December 12th benefit to aid Tammy Cox’s cancer fight
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For Barnesville native Tammy Cox, it may seem like her life is déjà vu all over again.
Here mom, Angela Cox, was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 34 years. She died nine months later leaving four young children behind. Tammy was five years old at the time. She had an older brother Chris, who was nine, and two younger siblings, Jessica, one, and David six months old. Their father, Lee, was left alone to raise and financially support his young family.
Today, Tammy is 31 years old, the mother of four, and was diagnosed with breast cancer a year ago. Fortunately for Tammy, medical advances in detection and therapy have enabled her to live a somewhat normal life.
Still, it is hard.
A pancake and sausage benefit, silent auction and bake sale will be held for Tammy on Saturday, December 12. The fundraiser will begin at 7:00 a.m. and go until 11:00 a.m. at Hildebrand Hall in Barnesville.
Thrivent Financial, Barnesville Lions and Thursday Nite Lions will sponsor the event. The Barnesville Area Community Fund will administer the proceeds from the free-will offering event, as well as any other donations that may come through the mail. Donations can be mailed to: Barnesville Area Community Fund, c/o Tammy Cox Fund, PO Box 461, Barnesville, MN 56514.
One year has passed since Tammy was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Because of her family history with breast cancer and working as a registered nurse, Tammy understands the importance of getting mammograms on an annual basis and did so faithfully. She began getting her yearly checks at the age of 20.
“The pea-size lump, located by the chest wall on the right, was only visible by a mammogram. I could not feel it,” she says. “They did a biopsy on December 18, 2008 and the results came back at a Level I. A month later I had a double mastectomy done.”
Her doctor and surgeon, Dr. Timothy Mahoney, knew of Tammy’s family history with breast cancer since he was her mother’s physician as well.
“Dr. Mahoney wanted to aggressively treat my cancer,” states Tammy. “I felt the same way.”
That is the reason why she made the decision to have double mastectomy. “I didn’t want to take the chance for the cancer to reoccur on the other side,” she explains.
Tammy continues, “Dr. Mahoney removed 12 lymph nodes at the time of the surgery. Nine of them came back cancerous. This put my cancer at Level III.”
Tammy is not sure how many miles have been logged in her vehicle going back and forth for treatment and blood work. “It was like the car was on auto-pilot,” joked Tammy. She, along with her significant other, Rick, and young family live in Enderlin, ND.
The next 18 weeks were spent making the 130 mile round trip back and forth to Fargo so Tammy could take chemotherapy treatments and visit with her oncologist at Innovis Health.
Two weeks later Tammy began six weeks of daily radiation treatments. Interspersed with the treatments in Fargo were shorter trips to Lisbon, ND for blood work and shots.
Not only is Tammy employed as a registered nurse at Lisbon Area Health Services, but also that’s where her primary doctor also is located.
“It was a challenging spring in more than one way,” she says reflecting on what the weather was like back in March and April. “The high waters caused a big gorge to form in our driveway. Between that and finding roads that were not flooded so that I could get to my treatments was tricky,” she explains.
“Trying to get laundry done in a flooded out basement was not easy either,” adding that her kids helped when they could.
“They have done surprisingly well throughout all of this,” Tammy says of her two girls and two boys. Angie is 14, Thomas, 11, Tabitha, 5 and Shane 3 and one-half years. “They’ve adjusted and pitched in to help with a few extra chores.”
By the time July came around, Tammy was back to work at the Lisbon hospital on a full-time basis.
She would work every weekend and a couple days during the week. “After working the day shift, I would then drive to Fargo for my radiation treatment,” says the cancer survivor.
Women with a strong history of breast cancer have an elevated risk of developing ovarian cancer. That’s why Tammy decided to have her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed. This precautionary surgery was done in October 2009.
That surgery didn’t slow Tammy down too much. With the cooperation of the hospital, she was able to continue to work by doing light duties during her recuperation period.
Tammy has several pieces of advice for other women. One is to make sure to get yearly checkups. “You never know what the outcome may be,” she says.
Her second bit of advice comes from the heart. Speaking from experience, Tammy says that no matter how hard it gets, never give up and keep a positive outlook. “For me, it always made the treatments easier.”
Lastly, she adds, “Don’t be afraid or ashamed to ask for help. There are lots of people out there who are willing to help in some little way. It may even be when you least expect it.”
Tammy grew up in Barnesville, graduating from BHS in 1996. She then went on earn her nursing degree at Fergus Falls Community College.
She believes that her medical knowledge has been helpful through her own ordeal. “Even though the same experience may be a bit different for each person, knowing what to expect has been helpful,” she says.
Proceeds from the December 12 free-will offering benefit, silent auction and bake sale will help Tammy pay for her medical related expenses.