NLakes area support group caters to women fighting cancer

No one truly knows what it’s like to battle breast cancer — or any type of cancer — besides those going through it.

Two area women not only developed a deep friendship during their breast cancer treatment journeys, they’ve reached out to help other women.

Autumn Loge, 29, of Pine River, and Melissa Dooley, 39, of Nisswa, coordinate Lakes Area Grit & Grace, which is explained on the group’s Facebook page as “a nontraditional support group geared toward women battling any type of cancer at any stage while navigating life’s busy schedules.”

The “&” sign in Grit & Grace is a cancer ribbon symbol. The goal is to connect with other women and families who are experiencing similar trials.

Grit & Grace has met three times — July 31 at The Outpost in Pequot Lakes for an ice cream social, Aug. 21 at Main Street Ale House in Nisswa, and Sept. 26 at Timberwood Church in Nisswa for a potluck social.

“I’m just excited to bring women together,” Dooley said. “When you come together, you’re not alone.

“Everyone’s story is different, but we still have the same daily

Everyone’s story is different, but we still have the same daily struggles and the same fear.

MELISSA DOOLEY

struggles and the same fear,” she said.

Loge wants to provide hope to women.

“I know I find hope when I see survivors living normal life again. So if I can provide that hope for somebody who’s newly diagnosed — that there are better days ahead. It might look different, but life will feel good again, and there are things to look forward to,” she said.

“I found hope in my conversations with other women who are farther ahead in their journey than me,” she said. Loge explained how she came up with the idea to create Lakes Area Grit & Grace.

“Here I am today on the other side of things in the world of survivorship and navigating what that looks like,” she said. “My family and friends put together a really awesome benefit. My community came together, and local businesses, and raised a large amount of funds for me. I knew that I wanted to do something more with that to help others and pay it forward.

“So I took a portion of that and decided to put Grit & Grace into place. I took that leap of faith,” she said.

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Regarding the name Grit & Grace, Loge said: “Cancer’s ugly, and there are really hard days, and we really had to find that inner strength and that grit each and every day to carry on and push through.

“But also, at the same time, there has been a lot of grace in this journey — grace from other people, spiritually. I found Melissa through this.”

Dooley said: “We want other people to find ‘their person.’”

Dooley reached out to Loge after reading Loge’s breast cancer story published last year by the Echo Journal.

Both were diagnosed and received cancer treatments at the same time, and both have two young daughters.

“We just connected,” Loge said. “And it was in that moment that it was so refreshing to have somebody who’s going through it. It was unfortunate that we had to connect over cancer, but (it was) somebody who knows the daily struggles and can connect over the daily fight.”

That’s where their friendship blossomed.

“I didn’t really realize I needed that until I met her,” Loge said. “That was an area that was lacking in our community, was having a resource of younger women and just women in general connecting and supporting each other. That’s what led me to put Grit & Grace together.”

In her story on the Lakes Area Grit & Grace Facebook page, Dooley says of Loge: “He (God) also brought Autumn into my life at just the right time. It has been amazing to have someone walk with me and be able to relate with me about everything we feel, face and fear.

“She has been a light in this dark tunnel we have been forced to travel through. She has become ‘my person’ and I am so grateful to have her,” Dooley wrote.

“I pray that through Grit and Grace, others battling and surviving cancer can find ‘their person’ to support each other through it,” she wrote.

“Although cancer is ugly, it can bring out the most beautiful friendships. A battle is never fought alone, it is only fought together, and we want to fight alongside every single one of you.” Loge’s cancer journey started nearly two years ago when she discovered a lump in the breast area. Eventually diagnosed with stage three breast cancer, she endured hormone replacement therapy, chemotherapy, double mastectomy surgery,

Robyn