Durst named Caregiver of the Year

By GRETTA BECAY
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
 
Ron Durst, the 2018
Caregiver of the Year for the
Dodge County Relay for Life,
has fought cancer for many
years, both as a survivor and
as a caregiver.
He has survived cancer in
two separate organs. First he
had renal cancer and then
that metastasized into his
lungs.
And, his beloved wife,
Marsha, succumbed to
multiple myeloma in
February 2017.
During his illness, “We
remained very positive, even
though the outlook was pretty
grim,” he said. “I was told to
get my affairs in order.”
Between 2005 and 2013, Ron,
with Marsha’s help, fought off
first renal cancer of the left
kidney, which included having
that one removed and then,
after the cancer metastasized
to his lungs, having three
surgeries to have tumors in
his lungs removed, and two
years of chemotherapy.
The initial lung surgery
was in May 2008, and in
December of that year, it had
already shown up again. At
that point, Ron began an oral
chemotherapy regimen for
two years. Then he still had a
few spots left on his lungs and
most were removed. With this
type of cancer, his condition is
monitored very closely and in
January 2015, there were still
some small spots. Those were
also removed.
His journey began in Sioux
Falls, S.D. when Ron was at a
dairy meeting where he got so
sick, he went to an emergency
room where they found
a very enlarged kidney.
He drove himself home
and went to the Mayo
Clinic where that
kidney was diagnosed
as cancerous and
removed and his care
began.
Then, three years
later, chest pains drove
him to the doctor and
several spots on his
lungs were found and
the battle against that
began.
Time passed, things
seemed to be sort of
under control and the
Durst family settled
back into enjoying life
until 2013 when Marsha
began suffering a lot
of back pain. She took
several treatments to
address her back pain,
but none were effective.
She stood the pain
until late December
that year when one
Sunday, it got so bad,
the Dursts went to the
emergency room at St.
Mary’s Hospital.
Tests there showed
her calcium levels were much
too high and her kidneys
were trying to flush that out.
The diagnosis was multiple
myeloma. That cancer is “like
termites eating your bones,”
said Ron and it is extremely
painful.
Marsha underwent a bone
marrow transplant in June
of 2014. The transplant was
successful but by April 2015,
the myeloma markers started
creeping up again. She started
intravenous chemotherapy
treatments and even radiation
on some tumors. For the last
six months of her life, the
couple spent every day except
three at the Clinic.
“We believed we could
beat it. We tried everything
that Mayo had. We believed
we could get her where her
counts were stable. There
were certain experimental
treatments, but she was not
eligible for them because her
platelet counts were too low,”
he explained.
Marsha’s condition
continued to deteriorate and
on April 9, 2016, she broke
her hip because she stumbled
and sat down too abruptly
on a stairway. Some of the
chemotherapy medication
caused neuropathy, which
impeded her balance, Ron
explained.
She had the necessary
transfusions to get her
platelets back up to a safe level
to allow surgery to be done to
repair the hip.
Whenever she came home
from the Clinic, if she needed
to do something, she would
go to work at the dairy where
she had done bookkeeping for
years. Even while she was in
hospice, she wanted to get up
and do something at the dairy
office. Her children were able
to assist her to do some minor
bookkeeping chores from her
bed by setting up a computer
link.
But, finally, in February of
2017, three days shy of her 66th
birthday, Marsha died at home
under the care of Mayo
Hospice and with her
children, Liz and Jon,
and her beloved Ron by
her side.
Ron speaks of
Marsha with so much
love.
“She wanted us to
go on. Don’t live your
life looking in the
rear-view mirror, she
used to tell us. And
Marsha’s five guiding
principles she lived
her life by were: Help
others, be ethical,
do everything with
excellence, be happy,
and take care of your
health.”
The couple was
married 40 years.
He mused about
her, saying, “She
graduated summa
cum laude from
Concordia University
in St. Paul with a
teaching certificate in
elementary education.
She also took online
accounting classes
to do her job at the
dairy. We always
worked together. We blended
our talents, which made us
successful. We had a common
vision and we were in full
agreement about everything
from raising the kids to
business decisions. She was
always very supportive of me.”
Ron continues to live in the
beautiful home the two built
10 years ago.
He and his family have
formed a new team for the
Dodge County Relay for Life
this year called The Marsha
Moos. Ron’s mother, Hylah
Durst, participated in Relay
for many years through her
TOPS Club in Kasson.
Both of the children and
their spouses will be at
Relay on Aug. 3. Liz and her
husband, Andrew, live in
San Jose, Calif., and Jon and
his wife, Meaghan, live in
Greenville, S.C. Last year’s
Relay was very emotional for
the family as they participated
without their beloved wife and
mother.