Sparta Area Cancer Support chooses Honorees for 2025

Cancer … The heaviness of the word causes people to cringe, cry, and recall any semblance of normality before their diagnosis, a family members diagnosis, or a dear friend’s diagnosis. People get angry, frustrated, and spiteful, holding a disdain for the “C” word, often daring it to manifest into a form we can punch, blow up, and destroy, in order to exact our revenge on the destroyer of worlds; the breaker of hearts … the tormentor of our timeline.

For this article, solely, I will be breaking the third wall of journalism, because this is personal — we are all in this fight together. While the person diagnosed carries the most daunting task of fighting off the disease, armies of allies join in, and we all hold a stake in the survival and upkeep of spirits for them and their journey down the tumultuous path of the unknown.

Several fronts must be put up to take on this wretch, this barbarian that has sought to up-end our soulful ally’s journey in this earthly existence. While spouses, family members, and close friends join in on travel arrangements for chemotherapy, food, and over all doting, motivation, and soulful upkeep, community members often hold fundraisers, and if the community is incredibly fortunate, they house an entity like SACS – Sparta Area Cancer Support.

SACS

On Monday, April 14th, at 6 p.m., the 2025 SACS Honorees were officially named at the SACS monthly board meeting. After they were introduced, each one spoke to the overflowing room on their diagnosis, what they have been through and continue to battle through, and to what being a SACS Honoree means to them. After the initial introductions were made, I had a chance to sit with each Honoree, outside of the boardroom, and delve into each of their backstories, on a personal level.

The topic is cumbersome and unwieldly on its best day, nearing unapproachable status in the blink of an eye, from the sheer magnitude of ever-changing emotions to the scary feeling of not knowing where the thin ice lays within the conversation.

As a reporter, I always put all of my energies into every story I cover because I would feel awful if I did not represent the story and the people in it to a level of 100 percent. The SACS 2025 Honorees are Priscilla Hemmersbach, Paul Foulke, Joanie Leis, Chad Lee Bruggeman, and Charles Weaver. Following are their stories. Interviews take on their own energies, and these interviews proved this remark to be true. Some went for over 10 minutes, while others went less than three. All were incredibly moving and tugged at my heartstrings with enough strength to elicit tears.

Joanie Leis – Youth Honoree

The interview with Joanie started out with her immediately stating what an honor she felt to be representing SACS as an Honoree. “It was kind of a surprise to me when SACs asked me to be an Honoree. SACS has helped me out quite a bit this year. I found out I had cancer, and it’s quite the story.”

Leis went on to say that SACS has supported her through their system, financially and motivationally. Right by her side, through it all, including the interview, is Joanie’s husband. I asked them what it was like to traverse the cancer journey, individually and as a couple. “I am going to be honest,” Joanie started out. “Even though it has kinda gotten better, it has been real heavy lately. With this sickness and all the stuff I have had to go through, just all of it, has been so hard and it has hit me lately. But all of the support I have received from people has been good because I never feel alone.”

Joanie went on to sing the praises of her husband and his family, as well as her family and SACS. “The support that I get from all of them, including the SACS community has been so great.

Joanie’s husband is a Union Iron Worker, while Joanie herself is currently unable to work, due to the stresses and fatigue of her battle. “I do treatments every week, so I never have a chance to work. I go every Tuesday, every other week, and sometimes I stay overnight receiving treatments. Then I get a small break.”

Joanie found out that she was pregnant in December and the doctors informed her that it was not viable for her to continue with the pregnancy. “Multiple tumors appeared, and then I had reproductive cancer, which then turned into lung cancer, within a month. I have a long journey ahead. I have to wait for my levels to go to zero and then they have to do CT scans on my lungs. I also have two more round of treatment.

The Husband – Kolby Leis

When I asked what the journey is like for Kolby, as the husband, he replied, “Scary. Not only is it emotionally taxing, but it is also financially taxing. Hospitals aren’t cheap, and I am having to take off work, to be by my wife’s side.”

Kolby spoke of the restless nights and waiting for test results to come in, where they are checking constantly for them on their phones. “There was the first chemo, then we are on five … It is shocking to me.”   

The emotional rollercoaster started early young couple. “We went from the thrill of being pregnant, where I thought I was going to be a dad, to losing the baby, and having emergency surgery to have it removed. Then they found the cancer and we were told that it is an extremely aggressive cancer.  It went from stage 1 to stage 3 in a month … crazy.”

Kolby then talked about another demon that accompanies all of the treatments and worry — self-image. “Every time she looks in the mirror, she thinks, ‘Who am I?’ as her hair is falling out. Everyone has a confidence level they want to maintain, and cancer takes that away too.”

“Yeah, I struggle with that. It is really hard when I look in the mirror,” Joanie added.

The couple talked about being handcuffed to certain care providers because of the specific treatment that Joanie needs. “We have been going to UW Health because you need an OBGYN Gynecologist, which they do not have around here, so that means Rochester or UW-Madison.”

“My type of chemo only exists there. We have to travel out, usually having to stay in hotels,” Joanie said.

“During the winter it is even more stressful,” Kolby interjected. “With the long rides, especially the ones late at night, in those conditions …. It is stressful. It’s a lot. It’s been a journey”

Family and Union Work Family

“You can’t emotionally do it alone,” Joanie stated. “No matter how tough you want to be or act, your family knows.”

“Cancer takes a village,” Kollby said. “Setting up schedules can be tough because I can’t always take off work. My mom will take her to appointments sometimes, other family members will too, and stay with her. Then I am glued to my phone at work.

Kolby spoke to the amazing support that he has received from his coworkers. “Luckily, I have great coworkers. We are a union, and we are strong, and family comes first with them. They have only had nice things to say. They even offered to shave their heads for Joanie.” Kolby works with the Local 383, out of Madison.  When he talks to his wife, he is sometimes sitting on an iron beam, 60 feet in the air.

The interview ended with Joanie and Kolby speaking to other cancer survivors and those who are still fighting the war. “Everybody’s cancer journey is so different,” Joanie said. “That being said, we all relate so well together. I like hearing their story and how they got through it, or how they are going through it. Sometimes just having someone who actually knows what it feels like, feels really good. People can be incredibly supportive, but someone going through it understands more.”

Priscilla Hemmersbach – Female Honoree

Priscilla Hemmersbach was on the SACS board up until last year when she resigned. “I had cancer over 50 years ago,” she informed the Herald. “I was 22-years old and attending to my normal health care appointments, when I received a phone call from my physician, after a Pap smear. He told me that I had cancer and that it was fast growing, so they wanted to take care of it immediately.”

Priscilla went in for a second opinion and the results came back the same. “I ended up going through surgery, as they felt it was contained in one area.”

Priscilla then explained how terrifying it was after the surgery, when screening was done to find out if there was still cancer. Future screenings were just as scary, praying every time that the cancer had not returned. “By the grace of God, I was negative for cancer, on all of the scans.”

When pressed on her thoughts for having been chosen as a 2025 Honoree for SACS, Priscilla responded, “I am in awe that they picked me. I have been a survivor for so many years. I thought they would want someone who is going through treatment. So, I thought about it, and my reasoning behind saying yes, is that I may give someone hope. I know what they are going through. I know that in the back of their mind, they are wondering, ‘Is this it? I am going to die from this?’ And I had that for a very long time. Every time I went to the physician, for years, I was scared, wondering, ‘Is it back?’ So, I agreed to this, so that I may offer the gift of hope.”

Paul and Kay Foulke – Couple Honoree   

Paul Foulke only found out that he had cancer recently, in November of 2024. For a while he had a spot on his lung, but doctors told him it was just something to keep an eye on. “In November they did a routine scan and found out that it had grown. I started in with chemotherapy and radiation, and I am still getting the chemotherapy, but not as frequently and not as potent.”

When asked if the treatment was working, Paul responded, “It has gone down some, and I will have another scan in May that will hopefully tell us a lot more.”

Paul’s wife, Kay, sat next to him at the interview, and as with most couples that have been together for many years, she was well versed on Paul’s treatments and health. “They scanned [Paul] at the end of the chemo, before they started him on the radiation,” Kay told the Herald.

Paul and his wife have been together for 48 years. When pressed on what it means to have a lifelong companion by his side through the diagnosis and treatment, Paul stated, “It makes a huge difference to have the support and know that there is someone to go with me to my treatments and such.”

Paul was a United Methodist Pastor and was preaching up until the first day of 2025. “I was a pastor for about 30 years. It was a second career.” Kay was a nurse.

When asked how he felt about being a SACS Honoree, Paul said, “It feels really good. It gives me an opportunity to than them [SACS] for how wonderful they have been for us, over these last few months.”

Paul and Kay went on to explain that the radiation was five days a week and that SACS provided transportation for them, to and from the treatment, which was in La Crosse, every one of those days. Paul ended the interview, by stating, “They are an incredible organization.”   

Chad Lee Brueggeman – Male Honoree

Like Paul, Chad Lee Brueggeman, only recently found out that he had cancer, having been diagnosed in October of 2024. He went to see a doctor because his stomach was not feeling well. Chad felt it had something to do with the Mexican food that he had eaten the night before. “They went in and found cancer. They immediately took 49 inches of my small intestine out, and now they are working on my liver. After surgery was done, they found more in me. They told me that it will never go away … my cancer will never go away. But they told me that it is manageable.”

Chad’s wife, Tammy, was with him as well. “It is a slow growing cancer,” she said. “But they say that it will come back, probably every year, But they will be able to treat it because it will be caught right away. It is called neuroendocrine cancer.”

“Yeah, they [doctors] figure that this had been in me for at least 2 to 3 years,” Chad said. That’s how slow growing it is.”   

When asked about how he felt about being a SACS Honoree, Chad said, “I want to help out SACS any way that I can. SACS has been so good to me. They have helped me big time, so I am willing to help them big time.”

Chad’s first surgery was in early December, and he had another at the end of March. Now, he is going in for radiation. “Tammy has been a lot of help,” Chad said of his wife.

Chad told the Herald that he takes everything one day at a time. “I hurt every day, but every day it gets a little bit better.”

Charles Weaver – Veteran Honoree

The SACS Veterans Honoree is Charles Weaver, who also happens to be this years Butterfest Festmaster. Weaver was diagnosed with cancer after having his thyroid removed at Fort Stewart, Georgia. He was sent home to heal for two weeks and then he was having trouble breathing. What he would find out later was that the surgeon who cut out his thyroid had paralyzed his vocal cord.

Weaver was called back in to see the doctor. “The doctor asked me to come in and see him, and I replied, ‘Why Doc, do I have cancer?’ Then when I arrived, he asked me to sit down and I asked him again, ‘Why doc, do I have cancer?’ and he said, ‘Yes, you do.’”

The doctor then informed Weaver that they were going to stop his orders, the orders that were bringing him to Fort McCoy. “We had already sold our home, all of our home stuff had been moved up here. My wife had quit her job already, and had already been hired in Onalaska,” Weaver explained. He let us come, as long as I promised that I would square everything away when I arrived here, which I did.”

In his new unit less than two weeks, Weaver was driven to Mayo, in La Crosse, where he would end up in ICU, on a respirator. His driver, Sergeant Barrera, after waiting for 8 hours, asked where he was, and they asked for him to contact Weaver’s wife, who had been on the job for only two days. “Because they did not follow up, I developed Hashimoto’s disease. When they woke me up I started swinging because I could not breathe. I was on that respirator for three days, and I ended up with a trake (tracheotomy) for three months. Once that was out, I have been ok, but I have had skin cancer twice. It is kinda weird how it has all happened, but I am lucky,”  

After all that he had been through, Weaver says that he is blessed and very grateful. “I consider myself so lucky, having seen what other people go through with their cancer. That’s how I see it.”

Charles Weaver has not had to use SACS at all, but speaks highly of the people that work there and organize everything. “I know Gary (Peterson, Co-President SACS) and Cheryl (Isensee, VP SACS) they are all amazing people. I was brand new here, less than two weeks, and they (SACS) were reaching out to me to help me and my family.

SACS Walk/Rally

The SACS Walk/Rally is scheduled for August 1st 2025, at Evans/Bosshard Park, in Sparta. Gates open at 4 p.m. It is billed as a  fun filled night for an awesome cause. Attendees will enjoy music, adult and children’s basket raffles, calendar raffle, food sales, face painting, a bake sale, bounce house, duck races, lemonade stand, and kicking cancer to the curb. There is an emotional luminary ceremony that honors cancer survivors and remembers those who lost their cancer battle.