CANCER STORIES: Dennis Hurlburt

Some days change your lives forever.

We had moved to Grand Island in 2004, and my husband of 34 years, Dennis Hurlburt, drove each day to Greeley, where he taught school and coached. I worked at Nebraska Sports.

May 17, 2007, was the last day of school in Greeley. Dennis was in charge of Fun Day, when the elementary school kids run races and have relays.

It was a hot, and Dennis was very tired. He was at school at 6 a.m. and didn't get home until 7 p.m., so his days were long.

We had decided we were going fishing Saturday. Last year, we just didn't make the time to do it because I worked most weekends at the store. I had requested the day off so that we could go fishing.

Saturday morning, I asked Dennis where we were going, and he kept saying, "You know the place we always liked to go." Well, there were several, so I kept asking, and all he'd say was, "You know that place we always liked to go."

I got mad because he wouldn't tell me the name. We loaded the tracker and headed north on 281. I asked again because we sometimes went to our cousins at Lake of the Woods north of St. Paul or to Davis Creek west of Scotia or to the Loup River. We liked fishing the river and walking the river.

On the way, Dennis never said a word to me. That wasn't like him. He was very quiet. With seven grandchildren, we didn't have much alone time, so I got upset and decided not to talk either.

We stopped in St. Paul for night crawlers. When Dennis got out, I said I wanted a Coke, but he didn't get it. He said he forgot, so I was angry.

Now we headed north, and again I asked, "Where are we going?" He again said, "You know the place we always liked to go."

I started to cry. Dennis grabbed my hand and said, "Honey, let's not fight. Let's have a good day and have fun. I don't wanna fight."

"Then tell me where we are going!" I said. He still couldn't.

We got to Elba, where a small creek runs through the area there, and pulled in. I put a night crawler on my hook and walked upstream about 400 yards. Dennis took his pole and went the other way. He always comes to check on me, to make sure I don't get my line caught in the tree, but that day he never came.

I went back, and he was sitting in the tracker with it running.

"What the heck are you doing?" I asked. He seemed confused, but I didn't think anything of it. I blamed it on the heat.

"Let's go to the other place," he said.

"Where?" I asked.

Again he said, "You know, the place we always go."

This time, I knew something was wrong. I couldn't put my finger on it, but I started to cry, and he stopped and held me and said, "Let's have a good day."

We left, but on the way I started to ask him some questions. When I asked about our grandson Dylan starting baseball practice, Dennis said something that made absolutely no sense. I really started to worry.

I told him I was hot and tired, so we headed back to Grand Island. Our family doctor is in St. Paul. I told Dennis we should stop at the hospital there and have them take his blood pressure. He was on medication for high blood pressure, and I said let's just have them double-check it. He kept rubbing his forehead.

He said no, that he was just tired and forgot to take his blood pressure medication. I asked him to stop in anyway, just do a quick check. He said no, that he was fine.

When we got home, as usual, he said he would unload the tracker. I went inside to take a quick shower. When I was through and dressed, I found him just sitting in the chair, staring at the TV. He hadn't done anything.

I told him I was calling the doctor and that he was going in to get checked. He grabbed the phone from my hand.

I told him I was going to call our youngest daughter, Nikki, who also lives in Grand Island. When I told her about Dad, she said, "Mom, he may be having a stroke. Get him to go!"

Now I was really scared. I told Dennis, "Either go with me now or we can wait until Nikki gets here." He said he would go but that nothing was wrong. He was just tired.

I got him to the ER, and I told them what was going on. After Dennis had a CT scan, the doctor came back and said they found a spot on the front lobe of his brain and that he needed to go to Bryan Memorial in Lincoln ASAP.

I couldn't talk. No way. He had never been sick. He had complained of a backache, which we thought was from carrying a heavy pool table up our stairs.

When we got to Lincoln, Dr. Pearson did another MRI. Dennis had Stage 4 renal cell cancer … kidney cancer. It had spread to the brain, and that's what was causing his memory loss. The doctor said Dennis had a tumor that had to be removed.

The staff at Bryan Memorial was outstanding. They answered all our questions and assured us they would get to the bottom of this. All I wanted to do was wake up and this be a nightmare.

The tumor in the front of the brain had started to bleed. He also had a tumor in the back of the brain, where the vision is located.

They told us they would have to operate and take care of the one that was causing the memory trouble. Then they would proceed to the next step, the one at the back of the brain.

That was a Saturday. Each day, his memory was getting worse. He didn't know faces.

I asked the doctor how long Dennis had had kidney cancer because each year he was required to take a bus driver's physical. Why didn't the cancer show up? The doctor said, unless you're looking for it, it's hard to pick up. There was no blood in his urine, nothing. And it was Stage 4.

The doctor said Dennis could have had it for two to four years, but the tumor on his brain had not been there very long, so I thank the lord for us being together that day.

On Monday, they removed the brain tumor. Dennis recovered from that, and a week later, we went to Dr. Moravec, an oncologist in Lincoln. Using a gamma knife, he performed radiosurgery on the spot in the back of the brain.

Shortly after that, Dr. Koefoot in Grand Island removed Dennis' kidney. There was a chance the kidney would not have to be removed, but Dr. Koefoot decided it wasn't an option; it had to be removed.

As Dennis started to recover from the three surgeries, he underwent 28 days of radiation to the brain in case there were any "sleepers," tiny problems that might not be picked up on the MRI.

That was the hardest for Coach. Each day, he would get weaker and weaker, but he lives life the same way he coaches: Do the best. That's all you can ask.

Not being able to teach driver's education that summer (2007) was really hard for Dennis. For 15 years, he had spent his summers in Grand Island, teaching driver's ed. He loves teaching, and God willing, he will again. He is not one to have idle time. He's had it, and it was driving me nuts … but we got through it.

It wasn't easy seeing a man who is used to doing everything for himself ask for help.

Dennis' first two weeks were not too bad, but by the third week, he was very fatigued, yet he still went to teach. His students gave him the respect and concern he needed. So, parents, you can be so proud of your children.

Besides those students, many people have been wonderful and so appreciated. Rick Brown has been a good friend and a big help to Coach. Dr. Bolton, whose understanding and care have been great, told Dennis to keep doing what he loved most. So, by golly, he did just that -- coach and teach. Thanks to Dr. Harrahill from St. Paul, too. The people from Greeley came down in their trucks and moved us back to Greeley. The staff at Grand Island Cancer Center can be proud you went above and beyond your duty to help us, and we will be forever grateful.

Our family, too. You don't realize how important family is until something like this happens.

Coaching and teaching are who my husband is. He'll be back in the classroom this fall at Greeley/Wolbach and coaching eight-man football at North Loup-Scotia. He is fighting this cancer the same way he has coached for 37 years: teamwork, perseverance, sportsmanship, the value of hard work and the ability to deal with adversity.

Not every year was a winning season for Coach and his teams, but he instilled in those young men to persevere, that life wasn't always going to be a bed of roses. As long as you work hard, stay dedicated and believe in yourself, you can be a winner in your own heart -- on and off the field. Winning isn't everything; it's how you play the game. That's why Dennis' battle with cancer each day is a victory.