Fund raiser to support Shelly McMasters

Her friends, family and even her doctors call her “amazing.”

Even though she is in a battle for her life, Shelly McMasters of Colfax wears a smile and a bright pink ribbon.

Friends and family have organized a fund raiser to help McMasters pay for cancer treatment expenses on Saturday, May 3, from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Colfax United Methodist Church. Memorable Events Catering will provide a barbecue dinner along with dessert.

A bank account also has been set up in Shelly’s name at Columbia Bank and donations are welcome.

McMasters’ fight began in 1997 when she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Then in 2008, she found a lump on one of her breasts, but put off having a mammogram until Christmas Eve day. The news wasn’t good.

McMasters, 57, said the test showed that there was a big mass covering her whole left side. She also was diagnosed with pneumonia at the time, and doctors also discovered her heart was enlarged.

Before getting any other treatment, doctors had to stabilize her heart and put in a pacemaker and defibrillator.

After her heart was stabilized, doctors performed a mastectomy and also removed lymph nodes in 2009. Because of her heart condition, she could only receive low-grade chemotherapy, but also had radiation treatments. Since then, she has received maintenance chemotherapy.

But the disease reared its ugly head again. About seven weeks ago, a scan found the cancer had spread to her spine and into her pelvis. A biopsy also revealed that cancer had spread to her stomach.

Now McMasters is receiving full doses of chemotherapy.

“I know I have stage four terminal cancer,” McMasters said. “I prefer not to think about it.

“Four years ago I was given four years to live, and I’m at the four-year mark right now and I’ve beaten the odds,” she said.

About a month ago, diabetes took McMasters’ eye sight.

“There’s days my faith is strong,” she said.

McMasters is very close to her sister, Kerry, even though Kerry lives in Milwaukee, Wisc.

“We touch base every day,” McMasters said. “It’s how are we’re doing or we’re doing this today. It’s like we’re going through this together.”

“She always says, ‘Buck up sister!’ She’s my rock,” McMasters said.

Kerry Barlow is 18 months younger than McMasters.

“She and I take it one day at a time,” Barlow said.

“The hardest thing for me is not being with her,” she said.

The sisters see each other three to four times a year.

“I bring her out here because there’s no cancer in Milwaukee when she comes here,” Barlow said.

They also rent a house somewhere on a beach in Oregon or Washington the first week in August for the family to spend time with each other and especially Shelly.

“It’s for Shelly,” Barlow said.

When the sisters are together, it’s as if they were never apart, Barlow said.

“We don’t skip a beat,” she said.

Cancer runs in McMasters’ family, with her grandmother, mother, an aunt and four great-aunts diagnosed with some form of the disease. But out of three sisters, McMasters is the only one with cancer.

McMasters said the Susan G. Komen foundation helps to support her financially, assisting with cancer care. The only insurance available to her would cost $700 monthly and she can’t afford it.

“It’s eating me alive,” she said.

Filing for grants to help with all the expenses is the only way McMasters can pay for her care.

McMasters also is active in Relay for Life.

“I have really good days and really bad days,” she said.

The affects of the chemo treatments hits her every Friday, with fatigue “and all that goes with it.”

She said she tries to stay busy, doing displays at Tick Klock Drug store in Colfax. She also worked for Rayanna DeFord at the Cottage Gate.

“I have lots of support from family and friends,” McMasters said.

DeFord is one of McMasters’ best friends and was with her when she had that fateful mammogram.

“She doesn’t take any pain medication,” DeFord said. “She’s just amazing.”

“I take it one day at a time,” McMasters said.

“Make sure you get checked and take care of yourself,” she said. “Don’t ever be afraid to get checked.”

“I thank God for every day I have with her,” Barlow said. “When you get into a situation like this, you realize what’s important. She’s probably changed me more than I’ve changed her.”

“It’s been a journey,” McMasters said. “I have faith. That’s what gets me through. I pray every day. God knows what I need. When it’s my time to go, I’ll go. But before I do, hopefully I’ll touch people.”