Michelle Connor lost half her gallbladder and 12 inches of her small intestine to colon cancer, but one thing the disease hasn’t taken is her sense of humor.
Wearing a unicorn shirt which read “Just fightin’ colon cancer and fartin’ sparkles,” Connor delved into the good, bad and crappy details about her journey with colon cancer as the honorary survivor at the Nicollet County Relay for Life fundraiser on Friday.
During the 32nd annual benefit in the St. Peter Community Center, which raises funds for the American Cancer Society, Connor had an encouraging message for people still fighting the disease, ”if I can do it, you can do it.”
Connor began her fight against cancer 11 months ago when, on Tuesday, July 25, 2023, she went in for her first regularly scheduled colonoscopy after passing the age of 50. But when she woke up from the procedure, Connor quickly discovered the results of her colonoscopy were anything but regular. Her husband sat next to her bed as a doctor entered the room and informed Connor a large tumor had been growing in her colon for five to 10 years.
Before Connor had much time to react to this new reality, the doctor scheduled her for surgery in just a week’s time. She returned to the hospital for scans and surgery prep over the next week, but on the day before the procedure, Connor received devastating news. Her cancer was stage four and the disease had spread to her liver.
“I crumpled to the floor as I hung up and cried a big sloppy cry. How could I not know I have colon cancer and then have stage four colon cancer?” Connor recalled in her survivor speech. “Stage four colon cancer sounds very daunting and life threatening. How do you tell your loved ones that you have stage four colon cancer? I knew that my family and friends would be there for me, but I am a fixer and I have no control of this.”
Because of the cancer’s spread, Connor’s surgery was canceled and she instead met with a liver doctor and oncologist to come up with a new game plan — chemotherapy treatments to shrink the tumors and then surgery.
Over the next four months, Connor felt like a “walking zombie” as she was pumped with chemotherapy treatments and other drugs every two weeks. Everything that could go wrong seemed to go wrong as she was sent to the emergency room for extreme abdominal pain, had treatments halted when a blood clot was discovered by her port and went in for another round of surgery after it was discovered her port wasn’t working properly.
Despite these obstacles, the chemotherapy appeared to be working and Connor’s tumors were shrinking. On Jan. 17 she went in for surgery following yet another colonoscopy prep and a surgeon excised half of her liver and gallbladder before another surgeon removed 12 inches of Connor’s large intestine.
The surgery was a success. Doctors came back with test results showing that the cancer was gone, but to ensure it wasn’t traveling through her bloodstream, Connor underwent six more rounds of chemotherapy starting at the end of February.
Everything came together on May 23 when Connor’s oncologist entered the the clinic room with a huge smile on her face and told her there was no evidence of cancer showing up in her cancer.
“All I could say is, ‘I want to kiss you,’” Connor recalled. “When I walked into the clinic that day I was patient Michelle Connor with stage four colon cancer. I left as Michelle Connor.”
As she left the room, Connor found the nurses were waiting for her and they cried and hugged together. They asked if she wanted to ring the bell marking the end of her treatment. Being shy, Connor refused at first, but her husband Brian told her to go ahead and ring that bell to give the patients hope and strength and remind them that cancer could be beaten.
At the Relay for Life, Connor stood before cancer survivors, caregivers and people battling the disease aiming to give them the same hope that they could overcome cancer with tenacity and determination.
“Stage four [cancer] years ago was a death sentence and here I am today like, ‘haha I beat you.’ It gives you the motivation to encourage others. If I can do it, you can do it,” said Connor.
Connor noted it was advances in medical technology and cancer research that were creating more and more survivor stories like hers. Nicollet County Relay for Life has been helping further said research by raising over $1 million for the American Cancer Society since 1992. At Friday’s event, the Relay raised over $18,000 towards cancer research.
“It’s very emotional as a survivor,” Relay for Life coordinator Ann Volk said of the event. “The first 25 years I did it, I was not a survivor, I was a caregiver. Then after I got [cancer], it means even more.”
Heavy rains kept this year’s relay confined to the Community Center gymnasium. While the storms may have dampened the usual turnout, organizers continued to host the event with all its usual offerings including a silent auction with over $5,000 worth of items, bingo and ice cream served by the Dairy Princesses.
The traditional survivor walk around Gorman Park was replaced with a lap around the Community Center gym. Connor and Nicollet County Relay for Life co-chair and cancer survivor Margaret Wenner carried the Relay for Life banner and led a small group of survivors around the gymnasium.
The magnificent display of luminarias which light up Gorman Park each year in honor of community members impacted by cancer could also be found on the second floor track overhanging the gym.
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