Surviving cancer

COEUR d'ALENE - Karen Frejlach just turned 62 years old.

It wasn't long ago she had doubts she would make it.

Pancreatic cancer will do that.

"My reaction was sort of disbelief," the Coeur d'Alene woman said of when she was diagnosed in 2008.

Her husband's prior wife, too, had died of cancer.

"We looked at each other and thought, 'This can't be,'" Frejlach said.

But it was.

Frejlach underwent surgery and 18 months of chemotherapy, too.

"They told me it was the only thing that was going to keep me alive," she said.

But the chemo was destroying her joints, her feet, her hands, she said, so eventually Frejlach said no more.

Her family, while concerned, backed her decision to try natural methods. Her diet was all organic salads, veggies, cottage cheese and flaxseed. Oxygenated water. No meats, no dairy, no sugar and starch.

"I just changed everything. I just changed my lifestyle," she said.

It worked.

Today, she is cancer free and feeling strong.

"I have a ton of energy," she said.

Frejlach will take that message of courage, determination and hope to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network information session at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Spokane Public Library.

The meeting is for volunteers who want to make a difference in the fight against pancreatic cancer.

"We hope to double the survival rate for this disease by 2020 and need your help in order to achieve our Vision of Progress," a press release stated.

The five-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer is 6 percent, the lowest among all major cancer killers.

According to a recent report, pancreatic cancer could move from the fourth- to second-leading cancer killer in the U.S. by 2020, and possibly as early as 2015.

Kathy Hlebichuk, local volunteer with the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, said there is hope.

President Obama recently signed the Recalcitrant Cancer Research Act into law. The legislation, formerly known as the Pancreatic Cancer Research and Education Act, passed Congress on Dec. 21.

The legislation requires the National Cancer Institute to evaluate its efforts in studying pancreatic cancer, and other cancers, and focus on ways to improve outcomes.

"This moment would not have been possible if it wasn't for the incredible commitment and hard work of our volunteer network," Hlebichuk said. "Our tireless advocates wrote letters, made phone calls and even traveled to Capitol Hill to advocate for this landmark legislation."

Frejlach was among them.

She has made it her mission to let people know they can beat pancreatic cancer. She'll share what worked for her.

"A lot of people want to follow my regimen," she said. "They've been given a death sentence, also."

She's still on the strict diet she believes saved her, though she occasionally has a piece of chicken or fish. Breakfast is usually organic raisin bran and a small banana. Lunch is cottage cheese and flaxseed oil, and dinner is a big salad.

She admits the diet is difficult to maintain, but there's no other choice.

"Not when you've been told you're going to die," she said.

Info: khlebichuk@pancanvolunteer.org or 640-6341