“It is so nice to hear your voice.” Tracy Granquist has been hearing that a lot lately.
Because, only five months ago, Granquist was doing all of her correspondence via email as she fought squamous cell carcinoma, a common type of skin cancer.
Today, she is happy to report she is receiving clear scans, and on Saturday, she will share more of her story during the annual Steele County Relay for Life, where she has been named honorary chair.
“I feel great. I feel normal,” Granquist said, holding back emotions. “Last year, ironically, I was volunteering at the Relay for Life. Little did I know two weeks later I would be diagnosed with cancer myself.”
Granquist was first written about in the People’s Press in April, when she was selected to be one of three recipients for the revival of the From the Heart charity run . At the time, Granquist had two trachs inserted as the cancer had been “crushing her windpipe,” leaving her unable to speak.
But she refused to be silent about what this journey had taught her.
“Get it checked,” Granquist offered in April as advice for anyone who may be feeling something “just isn’t right” with their body or health. “Don’t ignore your body, you know if something is wrong.”
Shortly after that interview, Granquist started on a research drug called tipifarnib, a pill she has to take two times a day every other week. Within two months, she got her first clear scan.
“It felt amazing, I was in shock,” she laughed. “We were all kind of in shock, even the doctors were amazed that it had worked that quick.”
Granquist said as fast as she had seen the tumors grow, she was seeing them shrink at the same speed.
Still taking the drug and unsure of what all will happen, Granquist says she is feeling great and looking forward to another scan on Oct. 2 to learn more. She believes that scan may determine whether or not she has to continue taking the drug, but in the meantime she is happy to be living her life.
And that is the message she hopes to share on Saturday.
“I was shocked,” Granquist said, as she started to softly cry recalling the moment she was named honorary chair. “Why me?”
Granquist and her family have a long history with Relay for Life. In fact, it is something she has been apart of almost her entire lift. Her father had cancer throughout her childhood, battling skin cancer and prostate cancer before lymphoma took his life in 2019.
In 2020, her mother also died of cancer.
“We always participated in the Relay for Life, whether it was having a team that we walked when it was huge and people would spend the night walking, or if it was buying luminaries — it’s just always been something that we’ve participated in,” she said. “It’s a lot, but my favorite part has always been watching the community come together.”
Though Granquist still has a trach she has to be cautious with, and while she admits to being nervous to speak in front of a crowd of people, she is happy to be able to use her voice. And not just to use it again, but to use it with purpose.
The Relay for Life event, which is a combined effort with Steele and Waseca counties, will begin at 5 p.m. on Saturday at the Steele County Fairgrounds in Owatonna, though the day technically begins at 8 a.m. with the Daikin Dash 5K at the Beer Gardens. So far, the event has raised $28,880.
Learn more at steelecountyrelay.org.
Local News
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