Tuk keeps on truckin’

WASILLA — Local “bionic woman” Care Tuk successfully overcame 10 bouts of cancer and endured 98 surgeries during the past 40 years.

She survived numerous illnesses and physical challenges caused by an anti-miscarriage drug her mother took while pregnant with her, and she lived through a near-fatal vehicle accident caused by a drunk driver.

Today, the 56-year-old occupational therapist has devoted her life to inspiring others to appreciate the beauty in their own lives. She sees more value in the quality — not the quantity — of the life she has left on this earth.

“I’ve been told by doctors to get my affairs in order,” Tuk said Thursday as she recovered from shoulder surgery after recently slipping on ice. “We made a decision as a family to enjoy the quality of life at this point.”

After making it through breast, uterine, cervical, ovarian, thyroid, lymph, stomach and skin cancers since she was 19, it’s stage 3 colon cancer that now appears to be her final foe.

Diagnosed by Wasilla oncologist and medical colleague Larry Lawson in November 2009, Tuk tried chemotherapy for the first time in January 2010, but her body rejected it.

“I became too toxic,” she explained. “Everything that shouldn’t go wrong did go wrong. I was only able to get through half of the treatment.”

As she focused Thursday on healing from her latest acquisition of 10 new screws, a plate and 19 staples that are keeping her right arm attached, Tuk said she’s most upset about missing the American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life walk starting this evening at the Wasilla High School track.

“That is the hardest part about all this,” she said, adding she also is fighting a bout of the common crud. “Doctors say no way. I need to rest and recover. And it’s not fair to risk passing on this crud to others.”

Tuk, who was named Top Business Woman in America and has been recognized for her work with youth, disability outreach and awareness, and the American Cancer Society — recently published a 166-page book about her life called “Loose Screws & Skinned Knees: Turning Life’s Obstacles and Adversity into Opportunities and Adventure.”

The candid, beautifully written paperback will be on sale for $14.99 during the Relay For Life, with all proceeds from the weekend’s sales going to the RFL fund.

In the book, the wife of 36 years and mother of two grown children details the many challenges and joys of her life, taking readers on the same roller coaster that has been her reality since her premature birth Sept. 8, 1954.

In the last chapter, called “Looking Back,” Tuk talks about the decision to end chemotherapy for her colon cancer. Although her body fluctuates in and out of remission, it’s clear she must now put her trust in a higher power.

“For now, we are opting to let God be God and go for quality versus quantity,” she writes on page 157. “As you can imagine, it was a tough decision. Gazing out the window, I lazily watch a young male eagle take flight. He is one of five eagles, which call Care’s Corner home. As the wind whips across the hay field, he soars on a blast of cold Arctic air. His majestic mottled colors of black, white and brown glisten as sunlight reflects through his pinfeathers … my mouth falls open in awe. He glides against the backdrop of the snow-covered Government Peak and the Talkeetna Mountain Range. I take a deep breath and slowly let it out. … Walking through 11 bouts with cancer, this last time with the added complexity of chemo, I have been buffeted with challenges that have made each step of my daily life much like bucking heavy headwinds. No soaring like an eagle. No catching a warm thermal that would send me to higher heights.”

Tuk made it clear Thursday that in her quest to continue to live a quality life, she will continue to keep her upcoming speaking engagements in Seattle, Oregon, Fargo and Minneapolis from July until October, and she will continue to work with the Valley community to inspire young people to help change the world.

“Everyone can make a difference. Everyone can look at the end of their hand and decide what they’re going to do with it. Just take 15 seconds to look,” she said. “We are at the crux where we have an incredible opportunity to be the keister kickers, the encouragers, the empowerers to help people along to show them they can make a difference. And you know what? This community, this incredible Valley community, can do what many communities can’t in that respect. We make a difference in other people’s lives and our neighbors’ lives every day.”

Follow Tuk through her blog at carescorner.net or visit her website for book information at caretuk.com.

Contact K.T. McKee at kate.mckee@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.