Lions Club Breakfast benefits NRHEG staff experiencing health trouble

A breakfast offered by the New Richland Area Lions Club on Sunday, Dec. 7 from 8 a.m. to 12:30 in the New Richland City Hall’s community room is benefitting four employees of the NRHEG school district who have been undergoing difficult times with their health.

 

A free will offering will bring diners their choice of pancakes, French toast, scrambled eggs, sausage, coffee, milk, and orange juice.

 

Perhaps even more satisfying than the meal will be the knowledge that they are helping local residents who are going through some very difficult experiences.

 

Moey McCornack, 52, is the head cook at the elementary school site in Ellendale. Moey recently discovered that her leukemia, which had been in remission for nearly five years, has returned. Leukemia is a cancer of the blood; Moey describes that it drains her energy, causes her lymph nodes to swell painfully, and leaves her generally achy.

 

Treatments from five years ago had left her with “a terrible immune system,” causing her to need blood transfusions every six weeks or so.

 

Along with all that, she is scheduled to begin chemotherapy on Dec. 8.

 

Moey expresses her gratitude for the support and warmth the community has provided her. She says she is also grateful for her job. The sense of purpose it provides, she explains, gives her the energy to overcome her difficulties and come to school. She also expresses gratitude to people who choose to donate blood. “They’ve kept me alive,” she says.

 

Cortney Kitzman, 40, has been a para at the secondary building for the past five years. After some suspicious aches and pains in 2024, she was diagnosed with small bowel cancer in October and found herself in surgery only two days later. Her appendix, portions of her bowels, and her uterus were all removed, after which she was scheduled for a regimen of 26 chemotherapy treatments, each two weeks apart.

 

The treatments, she describes, begin with “sitting in a chair” for three to four hours. Afterward she takes home a specially devised pump which continues delivering chemicals for another 48 hours. The regimen, she admits, “is beginning to wear on me,” leaving her feeling tired, achy and sick.

 

She comes to work as often as she can, she says, because she loves the students she works with and wants to give them as much continuity as possible. Still, she felt compelled to apologize to school principal Grant Berg regarding her missed days.

 

“He said, ‘I don’t care about missed days. I just want you to get well,’” Cortney remembers.

That warmhearted response was only one of many ways people have shown her support, and she expresses her gratitude.

 

“My feelings are overwhelming,” she mentions. “Everyone in the school and the community has been super, super supportive.”

 

Kim Routh, 54, has been a paraprofessional at the elementary site for more than 21 years. During a routine checkup this past June, she was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer. She underwent surgery in July and began a regimen of 12 chemotherapy treatments in August. She just recently completed those, and has now begun another set of 12. Treatments include chemotherapy on one day and a follow-up injection the next. In another 12 weeks or so she will undergo radiation treatments, and will be taking a “preventive” chemotherapy pill for five to 10 years after that.

 

Kim and her husband of 22 years, Chan, have had three sons graduate from the New Richland school system; a fourth son is currently a freshman.

 

Kim says she misses as few days as she can at work, but of course must be gone for chemotherapy treatments.

 

She expresses gratitude to her coworkers, family members, friends, and church family for the warmth and support they have shown.

 

Paul Kampen, 62, has been a custodian with the NRHEG district for 27 years. Brenda, his wife of 37 years, also works for the school system as a paraprofessional in the secondary building. They have two grown sons, both of whom are NRHEG graduates.

 

Paul’s troubles began more than a year ago with swelling in his abdomen which led to surgery. The surgery led to the discovery of blood clots which were eventually explained when it was discovered cancer is attacking his thymus, a gland located in the chest between the lungs. He says doctors tell him it is a rare occurrence, and so he has come to the attention of an impressive number of medical team members.

 

Along with the cancer, the blood clots are also dangerous. They not only cause pain as they move through blood vessels, they can cause major problems if they travel to strategic locations. Along with all the other medical procedures the diagnosis calls for, he has had to have surgery to remove blood clots and now has two stints in major blood vessels.

 

He says he has better and worse days as he goes through treatments.

 

“It’s humbling,” he says, “how many people have checked in with me and offered help. It’s constant.”

 

Paul also expresses gratitude for his medical team. “I’ve got so many people working on me, it’s hard to fathom.”

 

At this time, Paul says he has nine more weeks of chemotherapy ahead of him. It has not yet been determined, he continues, whether he will undergo radiation treatments as well.

 

“I want to say thank you to everyone,” he finishes. “I’m really a bit of a recluse, and I would rather be giving help than be on the receiving end.

 

“I’m grateful, and I’m humbled. But I wonder why I’m getting so much attention when I know there are people who need help even more than I do.”