggressive, and in 1989
the medical field didn’t stage
cancers by their progression.
“At the time I had my first
chemotherapy, it was a very
basic chemotherapy that was
given to everyone. ... I had
to take 18 pills every single
morning — a big, giant pile of
pills in my hand.”
She took as many pills as
she could at one time.
“After two weeks I would
just look at them and gag.
You had to get them down.
You couldn’t throw them up
because it was part of your
daily regimen for fighting the
cancer.”
On her own, Martin added
the then-unusual step of incor-
porating meditation into her
daily routine. It consisted of
visualizing her mind attacking
the cancer.
In the end, the treatments
worked. She went to battle
with her cancer and she was
able to come out the other side
a blessed and grateful survivor.
with cancer patients is that you
have all these appointments
and checkups, and if you have
a pain the day after, you think,
‘Oh, they missed something.’ I
finally got to the point where
I was just really tired of the
constant anxiety, so I chose
to have a double mastectomy.
I was just at the point I didn’t
want to deal with it anymore.”
Following surgery, Martin
made another life-altering de-
cision.
“I decided to have recon-
structive surgery. At the time
I was just 42 years old, and it
was difficult to see myself in
the mirror. It always brought
the whole cancer experience
back to me.”
Surgeons removed tissue
from her stomach area in an
attempt to reconstruct her
breasts, but the procedure did
not go well. Complications led
to a 13-hour stay on the oper-
ating table, more than twice as
long as normal.
The surgeons were unable
to complete the reconstruction
because of blood flow issues
relating to previous radiation
treatments. A skin graft that re-
sulted from the failed surgery
took a long time to heal, while
a stroke during the surgery left
her without the ability to speak
for some time. Some of the
scarring went deeper than that.
“It was a very, very trau-
matic experience, and it brings
back a lot of sad, disappointed
… almost post-traumatic stress
kind of symptoms. It was a
very difficult time.”
She said her support
groups, friends and family
helped her through the darkest
days, even if she had to make
the first move.
“When I was first diag-
nosed, there was still a real
stigma around having cancer.
When I told people that I had
breast cancer they were sur-
prised that I would let anyone
know.”
This included women she
knew with the disease who
looked at it as a shameful kind
of illness. Even her friends
initially kept a hands-off ap-
proach.
“I had to make the first
move — the first contact,
because people were just so
afraid I was going to die, and
they didn’t know what to say.”
met in these groups did not?”
She still doesn’t know.
“It’s a lifelong search I
think.”
Round 2
Five years later, almost to
the day, cancer again knocked
at the door.
“We were up here (visiting
their property) staying in our
barn. I was sleeping on the
ground and I could feel a tu-
mor on the other side. I never
even said anything because I
thought it was a recurrence,
and it would be the last sum-
mer I would spend with my
family.”
Back in San Diego, she
told her doctor that she sus-
pected a recurrence. Tests
showed a different form of
breast cancer, which required
different treatment. It was
an estrogen positive cancer,
meaning that it fed on the es-
trogen in her body.
“I didn’t have to have the
IV chemotherapy where you
lose your hair.”
Although this cancer
wasn’t as aggressive, Martin
found herself agonizing over
treatments that had a major
impact on her life.
“What people don’t realize
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Collateral damage
The ordeal also left deep
scars on the couple’s only bi-
ological child, who was well
aware of the illness.
“She saw me go through
treatment; she knew I was
bald. Later, when she saw that
I had a double mastectomy
she touched my arm and said,
‘Oh mama, it isn’t that bad.’
She was always very, very
supportive, but she cannot re-
member her childhood, and I
think it was because it was so
traumatic.”
The marriage suffered as
well.
“The thought of losing a
spouse so young, the deformi-
ty of a body, having the emo-
tional trauma we both went
through ... you can imagine
that yes, it did interfere with
our relationship. But David
was steadfast and loving the
whole time.”
She says God was her per-
sonal therapist, and support
groups also were an important
recovery aid.
“As a young woman, unless
you have other young women
to talk to, it can be really scary
— it hangs over your head. I
lost a lot of friends from those
support groups. Many died. It
was very, very difficult, and
the one thing that has colored
the rest of my life is: Why am
I the one that survived this
when so many of the friends I
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Every day a gift
It’s been 28 years since
Martin was first diagnosed
and she no longer gets regu-
lar cancer screenings because
of the expense involved. The
chemotherapy left its own
mark on her health in the form
of weight battles, arthritis and
secondary fibromyalgia, which
left her with chronic pain.
“It’s not easy to put cancer
in the back of my mind, but
I’ve determined that every
single day I’m going to feel
blessed.”
These days Martin partic-
ipates in a longitudinal breast
cancer survival study. She is
one of the study’s oldest par-
ticipants.
“To be a survivor for that
length of time and to be able
to participate in this study has
been helpful in being able to
continue to pursue getting rid
of this stuff — forever.
“It’s a different life than
I thought I’d lead, that’s for
sure. The walk through the
depth of despair and the trag-
edy that I have experienced
physically in my life — you
just get to the point where you
truly can see the mountain tops
and recognize that every single
day is better than when you
were down below. Every day
of my life since, I have tried to
say, ‘This day is a gift.’”
Lessons learned
Martin advises those strug-
gling with a serious illness
to do research and take notes
when seeing a medical doctor
or naturopath.
“Listen to all forms of
medicine, and don’t rule out
anything. Listen to your gut.”
She urges people to try
combining naturopathy with
traditional medicine.
“Don’t let the medical com-
munity bully you into thinking
that you can’t do both.”
Martin found it the most
challenging part of her illness.
“You had to be the strength
behind your own support sys-
tem, so they could eventually
stand behind you and stand for
you, and eventually they were
all able to do that.”
She also urges those who
have friends with serious ill-
nesses to reach out.
“Make a call, send a card or
make a meal. Even if all you
can say is ‘I don’t know what
to say,’ then that’s OK because
it shows at least that you care.”
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wallowa.com 541-426-4567