Gypsum mom battles cancer with some help from friends

GYPSUM, Colorado — Tiffany Myers, Gypsum resident, is a planner, a doer and a giver.

Cancer, and all that comes along with it, was not in her plans and certainly does not fit her personality.

But in August 2007, at the age of 36, Myers found a lump in her breast.

“I didn’t really think anything of it. I figured, ‘Oh. it is nothing. It will go away.’ And it didn’t,” said Myers.

On Sept. 1, 2007, Myers called her doctor. On Sept. 10, she had an ultrasound, a mammogram, and a biopsy. On Sept. 12, she got the call. She had breast cancer.

“I started bawling. I had told my husband, but I hadn’t told anyone else,” said Myers.

Since Myers found out she had breast cancer, she has undergone seven surgeries. Through it all she kept her focus on being a mother, wife and a full-time working woman. She also had to learn how to receive rather than give.

In treatment

Myers had the lump on her breast removed, followed by a double mastectomy. She underwent eight chemotherapy treatments and then, finally, thought she was done with cancer.

But the aches from chemotherapy never went away. Her hip continued to hurt.

On Sept. 3, 2008, Myers found out the breast cancer was back and had reappeared at the top of her femur bone.

“I was just devastated. Everything you read about metastatic breast cancer says that it gives you a life span of five to 10 years,” said Myers

However, Myers learned that if the cancer is contained in the bone, it can be treated for a longer period of time.

And that is what she is determined to do.

After a rod was placed in her brittle bone to keep it from breaking, Myers began a regimen of drugs to keep the cancer from spreading. She will take these drugs for the rest of her life.

“She is a super trooper,” said Tammy Conway, Myers’s sister-in-law.

Myers is not dealing with this alone. She’s experienced an outpouring of support.

Friends, family and strangers

“You tend to look at things differently. What’s important and what’s not important. And I still struggle with that because I like to do it all,” says Myers.

Myers said that she does not ask for help well and that she is trying to be better about that.

But, it seems Myers doesn’t have to ask for help, just accept it.

Myers says meals have been delivered to her house, and people have sent gifts and flowers.

“I don’t receive well, but I am trying to be very gracious and make sure people know how much I appreciate everything everyone has done,” she says.

Even strangers want to help.

Myers sent out e-mails to people she knew, looking to buy Broncos tickets. She then received a call from somebody she did not know. The women had box seats and VIP parking and told Myers she would love to give them to her and her family.

“I just sat there and cried,” says Myers.

And now a benefit, organized by her friends, co-workers and loved ones, has been planned to help Myers and her family with their extensive medical bills.

Give Tiff a Lift

The benefit — Give Tiff a Lift — is being held on Dec. 6, at the Vilar Center for the Arts in Beaver Creek. The event will feature the debut of the Warren Miller ski movie “Behind the Film.”

“This has been probably the hardest thing for me,” says Myers about the benefit. “I certainly am grateful. It is just an odd feeling.”

Conway explains that her sister-in-law, “is humble in the respect that she is very self-sufficient woman. She is an independent woman, and she is all about doing it herself. … But people are doing this out of the goodness of their hearts and because they love her and her family.”

Two of the organizers of this benefit — Traci Wodlinger and Brooke Skjonsby — hope the event attracts 530 people. That would be a capacity crowd.

Tickets to the benefit are $20, appetizers will be served and there will be a cash bar. A silent auction is also planned. Auction items include a Vail Resorts Epic Pass, dinner for four at the Vail Chophouse and a guided tour by Vail Mountain Chief Operating Officer Chris Jarnot.

“It will help with the financial burden — with the ongoing and the accumulating medical expenses,” says Conway.

And after everything she’s been through over the past 18 months, the evening should lift Myers’ spirits. At least that’s what the people behind Give Tiff a Lift hope.

For more information e-mail brookeskjonsby@eagleschools.com

How to help

What: Give Tiff a Lift fundraiser

When: Saturday, Dec. 6

Time: 6 p.m.

Where: Vilar Center for the Arts, Beaver Creek

To make a donation: Make check payable to the Vail Valley Charitable Foundation P.O. Box 1275, Avon, CO, 81620. Be sure to write Tiffany Myers on the memo line. You may also donate by credit card at www.vvcf.org or by calling 845-6339.

To purchase tickets: Tickets can be purchased online at www.vvf.org or by calling 845-8497.