Splechter not alone in fight

YATES CENTER — Tracy Splechter is battling breast cancer. But she’s not alone.
Splechter, 53, has been adopted by Friends for Life, a local group of women who raise funds to help those with cancer.
“They’re like angels,” Splechter said of the dozen women, some with whom she attended Yates Center High School.
Splechter talked with the Register over the phone from her hospital room at St. Francis Hospital in Topeka where she is undergoing radiation treatments for breast cancer.
The interview coincides with Saturday morning’s walk to raise funds for Friends for Life which directs 100 percent of its proceeds to help cancer victims with myriad services, including transportation, money for groceries, two months of paid electric bills, and tons of support.
“I wish every county had a group like this. They have been a godsend,” she said.

SPLECHTER discovered her cancer from a self-examination. A doctor’s visit and tests confirmed her suspicions. In May she had a lumpectomy followed by chemotherapy and radiation treatments. She is four days away from the last of the radiation, “Not that I’m counting,” she said with a hint of sarcasm.
It’s not been easygoing.
“The first chemotherapy was nicknamed ‘Red Devil,’” she said of the drug Doxil. “It was very wicked.” Splechter could endure only four treatments. After that she began the drug Taxol. Both were administered intravenously.
“I was supposed to have 12 treatments with the Taxol, but could take only 10,” she said. “I began to lose feeling in my hands, legs and feet. And I was so tired. The doctor said it wasn’t worth it to continue.”
From there she began radiation treatments, which are beginning to take a toll.
“The skin is all red. It’s like a bad sunburn,” she said. Salves and gel packs give some relief.
Splechter stays the week in a Topeka hotel. She gets herself to and from her appointments.
“ It took a while to adjust to driving in a city. I’d never driven much outside of Yates Center and Iola,” she said.
Her husband, Ed, comes several evenings a week to be with her, but not before he puts in a full day of work at Atmos Energy in Yates Center, and tends to their cattle.
Tracy and Ed have been married 37 years.
“She’s a real trooper,” Ed said of his wife.
He also gives kudos to Friends for Life.
“We knew they were helping others, but we didn’t understand how much until we needed it,” he said. “It’s been overwhelming how much support we have received from the entire community.”

TRACY wasn’t always on board of receiving treatment for her cancer.
“I wasn’t going to do the radiation. I’d seen how hard it was on my mother. But one look at my grandchildren, and I knew I had to try,” she said.
Splechter’s mother, Betty Reid, passed away in 2011 after a four-and-a-half year battle with cancer that began in her colon and metastasized to her lungs and brain.
“My mother’s side of the family has had every kind of cancer you can imagine,” she said.

FRIENDS for Life began in 2004. Saturday’s events kick off at 7:30 a.m. with a 5k walk/run beginning from the Yates Center square. Cost is $20. An auction will follow.
For more information contact Dina Morrision at [email protected] or at 620-625-3054.