HOT SPRINGS VILLAGE — It’s been 17 years since a group of cancer survivors, family and friends first came together to raise money for cancer research by participating in an organized walk. That event is now called the Village Walk for Cancer Research, scheduled this year for 7:30 a.m. Saturday — rain or shine — at the Balboa Pavilion, 476 Ponce de Leon Drive.
The theme of the event is “Help us walk away cancer, one cancer at a time.”
“This is a grassroots effort,” said Melanie Pederson of Hot Springs, chairwoman of this year’s event and a 10-year breast-cancer survivor. “The walk was started in 2002 to honor Midge Bates. Since that time, it has grown to be the largest fundraising event for cancer research in Hot Springs Village. We have raised over $489,000 for cancer research since that first walk.
“Every dollar donated to this walk will go directly to the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute at UAMS. Our goal this year is to raise $50,000 for the Seeds of Science program at WPRCI for cancer research.”
Pederson said University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences researchers will be at the walk to answer questions, along with Dr. Laura Hutchins, WPRCI interim director.
“Grassroots efforts, such as the Hot Springs Village Walk for Cancer Research, are a vital part of our efforts to ensure that every Arkansan knows about UAMS’ advanced treatment options and research into better ways to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer,” Hutchins said. “We are incredibly grateful to the Village Walk volunteers and participants for their tireless work in the fight against cancer right here in Arkansas.”
Susan Van Dusen, communications manager for the UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, said the Seeds of Science award “provides UAMS cancer researchers with pilot funding for cancer-related research that has the potential to develop into extramurally funded, scientifically significant research projects.
“Historically, each award has provided $10,000 of support,” she said. “The number of grants awarded is dependent on available funds and has varied from two to five.”
Van Dusen said that according to the American Cancer Society, approximately 44 Arkansans a day will be diagnosed with cancer this year, and about 6,910 will die of the disease in 2018.
This year’s Village Walk for Cancer Research is in honor of Ken MacNeill of Hot Springs Village, a cancer survivor, and in memory of Gene Kerr, a Hot Springs Village resident who died from cancer in 2015. Dick Antoine of Hot Springs, a
two-time cancer survivor, will serve as master of ceremonies.
MacNeill and his wife, Claire, have been involved with the walk since 2005. The MacNeills, who retired to Hot Springs Village in 2002, lost their 44-year-old daughter, Kerrie Moreno of Dallas, Texas, to breast cancer in 2004. Since then, they have worked to raise money for cancer research through the Village Walk for Cancer Research; they served as chairmen of the event for several years.
In June 2017, Ken MacNeill was diagnosed with cancer.
“I had a blockage. Found it in a routine medical checkup at the VA (Veterans Affairs hospital). They ended up taking out a third of my pancreas, a third of my small intestine and a third of my stomach; plus they removed my gall bladder,” he said.
“I got excellent care, superb care at [John L. McClellan Memorial Veterans Hospital in Little Rock]. I am good for now,” MacNeill said.
“I told the doctors at my age, 82, I don’t ever want to have chemotherapy,” he said. “I go back next spring for scans and blood work. We’ll see what happens.
“My mother died of cancer, her two sisters died of cancer, my daughter died of cancer, and now I have had cancer. This is why we do the walk.”
Ken MacNeill is retired from the Air Force, serving from 1954 to 1962 during the Korean conflict. He worked 33 years for General Dynamics Electric Boat as a first-class service engineer for communications on the Trident, a fast-attack nuclear submarine.
Claire MacNeill is a retired registered nurse.
Antoine, a longtime radio personality in Garland County, is also an Air Force veteran, having served from 1969 to 1973, including a tour of duty in Thailand during the Vietnam War.
“My dad died of head and neck cancer in 1979,” said Antoine, who moved to Hot Springs from Hutchinson, Kansas, in 1988. “In 2009, I noticed a bump on my neck. Ten days later, they took out that bump and told me I had cancer. I started chemotherapy on March 10, 2009, followed by radiation. I had 30 radiation treatments and 60 rounds of chemo. The Genesis Center for Cancer saved my life.
“Then last October, I developed Bell’s Palsy, that was really painful and should not have been,” he said. “I had three MRI’s, a spinal tap and other tests. In February, nine years to the day they discovered my cancer in 2009, I walked in the kitchen and my wife said, ‘What’s that on your face?’
“I had a lump the size of a golf ball that stuck out on my face,” Antoine said. “I had cancer again. My ENT (ear, nose and throat) doctor removed it. I had targeted immunotherapy at the Genesis Center, and they told me I would have to wait 90 days to know the outcome. Ninety days later, I went back to my ENT doctor, and there was no cancer. That therapy saved my life.”
Antoine has been involved for several years in the local Relay for Life project, which also raises money for cancer research. Pederson reached out to him last year and asked him to serve as master of ceremonies for the Village Walk. Antoine accepted and will do so again this year.
“I’ll wear my purple tutu,” he said, laughing.
Antoine, who has appeared as Santa Claus in local Christmas parades, as well as “the tallest leprechaun” in the First Annual World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade, is not hesitant to talk about his disease or the disfigurement it has caused him.
“I look like I have had a stroke,” he said. “But this last cancer went deep into the nerves in my face and affected my eye, [as did the Bell’s palsy]. I also use this walking stick to help with my balance.”
This year’s walk, which is 5 miles along the Balboa and Hernando trails, will feature free food and drinks, flu shots offered by Walgreens, a bake sale, a silent auction, music and chair messages. RE-MAX will sponsor free, confidential document shredding by Arkansas Records Management.
The Hot Springs Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 10483 Honor Guard will post the colors, and Sheri Bales of Hot Springs will sing the national anthem, along with “The Cancer Song,” an original song written by Judy Corwin of Hot Springs Village to the tune of “A Bicycle Built for Two.”
Corwin and Jana McKnight of Maumelle will present a two-person play, The Cancer Comedy Special, at 1:30 p.m. Monday at the Coronado Community Center in Hot Springs Village.
“They will share their experiences dealing with cancer,” Pederson said. “They will have the audience laughing about what they went through.”
Registration for the walk is underway. Online registration is available through Monday at walkforcancerresearch.org or giving.uams.edu/walkforcancerhsv. The registration fee for walkers is $35 and includes a T-shirt, which may be picked up early from 1-3 p.m.
Wednesday or Thursday at Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church, 225 Balearic Road. T-shirts may also be picked up the day of the walk.
Participants may also register at various locations in Hot Springs Village. Other donation opportunities, as well as volunteer opportunities, are available.
For more information on the Village Walk for Cancer Research, contact Pederson at (501) 915-8747 or email chairman@walkforcancerresearch.org.