Coping with Cancer
By: Ruth Nicolaus
Phillipsburg woman’s journey with cancer includes Phillipsburg rodeo gift
Carolyn Rumbaugh, pictured with her late husband, Dennis, has benefitted from donations given for Tough Enough to Wear Pink night at the Phillipsburg Rodeo. The Phillipsburg woman had colon cancer.
PHILLIPSBURG, KAN. – Carolyn Rumbaugh never dreamed that her love for the Phillipsburg rodeo would turn into help from the rodeo when she had cancer.
The Phillipsburg woman was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2019, going through a colectomy surgery and chemotherapy throughout the year.
Her road through medical treatment was full of obstacles and hindrances.
Lab work done with her primary care doctor, in January of 2019, showed there was the potential for cancer. After a colonoscopy a month later, it was discovered that it was stage four.
Colectomy surgery was scheduled to remove the cancerous portion of the colon. But a cold, then a spider bite, then shingles delayed the surgery, which finally took place on May 28, 2019.
Then, on her second chemotherapy treatment, she had a reaction to the medicine. Carolyn was in the ICU in Hays for three days and in the hospital for another twenty days.
She and the doctor chose to do no more chemo treatments after that, and after a CAT scan, it looks like the cancer hasn’t reappeared.
She had never been to a rodeo before she married her husband, Dennis, who passed away in 2016.
Dennis was born and raised in Phillipsburg and met her when he was in the Navy. Carolyn grew up in San Jose, Calif., and when she moved to Phillipsburg, it was a culture shock. “God has forsaken me,” she thought to herself. “My gosh, they only have one stoplight and they park in the middle of the street.” In 1964, when she left California, San Jose was the tenth largest city in the nation. “Then I came to Phillipsburg, and it was like, where did heaven go?”
Now she can’t imagine living anywhere else. “I wouldn’t trade it for the world,” she said.
Dennis was a shareholder in the Phillipsburg Rodeo Association, and the couple, plus their children: Jennie Christiansen, who lives in Phillipsburg, Bruce Rumbaugh, in Hays, and Hollie Kendall, Logan, attended the rodeo. Jennie and Hollie were part of the Prairie Dusters drill team, opening the rodeo with the American flag on horseback for almost thirty years.
Rumbaugh received a check from the Hope in the Heartland funds, the organization that works with Kansas Biggest Rodeo to send funds to those undergoing cancer treatment in north central Kansas and south central Nebraska.
“I was shocked when I got the check,” she said.
“I knew all about Tough Enough to Wear Pink, and we always wore our pink, but I never associated it with getting any money from it.”
The money came in handy. “I’ve used it for gas, going back and forth (from Phillipsburg to the doctor in Hays). It helped pay for medication, too, that my insurance wouldn’t cover. And I bought a wig with it.”
Carolyn, her family and friends make sure they wear pink on Tough Enough to Wear Pink night at the rodeo each year.
“Rodeo time is a big time here, a very big time, and we’re very conscious to be sure to wear pink,” she said. “My grandsons, after my husband passed away, wanted to wear Papa’s pink shirts. I dug out Dennis’ shirts, and they didn’t care if they were too big or not. They wore Papa’s shirts.”
Cancer survivor Carolyn Rumbaugh was a recipient of Hope in the Heartland funds, raised through donations from the Tough Enough to Wear Pink night at the Phillipsburg rodeo. This year’s “pink night” is July 30.
As of press time, Carolyn’s cancer is not evident; she has gone back for two doctor’s visits since chemo ended.
Funds are raised in several ways. One of those ways is through the selfless donations made by area sponsors, including Prairie Horizon Agri-Energy, McClain Farms, Rodgers and Associates Insurance Co., and Farmers State Bank.
Those sponsors match the Phillipsburg Rodeo’s donation. The rodeo raises funds through its annual Tough Enough to Wear Pink campaign, always held on the first night of rodeo (this year, on July 30). For every fan through the gate who wears pink, one dollar is donated to the fund. Since the program started fourteen years ago, over $107,000 has been raised.
Funds are also raised through donations picked up at the rodeo.
The Phillipsburg Rodeo is July 30-August 1 at the rodeo grounds north of Phillipsburg on Highway 183. Tickets are available online at www.kansasbiggestrodeo.com and at Heritage Insurance Group in Phillipsburg (785.543.2448) and range in price from $12-$19. For more information, visit the website or call 785.543.2448