Beating The Odds: Vrooman Family Fights Cancer Together

By Carrie Pitzer
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While beating cancer is no walk in the park, there was no place an Orchard family would have rather been Friday night than Bruce Park in Creighton for Relay For Life.

It’s been less than two years since Willard Vrooman was diagnosed with Stage 3 pancreatic cancer, which has the lowest survival rate of all major cancers. Just 8 percent are alive five years after being diagnosed.

That’s why the 65-year-old retired trucker from Orchard, along with wife Becky, made it a point on Friday to be part of the Knox County Relay For Life. 

“I’m lucky,” Vrooman said just before the emotional luminaria ceremony. “Last year I made it, too, and kind of staggered around. This year is better.”

His Story
It was September 2014 that Vrooman decided something was wrong and he went to the doctor. But he had no idea it would be cancer. 

“I thought I had the flu,” he said. “I was driving the truck and was feeling pretty bad even a week later. I went to the doctor and I hadn’t looked in the mirror, but I turned yellow that day. Really yellow.”

Vrooman said things became really serious the moment he arrived at the hospital. After multiple tests and being asked which hospital - Sioux Falls or Omaha - he wanted to go to, he still didn’t realize it was cancer.

He knew there was a growth on his pancreas, but it wasn’t until they told him to pack his bags that Vrooman realized the seriousness of his condition. Even his daughters, Kortney Sayers of Orchard and Karen Vrooman of Creighton, didn’t know the full details until later. 

“My dad was a quiet guy and didn't really want us to know what was going on, so when he was diagnosed with cancer, he didn’t fully disclose what was going on until we forced him to tell us,” Sayers said. “I don’t know if a lot of people know for the first year because we didn’t really know what what was going on.”

Vrooman said the growth was near the bile line, so a shunt needed to be surgically implanted immediately. But the first one didn’t work correctly and another surgery was required, which was followed by a complex surgery known as whipple, which removes part of the pancreas, bile duct, gallbladder and part of the stomach. 

According to statistics, only 25 percent of people who have a whipple surgery live another five years because of the severity of the disease. 

Remission
But Vrooman is well on his way to beating those odds. In his mind, he’s been cancer free since Sept. 11, 2014, the day of the whipple surgery. Rounds of chemotherapy followed, as well as multiple set backs. 

“Going through all of the chemo and recuperation has taken a long time,” he said. “Three days into radiation and the scar tissue had blocked the bile line again, and then there was more recuperation.”

Vrooman tries to be matter of fact when discussing his treatments. Otherwise, it’s easy to become emotional. For Sayers, it’s impossible not to tear up when discussing her father, who she calls her hero.

“I didn’t fully realize what chemotherapy does to somebody,” she said. “Karen and I met with the oncologist, and she told us to fight until he can’t anymore. She was right. It was so hard on him because even the flu was a major thing to him. I just don’t think you realize what cancer is about until you have someone close to you go through it.”

Vrooman’s last treatment was June 13, 2015. And every test taken since has shown Vrooman’s cancer cells are normal.

“I don’t think I was quite as optimist when they told us it was pancreatic cancer,” Sayers admitted. “Short of Jim Schutt (of Orchard), I don’t think I knew of anyone who had lived through pancreatic cancer.”

Vrooman goes through tests every three months. Things can change quickly, and he wants to make sure he stays in remission or begins treatment quickly if necessary. 

“Cancer is a lot like farming. The weeds that farmers have a hard time handling are adapting themselves to the new chemicals, and that’s what cancer is doing, too,” he said. “They know where it’s at and what it’s doing, then the darn thing grows some place else.”

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Sprinkles Make You Stronger
Family, friends and community are some of the best forms of treatment Vrooman has received. Of course, sprinkles haven’t hurt either. In fact, Vrooman says sprinkles make you stronger. 

Sayers said her dad used to bring donuts home after being on the road, and her son, Deric, always wanted sprinkles because they make you stronger. Vrooman said the saying has resonated with them all with his battle with cancer.

Now, they proudly put sprinkles on everything.

That saying, along with help from the Clearwater-Orchard speech team, helped raise about $1,400 for Relay For Life through t-shirt sales and and other donations. Sayers has sponsored the speech team for several years and Vrooman has become almost a mascot of the team.

He made it to several speech meets last year while he was in treatment, and this year, he didn’t miss a single meet.

If there’s one aspect of his life that cancer has changed, Vrooman said that would be it - it’s made him put his family first. He doesn’t miss anything if he can help it, and that he said, is a credit to cancer.

“I’d be doing some stupid thing like driving a truck still,” he said. “Now I’m around my kids and grandkids all of the time. It’s taken cancer for me to do this.”​

Vrooman has won this battle, and he’s going to continue fighting in the war against cancer. Because, he said, that’s Relay For Life says to do - Celebrate. Remember. Fight Back

“I didn’t have much choice. You just do what you have to do,” he said. “If you have cancer, you go with what the doctor says, and you fight it. I’m lucky."

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