Karen Rissmiller of West Amwell will have a car wash and bake sale Saturday, April 30, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
By: Mae Rhine
WEST AMWELL The tears, long-suppressed by the necessity of everyday life, came back freely now as Karen Rissmiller talked about her bout with breast cancer.
"I don’t know where that came from," the 46-year-old woman said apologetically as she wiped the last traces of tears from her cheeks. "I didn’t know I had that in me."
Ms. Rissmiller was diagnosed last March after she felt a lump in one of her breasts.
She was one of the lucky ones. Because she has had mammograms for the past 10 years, her case was diagnosed early.
That’s why she plans a car wash Saturday at the Union firehouse in Lambertville; not only to raise money for the American Cancer Society, but to stress the need for women to do self-examinations and have mammograms.
"I knew that day, before I left there," she said after going to Hunterdon Medical Center in Raritan Township for a mammogram.
The hospital called her and her husband, John, 48, later that day and already had an appointment for her to meet with the surgeon the next day. Her husband, a self-employed hardwood floor refinisher, had stayed home from work to go to the hospital with her.
"I was numb," she recalled. "My husband and I cried that night."
But she didn’t tell the rest of her family and friends until the surgery was over, and the lump and a few lymph nodes had been removed.
"They were mad for awhile," she said.
Ms. Rissmiller had to have four sessions, one every four weeks, of chemotherapy, then six weeks of radiation. Since then, she has had a mammogram every six months and takes her daily regimen of Tamoxifena, a medication used to prevent breast cancer.
She knew there was a risk of her getting breast cancer; her grandmother had it.
"Now I worry about my granddaughters," she said. "I’d like to see a cure."
Support for her came not only from her husband, but from son Christopher Atwood, 24, of Flemington and daughter Jessica Connor, 28, who, along with her family, including Ms. Rissmiller’s two granddaughters and two grandsons, ranging in age from 6 months to 5 years old, is moving next door to her mother on Belvidere Street in the township section of Connaught Hill.
What scares Ms. Rissmiller are the statistics; 1 out of 7 women get breast cancer, she was told.
"I was stunned," she said, upon learning that.
That’s why she plans on passing out pamphlets about breast cancer during the car wash to make people more aware of this devastating disease.
Ms. Rissmiller has a good prognosis because her cancer was discovered in its earliest stage. She just had a mammogram earlier this month, and everything "looked good," she said.
That’s why she wanted to do something more. For the past two years, Ms. Rissmiller, an employee of General Motors in Linden, has been doing community service as a part of her contract agreement.
She worked at the Trenton plant right after high school, from 1976 to 1997. When that plant closed, she transferred to the Linden plant, which also is closing.
As part of her contract, she must do 40 hours of community service a week to collect her paycheck. The alternative was "to sit in Linden and do nothing for 40 hours." By August 2006, she’ll have her 30 years in and will be able to retire.
Ms. Rissmiller has been spending the last couple of years working with Lambertville four fire companies Hibernia, Union, Columbia and Fleetwing. Chief Robert "Peachy" Hayes has been "excellent," keeping Ms. Rissmiller busy with cleaning the firehouses as well as helping out with fund-raisers, such as Columbia’s annual fish fry.
He found light work for her to do during her treatment.
"I’m thankful for him to allow me to do that" get her 40 hours in every week, she said.
But because of that struggle with breast cancer, Ms. Rissmiller wanted to do something more. The Union offered her the use of its firehouse on North Main Street for whatever she decided.
So why a car wash?
"Look at our cars out there," she said with a smile.
She has about 20 volunteers who will be helping her with a bake sale to be run along with the car wash. Both the car wash and the sale will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. If it rains, the car wash will be cancelled, but the bake sale still will be held.
Her son, who works at Domino’s Pizza, was able to get 10 pizzas donated from his employer for the car wash workers, who, she hopes, will come from local schools and Scout troops.
Most of the schools have community service requirements, and officials at the Lambertville and West Amwell elementary schools have promised some help for some students who need to put some hours in.
Her daughter, son and sisters all plan to help out as well.
National Parts Supply donated sponges for the car wash. And the Union Fire Company is letting the volunteers use its water, hoses, buckets and tables for the car wash and bake sale.
The Union also donated signs to draw customers.
All of the proceeds will go to the American Cancer Society.
She also plans to help with another society fund-raiser, the annual Relay for Life at South Hunterdon May 20-22. She will be on the team led by Amanda Rosso, 27, of West Amwell who was diagnosed with osteosarcoma last year.
Ms. Rosso’s bone cancer was discovered in December 2003 when she complained of pain in her knee. By the following December, she had completed a year of chemotherapy and vanquished the cancer.
Now she makes monthly visits to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York for scans to make sure the cancer is gone.
Ms. Rissmiller met Ms. Rosso through mutual friends and went to last year’s relay "just to get a feel of what was going on."
She didn’t walk, however, because she still was going through chemotherapy. But she’ll be among the survivors walking proud and tall this year.
Her life is busy, but Ms. Rissmiller’s outlook has changed because of her bout with breast cancer.
Looking outside on a warm Thursday afternoon recently with the sun pouring into the window, she said, "Before I would take naps on a beautiful day like this." Now, "I just try and get the most I can out of each day."