Remembering Angie: A light that shown throughout the community

Saturday afternoon I checked my Facebook page and stared in disbelief at the posts on my news feed. Posts that sent love and prayers to the friends and family of Angela Gardner. Posts that expressed the sadness of the entire community for the loss of a key source of brightness in our lives.

I only knew Angela briefly, only had a limited opportunity to be around the brightness and joy that came in such consistency, whether she was working or I happened to see her around town. But in that short time I was blessed to know her, blessed by her smile and her joy. Blessed like everyone in the community was blessed.

Angela gave me the opportunity as a journalist to tell her story and spending time with her hearing that story is a moment I will forever be grateful for. The strength and joy that she radiated while telling me about her fight was inspiring.

With that said, I want to once again print her story as a way to remember a light that shown brightly in this community. The thoughts and prayers of the entire staff of the Mineral Independent and Clark Fork Valley Press go out to Gardner’s family and friends.

….

Angela Gardner, a resident of Superior for over 11 years, was diagnosed with small cell neuroendocrine carcinoma of the cervix on Jan. 25. The form of cancer is rare – only 1% of patients diagnosed with cervical cancer are diagnosed with this type.

For Gardner the diagnosis felt like a punch in the stomach, her heart stopped when she received it at the hospital. But that’s when the community stepped in and surrounded her with support.

“I always knew I was going to get cancer, it runs heavily in my family, I never thought I would get it at 30 years old,” Gardner said. “It’s a scary deal but I am so blessed to have so many supportive friends and supportive people around me encouraging me. That helps tremendously because I am not fighting it alone.”

In the past Gardner donated her hair to Locks of Love and after receiving her diagnosis she decided to own the disease and not hide behind it. Which led her to auctioning off the chance to shave her hair off. A friend of Gardners who works in public relations came up with the name “Shave it to save it” and the fundraiser was born.

“I got a lot of positive feedback from the community and a lot of people bid on it,” Gardner said. “The lady who actually won the bid couldn’t bring herself to actually shave my head. She still paid for it but she said it would be too heartbreaking to actually do it. So a friend of mine came down from St. Regis and did it.”

The fundraiser earned $250 for the Castles Grocery Relay for Life Team and helped them get closer to their goal of $1500. Gardner said she chose Relay for Life because it is a cause were the funds raised by participants actually go towards cancer research and programs.

“It (Relay for Life) really does bring the community together,” Gardner said. “Whether it is everybody volunteering to help out or like in my case, where I am a volunteer and I am also being rewarded - it just brings together the community as a whole.”

Currently Gardner is utilizing the Road to Recovery Program and she said that she would be “in a world of hurt” if the program did not exist.

The Road to Recovery program provides Gardner with a ride to her treatments in Missoula on a daily basis, as well as someone who will sit with her during the chemotherapy treatments.

” “Someone comes and picks me up, its door to door, they take me to treatment and they take me back home. Just having someone there is very nice and it doesn’t cost me anything,” Gardner said.

Gardner has maintained her 40-hour a week job at Castles in spite of the five day a week cancer treatments she gets in Missoula. Sometimes she has days where she is a little more queasy and nauseous then other and needs extra breaks. But she said her coworkers have always been understanding and supportive.

“For the most part though I feel tremendous,” Gardner said. “I know it is because of the community support and them telling me they are praying for me and are there for me. That’s what keeps me going and keeps me strong.”

Gardner added that working for Ken and Cathy Kuhl has been tremendous through all of this and all of the support she has received from them has meant the world to her.

Support from the community has been instrumental in Gardner’s fight against cancer and she said that volunteering or walking in the Relay for Life is a perfect way for residents to make their support public. Gardner also has a message for fellow cancer fighters.

“Don’t be ashamed of it or hide behind it. If there is a program out there to help you use it because that’s what it is there for,” Gardner said. “If you are scared of the cancer, find someone to tell it too. I have made it a point everyday to say ‘I have cancer’ and it helps. Then pretty soon it’s not as hard to say and you don’t get tongue-tied saying it. When people ask you how you are, you just say ‘I’m good’ and you are.”