EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the first of two stories featuring this year's honorary co-chairs of the Heart and Sole Cancer Walk, held Friday, June 14 at at Hitchcock Park, 1201 E. Hanson Ave., in Mitchell.
MITCHELL — When Dina Vander Wilt was diagnosed with cancer, her friends, family and neighbors reached out to her with support. They donated their time and homemade food. They shared stories of their own fights against cancer, telling her that she could overcome the disease.
They even gave her gifts centered on the theme of pink ribbons, a common symbol of the fight against breast cancer. But Vander Wilt, despondent over her cancer diagnosis, didn’t really didn’t want anything to do with it. “Everybody was providing me with all these gifts.
To be honest, there was a day when I got a beautiful necklace with pink ribbons, and I got earrings with pink ribbons. And I told my husband that I don’t want any of these because I am so upset that I have cancer,” Vander Wilt said. “I just want to go on with my life and just not think about the fact that I have cancer.
” ADVERTISEMENT Still, she had no choice. Cancer was now a reality for her, and difficult rounds of treatment and an uncertain future would follow. But so would recovery, and she is planning to mark that victory by taking part as one of the yearly co-chairs of the 2024 Heart and Sole Cancer Walk this Friday.
By her own admission, Vander Wilt, 50, was not as vigilant about screening for breast cancer as she could .