WEST BEND -
Faced with her cousin’s ovarian cancer, West Bend West dancer Leah
Spith chose to act.
Women with the disease have only a one in four chance of survival
if it isn’t caught early, according to the Wisconsin Ovarian
Cancer Alliance. Spith’s cousin, Laura David, didn’t detect her
cancer early.
Spith and her family give David support, but Spith wanted to do
more. The West Bend West Dance Team gave her an outlet: Dancers
Against Cancer, a dance routine and service project to draw
attention to ovarian cancer.
The dancers put on teal scrubs and caps and dance to Melissa
Etheridge’s "I Run For Life." The project was voluntary,
said Linda Kehring, a parent involved with the team and health
advisor for Dancers Against Cancer.
Every single team member volunteered, Kehring said.
"There was never any complaint," Spith said. "The
whole team was like, ‘OK, let’s do it!’"
The dancers enjoy the chance to perform for a worthy cause,
Kehring said, but they were startled to learn more about the threat
of ovarian cancer. The disease occurs in one out of 69 women, she
said. The disease is hard to catch early, Kehring said, because the
symptoms are so vague and so often dismissed as irritable bowel
syndrome or hormonal activity.
Kehring tells the dancers that odds are high that one of them
will die of the disease. She wears a teal bracelet printed with the
sobering slogan, "It Whispers... So Listen!"
It’s a grim message, but Kehring and the dance team believe it’s
one that more women need to hear. The best way to cope with cancer
is to do something, Kehring said, and the best thing to do is to
help people understand how to catch the symptoms before it’s too
late.
"If, God forbid, it’s your turn, then at least you know
you did something and possibly saved someone," Kehring said.
The team’s first performance Friday will kick off a campaign of
raising awareness of ovarian cancer and raising money for the
Ovarian Cancer Alliance. They’ll dance at the Sept. 5 football
game at West Bend West High School, where Mayor Kristine Deiss will
declare September to be Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month.
Spith feels a little nervous to dance Friday after a month and a
half of preparation, especially since David might be in attendance.
But Spith is glad David inspired her to teach other women about
ovarian cancer.
"It makes me feel I’m doing my part to help her,"
Spith said.
