Cancer survivor pours efforts into helping others

FORT SCOTT, Kan. -- Area resident Theresa Davenport will celebrate her fifth year as a cancer survivor this fall.

The Farlington, Kan., resident was first diagnosed with a Stage-3 type melanoma in September 2002, when she discovered a tennis ball-sized growth in the lymph nodes in her neck. She visited Mercy Health Center in Fort Scott, where a surgeon there ran tests and informed her that she had cancer.

In shock and denial, Davenport said she didn't think cancer was even a probability.

"I didn't think cancer," she said. "I had never even had a mole."

The cancer was eventually removed, along with one of her neck muscles.

While doctors told her they had removed all the cancer cells in her neck, her whole body had already been exposed, so she was instantly concerned for her 8-week old son, Davis.

"I just thought, 'What about the baby?'" Davenport said with melanoma, there is always the concern that the cancer could crop up again somewhere else in her body at some point down the road.

"Cancer-free is not an option," Davenport said doctors told her.

But in two more years, Davenport said she will "really be out of the woods then" because the chances that the cancer will not return will drastically improve.

Davenport said she experienced stomach pains in April of 2004, when she found out that she had another tumor in her stomach. That tumor was also removed. A tumor in the right side of her face was also removed, but it turned out to be not cancerous, she said.

She also spent time getting treatments at Mt. Carmel Medical Center in Pittsburg, and doctors there referred her to M.D. Anderson, a cancer hospital in Houston, Texas. After visiting a cancer ward there, Davenport said she realized just how fortunate she was that the cancer had not done more damage to her body.

"Two weeks later, I came through unscathed," Davenport said. "I looked normal two weeks later. So I had a little scar on my neck. Big deal. Some of these people (cancer patients) were missing their eyeballs, their nose, their lips. There were tons of things that could have happened to me and it didn't. I'm lucky to be alive." With melanoma, there is no chemotherapy treatment; the cancer simply has to be surgically removed, Davenport said. Radiation treatment is done on the area after the cancer is removed. Davenport said her cancer treatment was done through a series of injections, which she underwent for exactly a year. Her last injection took place last December, she said.

Davenport said that now she takes more notice of the little things in life that people often take for granted, such as taking a shower or getting a drink of water. She made it through one of the most traumatic experiences of her life, and she's accepting each day as a gift now, she said.

"I'm very thankful," she said. "I'm so glad, even when I get mad at my kids, that I'm there for them."

Davenport said she first became involved with the Bourbon County Relay for Life event in May 2003, but before she was diagnosed with cancer, she had never even attended a relay event. Now, the former Minnesota resident who has lived in Fort Scott and moved back to the area in 1996, is trying to start up a cancer support group in Bourbon County consisting of cancer patients, survivors, and caregivers.

The committee will meet three or four times a year to discuss ideas related to the deadly disease that strikes millions of people each year. She is also currently looking for locations for that group to meet. She will first discuss the idea for the support group at the upcoming Relay for Life survivor dinner, called the Survivor Roundup, at 6 p.m. June 5 at the Community Christian Church, 1919 S. Horton St., Fort Scott.

She will pass out flyers for the support group at the allnight relay walk, which follows a western theme this year. The event is called "Ropin' for a Cure," and is scheduled for June 15-16 at Frary Field, north of Fort Scott High School.

That event is considered to be the premier fund-raiser for the American Cancer Society to fund cancer research, education and advocacy services. The survivor dinner is one of many events the group conducts throughout the year.

Bourbon County Relay for Life member Wendy Budd said organizers are trying to contact cancer survivors in the area to attend the dinner next month.

"We want to get as many cancer survivors as we can," Budd said.

There are 200 names on the list the group has, many of whom are elderly people, Budd said. The dinner will feature a special guest speaker, and survivor relay shirts will also be handed out.

Call Budd at (620) 2234912 for more information on the survivor dinner or the cancer support group.