My Stance Against Cancer
By Jeffrey Timpe, Team Captain
I started participating in Relay For Life after being with Consumers Credit Union for only a week. This year, 2012, marks my fifth year of participation in Relay and fourth as Team Captain. My involvement started simply by someone here at work asking me if I’d like to participate. I thought about it and decided it was for a great cause – and one that was suddenly close to me.
About the time I joined Relay, a good friend of mine had lost her mother, Ginny, to pancreatic cancer. Ginny had fought the disease for over a year, which included having the Whipple procedure to remove a tumor from the head of the pancreas. The surgery was successful, but Ginny had to heal before she could start more treatment. She subsequently went through many rounds of chemo and radiation and fought hard for herself and her loved ones. Her goal was to stay strong (and to stay alive) so she could see her grandson born. Near the end of her fight, Ginny was placed in the care of family and hospice. Everyone loved Ginny. But unfortunately, she lost her fight with cancer four days before her daughter’s son – her grandson Cody – was born. She wasn’t able to meet Cody or hold him. Ginny was also the first person close to me who had lost their life to cancer. Her death made the devastation of cancer unbearably real.
Ginny’s story is a sad beginning for me and my stance against cancer. But, I do have much more positive news to share about others around me who are currently winning their battles against cancer. My Grandpa, and a family friend, Steve, both have gone through treatment for prostate cancer. Luckily they are in remission. My Uncle Steve recently went through treatment for bladder cancer, and thankfully he is in remission as well.
Another personal wake up call happened about two years ago when a good friend of mine, Tommy, was diagnosed with Melanoma. He was younger than me – just 26 at the time – and had emailed all of us his devastating news. He was diagnosed with cancer and heading to U of M (Hospital) for tests. Fortunately, for Tommy, the cancer was caught early enough, and after treatment he has recovered and is in remission.
Ultimately, my goal with Relay is to help find a cure for cancer and ways for the people suffering from the disease to enjoy a better life. Relay not only provides money for research to find a cure, but offers many programs that help support people with cancer. Now that I have children of my own, it is my hope that they never have to experience the heartbreak cancer brings to so many of those around us.
I encourage anyone who is interested to learn more about Relay For Life and how they can help win this battle.
About Jeffrey…
Jeffrey Timpe is an Outbound Sales Representative in Consumers Credit Union’s Member Service Center. He is responsible for calling all new indirect loan members and fulfilling online membership requests. His long-range goals are to help build the Outbound Department to include multiple representatives. Jeffrey has worked in numerous call centers throughout his career and loves having first contact with members. A native of West Michigan, he is a graduate of Western Michigan University with a degree in Business Management.
Learn more about the fight against cancer: http://www.cancer.org/index
Join the Consumers Relay team:
http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLFY12GL?team_id=1029132&pg=team&fr_id=38307
Relay For Life Of Kalamazoo County
June 9-10, 2012
10am at Kalamazoo County Fairgrounds
http://relay.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLFY12GL?fr_id=38307&pg=entry
Relay For Life Of Van Buren County
June 9-10, 2012
10am at Bangor High School
http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR?pg=entry&fr_id=38788http://
Relay For Life Holland/Zeeland:
June 15-16, 2012
2pm-2pm at West Ottawa School
http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR?pg=entry&
Relay For Life Of Branch County (Coldwater):
June 22 & 23, 2012
Noon-Noon at Heritage Park
http://relay.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLFY12GL?fr_id=37863&pg=entry










