Husband & Wife Endure After Both Diagnosed With Cancer
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NORTH TEXAS (CBS 11 NEWS) - Over the course of four decades a marriage that lasts endures a lot—and shares even more.
"It doesn't have to be a fancy thing," said DeSoto resident Marilyn Blethen, "just the fact that we were doing things together."
Marilyn and her husband, Steve, have redefined togetherness: but, not in the way that either of them would have imagined.
Steve remembered the first time he realized something was wrong. "All of a sudden when I came back from bicycling, I was really sore and I started feeling around and I found this inch by three-quarter-inch lump in my left breast! And I knew."
Steve had breast cancer. The disease is still rare in men; but, it does happen. Steve found the lump in 2008. Then five years later, Marilyn went in for what should have been a routine mammogram.
"Unlike Steve, where he was able to feel it, mine was so far in the back it wouldn't have been discovered had I not been following that regular routine of going yearly for a mammogram," she said. The diagnosis meant a sudden reversal in care-giving roles.
"Steve has said that being the caregiver was almost harder than having the cancer, when the roles were reversed," laughs Marilyn. "I don't agree with that!"
Both are now cancer free and active in the fight for a cure.
Steve admits that he's not too crazy about the pink hat. But, he's still over the moon for his Marilyn. "I knew she loved me, of course," he said smiling, "but, it made me really appreciate what she does."
"[It's] not an experience we wanted to share," says Marilyn, "but, one that we are actually kind of grateful that we have shared."
The experience, they agree, has brought them even closer—and reminded them, again, of what really matters: God, family… grandkids.
"We believe, all in all, our lives are better having gone through this than they were before."
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