Cancer survivors celebrate at fundraiser

About 40 people wearing purple Cancer Survivor T-Shirts gathered behind a banner at the Havre High School track Saturday for the annual Relay for Life ceremonies.

Music played as survivors slowly walked around the quarter-mile path and crowds cheered them on. The announcer read off the names. Some, feeling the effects of cancer or old age, fell behind. When they finished the course, they got even louder applause.

Then they gathered for a butterfly release. As a sign of hope, instead of releasing balloons, each caregiver and each survivor was given a butterfly, and on a count of three all released them to fly over Havre.

It was an emotional part of an emotional day for people who were honored as a survivors of the disease.

About $22,000 was raised for the American Cancer Society, which funds research and helps people with the disease.

Before the walk, survivors told their stories of cancer to the crowd in formal speeches and to friends at the annual survivors dinner.

Dennis Murphy

Dennis Murphy, the athletic and activities director at Havre High School, knew the horrors of cancer well.

In 1981, his father was told he had lung cancer and a 10 percent chance of survival.

"He beat the odds," Murphy told the crowd. "He's 86 today."

Murphy's mother didn't beat the odds. She succumbed to cancer.

The disease took her life, but never her spirit. She remained a kind, gentle woman to the end, he said.

He recalled waiting for word from his doctor on Dec. 10, 2009.

"I nervously sat in my doctor's office," he said.

His doctor came out.

"He told me those three words," Murphy said. "You have cancer."

"Then he said, 'What are we going to do about it?'"

It came at a bad time of the year, he said. At the Christmas season, he didn't want to ruin his family's celebration, but didn't want to keep them in the dark.

His family and friends are what got him through the next 18 days, he said.

On Dec. 28, he had a 3.5 inch tumor removed, and he's been cancer-free since.

He said the experience taught him how important family and friends are during tough times.

And it gave him a sense of hope.

"Someday some doctor or researcher will find a cure to cancer," he predicted. "It will be a day to celebrate."

Richard Jarvis

Richard Jarvis told the crowd that if you are to beat cancer, you have to laugh and cry.

He did both during his talk to the crowd.

Saying he was terrified because he was afraid to talk in public, he asked the crowd to "stand up, turn around and don't look at me."

Then, turning serious, he urged the crowd to be unafraid of talking about their disease.

"I don't want to whisper about cancer," he said.

"It's a tough thing to go through," he said. "But people have to share their disease with family and friends."

He unsuccessfully tried to fight back tears as he talked about the support he got from family, friends and the Havre community he loves.

Jarvis said he's winning the fight against cancer "because of my loving family, my loving friends and my loving community," he said.

Pat Bear

Had Pat Bear of Hays not fallen on the job and injured her rotator cuff, her story may have ended differently.

But when she was getting treatment for her injury her doctor noticed a lump on her breast and insisted on a mammogram.

She had breast cancer.

That began her lengthy treatment.

It was a traumatic time in her life. While she was being wheeled in for treatment at a Billings hospital, she saw on television that the 9/11 attacks had begun.

After a tough fight, though, she emerged successful in her fight against cancer. As she was recovering in Billings in 2002, she took part in the Billings Relay for Life.

Since then, she has become an active participant in Relay for Life activities in Billings, Havre, Chinook and the one relay they held in Harlem.

Last week in Chinook, a thunderstorm broke out in the middle of Survivors Walk. Everyone scattered and took cover. Not Bear.

"I stayed on walking until the end," she said.

She has seen the bad effects of cancer. One relative, a 9-year-old boy succumbed to bone cancer.

She advises people with cancer to never give up, though they may want to at times.

Looking back, she says, "I'm just happy and humble to be here."

Les Osborne

Les Osborne, now of Havre, lived in Musselshell County when he learned he had leukemia.

"I knew one thing about leukemia," he said Saturday. "If you got it, you died."

That was 38 years, three children and four grandchildren ago.

He had reason to be scared of leukemia. He had a cousin who had died from the disease. Osborne fought the fight and won.

He underwent what was then a new therapy in which donors gave blood, that white blood cells were extracted, and given to Osborne. The problem was the donors had to have the same blood type as Osborne, the relatively rare A-negative.

Three people were found with the right blood type, and they provided the white blood cells that were needed.

At 38 years, Osborne, a retired Hill County Sheriff's Deputy, is the longest survivor of anybody treated by his doctor, Neil Hammond, now a Missoula lawer.

Osborne's advice to people who have been told they have cancer is: "All you can do is keep going. You have to keep going."

"Chemotherapy nearly kills you, but you must never give up."

Linda Sterner

Linda Sterner of Havre isn't sure how long she's been attending Relay for Life.

"I'll have to go home and county my the T-Shirts," she said, laughing.

At least seven times she's taken part in the ceremonies, she and her friends agreed.

Sterner is passionate about helping people who have the disease and those who have survived.

She is grateful for all the support she received from family and friends when she learned she had the disease. Now she wants to help out new people.

"I had a great husband, great neighbors and tremendous family and friends," she said.

"They caught my cancer early," she said. "That helped a lot."

Hearing the word cancer is terrifying, she said. But victims should not be too terrified. It can be beat.

"Don't ever give up," she advises people.