Ten-Year Odyssey With Cancer Leads to Hope and Grace

It will be 10 years on Aug. 28, since Carol Neufeld first found out she was living with ovarian cancer. She says she walked in the clinic that day alone stating, "I never thought in a million years that what was wrong was major." Neufeld came alone due to her family's need to get the fields harvested.

When the doctor arrived and told her the news and started talking about treatment options Neufeld's first thoughts were, "What's the use." Still she persisted with treatment and surgery. Following chemo therapy she went into remission and after 18 months it returned. The next round of chemo was known as Doxel and according to Neufeld, "It felt like someone had taken a hot iron and scorched me under my arms and legs."

Treatments continued and it was not until 2011 that Neufeld returned to remission, this time for only nine months, and since then the cancer has been a persistent plague. She described having to travel to Billings for treatments and in the homeopathic clinic there, finding purpose by helping cancer patients and becoming a support to those in need.

Neufeld says she was blessed by God. "So, God has been and is my everything," explained Neufeld adding that she was blessed to see the doctor she saw at her initial treatment and traveling to the Billings clinic for treatment. She says she is also blessed to have her husband, her children, her grandchildren, and now, by the grace of God, her great-grandchildren.

At treatment Neufeld found a purpose in helping others. She said, "I would pray that I could bring somebody hope." She described making friends and really listening and inspiring her fellow patients. Neufeld almost misses those treatments now, and when she does have an opportunity to return she makes it a point to go around visiting those she knows and those she doesn't, offering hugs and hope for the future.

Neufeld was gracious from the support she has received from the community and her church family. "We still have people who say we pray for you every night, and for that I am so blessed and cannot thank the community enough," said Neufeld through teary eyes.

For years Neufeld suffered through chemo treatments. She described going for treatment and then being forced to spend the next three weeks in her chair or in bed due to the drugs. Then in March of 2017 she was given a new kind of treatment called Zejula or niraparib.

"It changed my life. I'm like the energizer bunny who just won't quit," exclaimed Neufeld with a tone of excitement that could not be restrained. She talked about playing with her grandkids and great-grandkids, of growing out her hair again and having a new outlook of hope for the future (not that she had ever lost hope through her journey).

When diagnosed in 2008, Neufeld was no stranger to cancer. Her youngest son had been diagnosed as a young adult, and he served to inspire her through her journey. The two are both celebrating milestones of survival as she approaches 10 years and he will have been a survivor for 16. "When I walk the track, I walk for him and all the survivors, and all those who have gone on," said Neufeld refering to her reasons to participate in Relay for Life. She urged others to support relay by pointing out that had she not been given the opportunities for treatment and to survive so long she would not be where she is today. The treatments supported by the American Cancer Society and the research by doctors gave her an opportunity to look into the future. A future Neufeld hopes will last at least 40 more years.

Neufeld explained how she made it through and continues to keep hope alive. "I pray in stages. Let me see each one [child] graduate, then weddings, now I'm onto great-grandchildren. So, I am blessed by that." Before wrapping up her interview Neufeld left with the thought, "If you are a believer, of course we want time on earth, but we also know that we have a home in heaven."