Future focus
For one cancer survivor at Relay for Life event, support from family, friends is key
By Larry Meyer
Argus Observer
Tuesday, June 17, 2008 10:38 AM PDT
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| Debbie Knighten, speaker at opening ceremonies at Relay for Life Friday, stands in the stadium at Ontario High School with husband, Greg, while activities go on in the background Friday evening. |
ONTARIO — A large crowd gathered at Tiger Stadium at Ontario High School Friday through early Saturday morning to celebrate life and to encourage those who have just begun the fight against cancer in the annual Relay for Life event.
There were those who have been survivors for more than 30 years and some who had just started the fight against the disease.
For Debbie Knighten it has been exactly one year last Friday since she was diagnosed with double breast cancer.
Knighten was a speaker during the opening ceremony Friday night.
“I’m here a year later,” Knighten said. “All is well.”
Knighten, said although “they don’t give you a clean bill of health,” she remains optimistic about her prognosis.
Her cancer was discovered when a spot was noticed during a mammogram.
“They call it a star burst.” Knighten said. That was followed by an MRI and then there was exploratory surgery, and a biopsy where the diagnosis was confirmed.
Knighten had a radical mastectomy.
“Skins and bones is all that’s left” she said.
Over the last year, Knighten said she has discovered that family, usually the caregivers, are an important part of the healing process and it is important to share her emotion, pain and feelings.
“They feel everything I do. They want to make you feel better,” she said. “They give us our strength.”
Knighten said she has been going through chemotherapy, and “I kept my hair.”
“I was raised in Ontario,” Knighten, who now lives in Payette said. “I’m a Treasure Valley girl.”
Supporting her at the Relay for Life event, were members of a group of youths, called “Teens for a Cause,” she mentors.
She said when she started mentoring the group, she did not know she had cancer.
Not only did the group provide help for her, but Knighten said the organization offered support for her children.
