A Husband's Fight to Help Breast Cancer Patients
When you think of bikers, you probably think of tough types, but in tonight's Buddy Check Report, we show you the softer side, that is working hard to save lives.
Peter Yuresko may look tough, but he says breast cancer is the real criminal.
He says, "It's a thief that steals every aspect you can think of."
Yuresko has fought with that thief for decades.
He says, "I was aware of breast cancer when I married my wife 34 years ago. She had quite a history in her family of breast cancer. She had lost her grandmother, some aunts and stuff at an early age. We were aware of what could happen and that she was probably a candidate that it was going to happen because of her family history."
For the first decade of their married life, she was healthy. They were raising their three kids in Buckley and didn't have a lot of money. That's when their nightmare came true; a diagnosis of cancer; one with a very low survival rate.
Yuresko says, "It affected our family a lot because we didn't have much money, we didn't have any insurance or anything like that. It hits you, 'what are you going to do? You may lose your wife; your children aren't going to have a mother. How are you going to raise three kids?' There were a lot of concerns other than just getting treatment for her."
After a lot of research they took her to a hospital in Alabama doing some experimental treatments.
Yuresko says, "She got through it and five years later they gave her a clean bill of health and she's been a survivor for 20 years."
Thankful for her health, they knew they wanted to help others.
He says, "We were approached about 7 years ago. They were looking for a bike shop to put on a run to raise money for breast cancer and we thought it was a great way to give back some of the fortune that was given to us."
Each October, their shop, First Kick Cycle in Kingsley does a fall color motorcycle ride to raise money and awareness for breast cancer. But this year they teamed up with Munson's Women's Cancer Fund which helps women cover the costs of things that may come up during treatment, like gas and childcare for appointments.
Yuresko says, "We wanted to have something to put into the community that would help the individual. we understand research is important but what's more important to us is the people that are going through this."
They say they picked this fund because when they were going through it two decades ago, there was nothing like this available, and they don't want any other families to go through what they did.
Yuresko says, "We understand how they feel and our hearts go out to them."
