The good fight

MAT-SU — Curtis Menard says he seems, for now, to have the upper hand in his fight against cancer.

Menard, mayor of the Mat-Su Borough, was diagnosed with multiple myeloma — cancer of the blood cells — in June 2003 and in October 2007 was implanted with stem cells harvested from his body two years prior.

“It was an interesting process,” he said of the stem cell treatment.

First, his body was blasted with chemotherapy.

“That kills about every dividing cell in your body,” he said. Two days later he was injected with stem cells. “They come in with this little container that looks like it came out of Star Wars.”

When the container is opened, “It kind of pops because it’s been, they’ve thawed it out, but it’s been frozen at minus 350 degrees for two years,” he said.

Menard, 63, said the treatment should last for two to 10 years, and he has resumed his duties as Borough mayor. He has blood drawn monthly and, so far so good. Monday he spoke soon after having his blood drawn.

“We’re knocking on wood that there’s no cancer cells,” he said.

He hasn’t found it to be terribly trying to balance his treatments with his duties as mayor, Menard said. Unlike some cities where the mayor is the main city administrator, the Borough employs a manager — John Duffy — who handles most of the administrative work. Menard has had to miss some meetings. Some he attended via telephone from Seattle, where he was undergoing treatment.

“Last week I had four Borough meetings and I chaired three of them,” he said.

The one he missed, consisting of a presentation on the Borough’s ferry due to be delivered in 2009, came when he was feeling ill, having forgotten to take the medication he needs before he eats.

He said his wife, Linda, has been a tremendous caregiver, helping him through the process. The chemo, he said, was the worst part of that process.

“It’s a pretty rough go. You’re getting fed by liquids, nothing that’s going to make you fat, but enough to keep you alive,” Menard said.

Using his 20-20 hindsight, Menard wishes he would have had the stem cell treatment earlier. By the time he decided to take the treatment, the myeloma had started attacking his spinal cord.

“There’s no nerves in bone or anything like that, so the little buggers can chew away until they get to the spinal cord,” he said.

Luckily, Menard’s physicians caught his spinal tumor in time and were able to cut it out. But the myeloma will probably be with him for the rest of his life.

“There’s no real cure for it. There’s just the medications,” he said, adding that 30 percent of people with myeloma die in the first five years. That anniversary is due to pass this summer.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.