2022 Breast Cancer Awareness - Brainerd Dispatch

PUT A LID ON IT

Roof construction begins on Brainerd water tower

By Theresa Bourke Brainerd Dispatch

Brainerd

Aproject at least four years in the making is finally underway.

It was October 2018 when a group of citizens began meeting to figure out how to raise funds for much-needed renovations to Brainerd’s historic water tower.

The City Council gave them two years. But with the interruption of the COVID-19 pandemic and progress on the effort still being made, that 2020 sunset date was pushed back.

The issue was stucco falling off in chunks, largely due to decades of water damage as rain fell in the century-old tower’s exposed bowl. Engineers deemed the tower itself structurally sound but originally estimated the price tag for renovations to be $3 million.

Demolishing the tower, which hasn’t been in use for more than 60 years, was 10 times cheaper, expected to cost $300,000.

While some didn’t think saving the structure was worth it, a whole community banded together to do just that.

Four long years later, several of those involved in the process braved freezing fall temperatures on Monday, Oct. 17, 2022, to celebrate the beginning of the project.

“It’s been a long, long process,” Brainerd Mayor Dave Badeaux said to the small group gathered. “We’ve went through

a lot of different studies, a lot of different processes to get to this point.”

Hy-Tec Construction crews estimate it will take five weeks to put a synthetic rubber roof on top of the tower, weather depending.

TOWER: Page A16

Rae’s Hope

Cancer survivor raises hopes at Timber Bay Camp

By Theresa Bourke Brainerd Dispatch

ONAMIA — Lovely, Praiseworthy and Noble are the intentions behind Rae’s Hope at

Timber Bay Camp, just as the Bible verse states. Philippians 4:8 reads, “Finally, brothers,

Knudsen, Hobson vie for redrawn House seat in Legislature

Two candidates believe they are the best choice to represent the House of Representatives District 5A.

The recently redrawn

CROW WING COUNTY SHERIFF

Goddard, Klang make their cases to voters

Two candidates — the current sheriff and a police chief who served a term as sheriff himself — believe they are the best choice to serve as the top law enforcement officer in Crow Wing County.

Candidates are Sheriff Scott Goddard, a Breezy Point man seeking his second term, and Chief Eric Klang, a Baxter man who wants to make a return to lead the office.

The top vote-getter

will lead the Crow Wing County Sheriff’s Office for the next four years. Read stories on Goddard and Klang on Page A13 of today’s Brainerd Dispatch.

District 5A includes parts of Becker county, Cass County, Hubbard County and Wadena County after changes made following the 2020 census.

Candidates are DFLer Brian M. Hobson of Park Rapids, a third grade teacher; and Republican Krista Knudsen of Lake Shore, a small business

owner and mother of four.

The top vote-getter from the Nov. 8 election will obtain the seat in the House of Representatives.

State fire chiefs group honors Brainerd’s Tim Holmes as Fire Officer of the Year

By Tim Speier Brainerd Dispatch

BRAINERD — With over 25 years of public service to the Brainerd lakes area, Brainerd Fire Chief Tim Holmes said he felt humbled and honored when he found out he had not only been nominated but was also selected as the 2022 Fire Officer of the Year for a population over 10,000.

Holmes will be formally recognized Oct. 21 at the Minnesota State Fire

HOLMES: Page A17

Unlock digital at

Read the candidates’ profiles on Page A13 of today’s Brainerd Dispatch.

Tim Speier / Brainerd Dispatch

Fire Hall.

Photos by Kelly Humphrey / Brainerd Dispatch

Steve Kohls / Brainerd Dispatch

Knudsen Hobson

Goddard Klang

HOPE:

shares her breast cancer journey

By Nancy Vogt Echo Journal

NISSWA — “Who goes and gets a mammogram during the pandemic? Me, I guess.”

And that decision was potentially lifesaving for Tami Kuehl, 53, of Nisswa.

Like most people who survived or are fighting breast cancer, Kuehl can’t stress enough her advice to women to get annual mammograms.

“I didn’t have any symptoms. I couldn’t feel anything. I had no symptoms whatsoever,” Kuehl said. “I would have never found this if it wouldn’t have been for a mammogram.”

At first reluctant to share her story - Kuehl said there are other women who have had mastectomies or who have suffered far morebut her faith guided her as she walked with the Lord during her ordeal.

“My heart told me to do this interview to glorify Him for my healing,” she said, adding the opportunity gave her a podium to encourage women to get mammograms.

Kuehl has three older sisters and older female cousins, and there was no family history of cancer. So though she’d had a couple of mammograms in her later 40s, she didn’t think much about skipping the procedure in 2019, when she turned 50.

Then 2020 brought the COVID-19 pandemic, and while many people put off annual health checkups and routine screenings, Kuehl made appointments for both a mammogram and colonoscopy.

“So I went in on Sept. 16 of 2020 and just had a regular ol’ mammogram, and just a 2D - nothing fancy about it because I didn’t have any concerns at all,” she said.

She received a phone call Sept. 22 asking her to return to Cuyuna Regional Medical Center in Crosby. The next day, Sept. 23, she had a 3D mammogram, which also showed a suspicious spot.

Kuehl was sent immediately for an ultrasound,

nician confirmed a spot and a swollen lymph node on the left side. A biopsy was advised.

“He said, ‘It’s very tiny,’ so I just give them a huge credit for even finding it,” Kuehl said.

“It was either I was lucky because they were so slow because it was the pandemic so they worked really closely, or I just got the right guy. He just said to me, ‘If it was my daughter, my wife, my sister, I’d want it checked so that’s why I’m suggesting we do a biopsy.’”

She had an ultrasound-guided core needle biopsy two days later,

“That was probably the most painful thing I’ve ever been through in my entire life,” Kuehl said, noting her advice to others would be to bring a driver to such an appointment to be able to get a sedative for the procedure.

She relied on her faith through the procedure, telling herself she’d be OK.

On Sept. 28, 2020 - just 12 days after her initial mammogram - the doctor called and told her she had breast cancer.

Her husband, Scott, was leaving town for business, and Kuehl wanted

fine.

Talking to her doctor, she said: “Just tell me everything’s OK so Scott can go on his trip, and he’s like, ‘I can’t.’ He said, ‘You have breast cancer.’”

Her cancer was diag-

nosed as invasive ductal carcinoma, which can be a very serious cancer that spreads.

Instead of the colonoscopy Kuehl had scheduled for Oct. 8, 2020, she had surgery that day to remove the tiny tumor and surrounding tissue.

During the biopsy, a metal marker had been placed on the tumor. Surgery included a lumpectomy to remove the cancer and abnormal tissue, and removal of a sentinel lymph node, which is the first lymph node to which cancer cells are most likely to spread from a primary tumor.

The tissue around the spot was DCIS - ductal carcinoma in situ, which is considered the earliest form of breast cancer. They found her lymph nodes were clear; the cancer hadn’t spread.

She had an Oncotype DX test that scores the likelihood of breast cancer recurrence. Ranging from 1-100, Kuehl scored a low 15.

“I had the best outcome of any breast cancer you can have,” she said.

“I didn’t need chemo because they’re saying my chance of recurrence is low. We found it extremely early. It hadn’t gotten to the lymph nodes. I am extremely blessed.

“Yes, I have a scar. And yes, I have pain where they took out the lymph nodes under my arm. I have some scar damage. Nothing that I can complain about,” she said.

Kuehl did have 20 radiation treatments, from Nov. 24-Dec. 22, 2020. Her cancer was estrogen-based, so options were to take an estrogen-eliminating pill or

get a shot every month to induce menopause.

Kuehl did research and instead had another surgery, on Jan. 15, 2021, to remove her ovaries and fallopian tubes, which resulted in immediate menopause. She’s taking another medication for five years to regulate estrogen levels, and then plans to “graduate,” meaning she’ll no longer have to see an oncologist.

Throughout the fastpaced process, Kuehl was never extremely fearful. Rather, she enjoyed a sense of peace and joy to be so close with her faith, which became so strong.

Though mammograms now bring anxiety and worry, Kuehl happily reported she recently had one and all remains clear two years after surgery to remove her breast cancer.

“My message to women is do your research, be your own advocate if you have to. Talk to people who have breast cancer. They have such great advice,” Kuehl said.

She also advocates mammograms and other routine health screenings, even if you’re feeling great and even if you’ve skipped it for a year or more.

“It can hit anybody. I can’t say enough - if you’re curious if you should start mammograms, I would say, ‘Yeah,’” she said, emphasizing the benefit of catching anything suspicious early.

“It’s a little bit of discomfort to make a lot of discomfort go away if something happens,” she said. “Don’t be embarrassed. It’s not an embarrassing thing.”

Nancy Vogt, Echo Journal editor, may be reached at 218-855-5877 or nancy.vogt@pineandlakes.com. Follow her on Facebook and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/@ PEJ_Nancy.

Photos by Nancy Vogt / Echo Journal

Dressed in the pink color that represents breast cancer, Tami Kuehl, shown Oct. each hand painted white with the pink breast cancer ribbon.

breast cancer.

While her job title at the camp has changed over the years, her devotion to the kids hasn’t, especially after dealing with the devastation of a hysterectomy in her early 30s as a result of her breast cancer.

“I really wanted to be a mom, like how my mom was to me and my grandma — both of my grandmas,” Hanson said as she fought back tears. But her cancer was estrogen positive, meaning the cancer cells used her body’s estrogen to grow. So Hanson had to weigh her dream of becoming a mom with the possibility of leaving her husband with a child to raise on his own.

“I didn’t want to make a selfish choice for me,” she said, noting her experience working with kids who don’t have both parents in their lives because of poor decisions.

Her decision to have a hysterectomy meant she would never be a biological mother, but she still has hundreds of kids, and she gets to impact their lives in a meaningful way every day through her camp

ministry. “And I don’t have to pay their college bills,” she joked.

Hanson’s cancer journey allows her to be a sounding board and much-needed resources for campers affected with cancer in their own families.

“When they find out I have it, they’ll say, like, ‘How can I help my grandma?’ ‘How can I help my grandpa?’ Or, ‘What should I not say?’” she said. “Or they’ll say, ‘My grandma’s having a breast removed. What does that mean?’ And then I get to share that with them, or then I hope that I bring them hope because I’m still here.”

In a similar vein, the animals Hanson cares for at camp show kids they can overcome other obstacles like injury, neglect and even abuse.

Her 17-year-old Appaloosa horse, Hansel, has a scar on his back left leg from being abandoned in a creek as a baby with barbed wire wrapped around his leg when he became the object of a monetary dispute. He was set to be euthanized by the time he came to Hanson.

Hansel’s story becomes a metaphor for

kids who feel abandoned when their parents constantly fight or if their parents are going through a tough divorce.

“But the biggest question they ask is how Hansel can love again and trust again because he bears that scar,” Hanson said. “And so I always tell the kids — or anybody who meets him — it’s because you trust him and he knows that.”

Now starting to go blind, Hansel is full of new lessons about walking by faith and not by sight.

Fellow horses Charlie, Poppy and Leroy all come with their own stories and lessons, as do goats Joy and Esther, sheep Poodle and miniature Highland/Hereford cow Gideon.

Tabby cat Pharaoh embodies the Good Samaritan Bible story for kids, after being hit and left for dead on Highway 169. While at the Garrison Animal Hospital, he was joined by injured cat Taffy to help his rehabilitation. Both felines ended up with Hanson and now freely roam the camp, gently nuzzling up against visitors.

The animals have found their home at Rae’s Hope, among Hanson’s sensory garden

with plants and other items carefully chosen by campers; among the peaceful woods surrounding the camp;

among friends who judge them not for their pasts but celebrate them for their journeys. And so have Hanson

Breast Cancer

and the many, many children she has mentored over the years.

Steve Kohls / Brainerd Dispatch

Rachael Hanson, camp manager at Timber Bay Camp in Onamia, tends to Praiseworthy the miniature donkey on Thursday.

From

“Helping kids makes me — me,” she said.

And so does sharing her cancer journey, which has taught her how best to communicate with those she meets, no matter what

they’re going through.

“You might want to have the most encouraging thing to say to them … things like, ‘You know, you’re a survivor’

because they always say you are after you’ve been told, it’s the next day. But words might say that, but inside you don’t feel that way,” Hanson said. “And I think that goes with anything, even beyond

cancer — whether it’s trauma or alcoholism or anything. And, like, you want to be hopeful for them, and I think the biggest thing is allowing that person to — treat them normal and to let them talk to you.”

Anyone interested in donating to Hanson’s ministry, Rae’s Hope, can do so at bit.ly/3MJM5en.

THERESA BOURKE may be reached at theresa.bourke@ brainerddispatch.com or 218-855-5860. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ DispatchTheresa.

Rachael Hanson holds Clara the chicken while explaining how the animals she keeps at Timber Bay Camp help the children she works with.

Photos by Steve Kohls / Brainerd Dispatch

Timber Bay Camp Manager Rachael Hanson poses with horse Poppy.