KLAS-TV Channel 8 News Las VegasCancer Patients Face Many Hidden Challenges

Cancer Patients Face Many Hidden Challenges

Cancer is a difficult disease to fight and chemotherapy can take all the strength a person has. But imagine battling cancer, and also having to travel many, many miles to get your treatment. That's what people face in rural Nevada.

The eye on health team paid a visit to a remote corner of Clark County where a "relay for life" raised money.

The beautiful but remote Moapa Valley is 50 miles and a world away from Las Vegas. But the residents take care of their own, so it's no surprise that hundreds turned out for the American Cancer Society's annual Relay for Life.

Teams began setting up early in the day for the all-night event. Each team includes cancer survivors, in the purple shirts, who kick off the relay with the first lap. Logandale resident and relay coordinator Micki Pequeen explains, it's an emotional event.

"Any time cancer touches your life, you feel helpless," said relay coordinator Micki Pequeen. "So it's getting information out to other people. And if you make one person think about, you know I really should go have that mole checked, or I should get in for that check up, and they go and do its preventative, then that's a way to help."

Tracy Rodgers is a former hospice nurse. She says it's challenging for cancer patients this far from a major city to get treatment. They must commute a long way to Las Vegas, Mesquite, or St. George.

"That can be taxing on a patient who doesn't feel very well anyway," said Tracy Rodgers. "And on their families. If they're getting radiation, they may be going in 5 days a week."

At the same time, living in this area has a hometown advantage.

"This community is really wonderful when it comes to drawing together and taking care and supporting those that live here," Rodgers said. "And so, you can't beat it as far as that goes. There may be certain challenges, but this is their home."

Priscilla Gonzales, with the Las Vegas chapter of the American Cancer Society, says that ACS provides a resource to rural areas, by way of a toll-free phone number.

When you call that number, you can get a licensed clinician on the other end," Gonzales said. So you're getting someone who knows what they're talking about and who can direct you in the right direction for resources, for information you might need."

"Well, I'm a 12-year survivor, I had cancer, I found out on April Fools Day," said cancer survivor Sue McMahill. 

As a cancer survivor, McMahill has a personal connection to cancer-related fundraisers.

"Having come through it, life is a lot different now," McMahill explained. "And it means a lot more to me."

Robert Terril, another cancer survivor said, "I think when you face death you realize that this life's very, very short. And there's some things that I wanted to do. And in the last couple of years I've done. I took a couple of weeks off and went up to Alaska."

Terril, a Moapa Valley resident, was just 46 when he was diagnosed with colon cancer.

"I think as a cancer survivor, I’m especially grateful to see people out here and promoting it," Terril said. "And getting the word out and raising money. I think that's a great thing and it means a lot to me."