The honorees are Jim Henry, a St. Cloud resident who grew up in Becker and keeps the family farm in Palmer Township, and Bob Reginek of Clear Lake.  Both men have long associations with the Becker Relay effort, Henry through his sister Colleen Kiffmeyer’s “Cancer Sucks” team, and Reginek with the “Building Towards a Cure” team run by Fran Seeley and Judy Haus.

 

Though different in the details, each man’s story of their encounter with cancer is centered on the power of positive thinking and the willingness to take a winning attitude into the battle, continuing to enjoy life as they strove to conquer their illness.

 

Jim and Colleen Henry have been married for 43 years, and he has been retired for the past 10 years after a long career with Minnesota Power in the Little Falls area.

 

He was first diagnosed with prostate cancer, which had spread into the bone, in 1992, he said, and underwent radiation therapy and associated treatments at the University of Minnesota Hospital in the Twin Cities.

 

He continued working after that first diagnosis, and his company even provided him with an assistant so that he could remain on the job as he underwent treatments, according to his wife.

 

In 2007, Henry underwent lung cancer surgery to remove some of his right lung, and a check-up six months later dictated further surgery, this time at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, which was the only hospital then doing the “wedge removal” procedure he needed.  Further chemotherapy was needed then, and an MRI revealed some suspicious spots meant more chemo in 2013-13.  Henry also received chest radiation therapy at St. Cloud Hospital from 2010-13, but has been off of “chemo” for a year now, though he still takes injections and medications.

 

The couple has three children and five grandchildren, and has enjoyed travelling to Texas and Florida in recent years, including a three-month trip to southern Texas last year.  Henry is a fisherman, he said, and especially enjoys deer hunting on the family farm in Palmer Township.  There is a newly-installed gas heater in the “hunting shack” on the property, Henry said, providing for a session of “good family entertainment” that includes the hunting, playing cards around the table back at the shack and the occasional breakfast run to Jack & Jim’s in Duelm with the kids.

 

It is the grandchildren that hold a special place in Henry’s heart, he said.  “They all call him “Poppa”, Colleen said, and they will “run right past Grandma” to get that special hug from him when they first arrive.

 

A veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps., Henry served in Viet Nam in the combat area around Khe Sanh, he said.

 

He was full of praise for the doctors he has encountered on his journey, including at the U. of M., Mayo Clinic and especially the doctors and staff at the St. Cloud Hospital.  Colleen said that a recent issue of Consumer Reports® had listed the Heart Hospital there as one of the best in the nation.

 

Reviewing his many procedures and treatments in a St. Cloud restaurant recently, Henry said his best advice was to “hang around with positive people.”  Attitude is everything in dealing with health problems, he said, and a positive feeling is shared with the people around you, reinforcing the belief that you can prevail.

 

He and his sister Colleen (Cai) Kiffmeyer have shared the loss of many family members to cancer, he said, which is the main reason they have been so active in the Relay program over the years.

 

Bob Reginek of Clear Lake is another cancer survivor who has the will to keep living life to the full, determined to keep doing the things that make life worth living as he copes with the effects of his fight with cancer.

 

He married his wife Joyce in 1967, with three daughters, five grandsons and two great-grandchildren who they love to visit with, but who also have their own lives to lead.  Travel has played a big part in their plans, having spent a great deal of time in Belize in years past, enjoying the diving and island lifestyle.

 

Summertime is riding time, though, as the couple have Tennessee Walkers, horses that they trail ride with friends, often travelling long distances to take part in group events with their informal club.  Wintertime is ice fishing time for him, while Joyce takes advantage of the cold by quilting in a chair by the fire, Reginek said.

 

He was employed by the Cornelius Co. in St. Cloud for many years, running a production line for the pop machine manufacturer until the company left the area in 2002 and he retired at age 55.

 

Reginek was diagnosed with bladder tumors at age 44.  An operation at the Mayo Clinic that July removed the cancer, but it had returned by the following December.  

 

Doctors in Rochester then performed radical surgery on the bladder and prostate at that time, he said, and construction of a new bladder proved impossible due to his size, he said.

 

Though the surgery required him to wear an external collector, he says the procedure has not prevented him from doing the things he loves to do. “I haven’t slowed down a damn bit”, Reginek said, and he and his wife don’t plan to in the near future.  “You play the cards you are dealt,” he said, and (his) problems are a “piece of cake” compared to the ordeals other people have gone through.  “I feel really, really lucky today,” he said of his experiences.

 

The couple has been involved with the Relay in Becker through the “Building Towards a Cure” team as mentioned earlier.  Reginek said that he “doesn’t want to run things” (like a Relay team) after running the production line for so many years, but, “if you need something, I’ll be there.”