ELLSWORTH – Four local business owners are raising awareness about breast cancer, a cause close to these women’s hearts.

Brush Strokes Art Supply/East End Gifts, Country Fit Nutrition, YB Urban? and River Road Coffee are selling themed products throughout October; the funds raised will be used to purchase gas cards for those going through cancer treatment at Allina Health Cancer Institute in River Falls.

Kayleen Jakes, owner of Brush Strokes and co-owner of East End Gifts, and CJ Pedersen, owner of Country Fit and also co-owner of East End Gifts, wanted to find a way to give back to those going through cancer after Jakes’ mom, Denice Girdeen, was diagnosed with breast cancer.

“We reached out to my mom to see the most impactful way we could give back,” Jakes said. “We both had businesses that could do a fundraiser.”

Girdeen suggested providing gas cards to those who need to drive to chemotherapy and radiation treatments. Besides medical bills, it’s an expense that can add up that people may not think about. Fuel costs add up.

That first year in 2021, Jakes and Pedersen raised $240 to provide $20 gas cards to patients. In 2022 that total increased to $625, followed by $1,100 in 2023 when YB Urban?’s Angie Whelan joined the cause. This year, Megan Gooselaw from River Road Coffee is also taking part. Kwik Trip Kares program also donated money to the initiative in the past and the women are hoping the Wisconsin-based company will do so again.

People can purchase themed products at each business, such as pink shakes, teas and lemonade, shirts and boobie bath products.

“We try to do a variety of things so it’s not just one thing at one location,” Jakes said.

Customers get a kick out of Whelan’s boobie themed truffle bath bombs, goat’s milk soap and shower lotion bars. Her mother is a breast cancer survivor of 25 years, so the cause hits close to home.

“We have to be aware of our risks, being that our mothers had it,” Whelan said.

Jakes added that she’s had aunts and cousins also diagnosed with cancer.

Gooselaw, new to the cause this year, is a cancer survivor, so it’s a cause close to her heart. In January 2016 at age 30 she was diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma. She felt a small lump in her right breast near her armpit while lying in bed.

“I almost brushed it off, as I was just getting over the flu and figured it was probably a swollen lymph node from being sick,” she said. “I ended up making an appointment with my gynecologist who assured me the lump was ‘probably nothing.’ I was so young and I had no history of breast cancer in my family.”
Luckily, the physician she saw sent her for imaging just to be overly cautious. She had a mammogram which showed nothing because her tissue was too dense. After the mammogram, Gooselaw had an ultrasound that confirmed it was some kind of solid lump and not a cyst.

“At this point, I started to panic but was assured by the medical team that 8 out of 10 lumps are not cancer,” Gooselaw said. “They sent me for a needle biopsy on a Friday. I wouldn't get a call with the results till the following Tuesday around lunch time. After the most excruciating wait of my life over the weekend, the phone rang at my office and a sweet woman from the breast center did not sugar coat things. She said ‘there's no easy way to say this, you have breast cancer.’ Everything went dark at that point. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I don't remember the drive home and the next few days were a blur.”

After working through some anger and asking why this had happened to her, she got serious about next steps. She had genetic testing done to ensure she didn't have a mutated BRCA gene, as that would have dictated the course of action. Women with a mutated gene have a 50-80% chance of breast cancer and a high chance of recurrence. The genetic test came back clean, meaning she could have a lumpectomy, rather than a full mastectomy. She met with a great surgeon who performed a lumpectomy a few weeks after her diagnosis. The surgeon removed the tumor and a fair amount of tissue to get clean margins, as well as six lymph nodes including her sentinel node.

“Luckily, the cancer was discovered while it was still in stage one. All the lymph nodes were clean, allowing me to have 33 rounds of radiation after surgery, but avoid doing chemotherapy,” Gooselaw said.  

Gooselaw encourages women to be familiar with how their breasts feel so they can tell if something changes.

“I also remind them to advocate for themselves. Nobody knows your body like you do,” she said. “If you think something is going on, don't stop until you get to the bottom of it. I was told multiple times that my tumor was probably nothing. I'm very lucky that my cancer was discovered and I wasn't simply sent home.

“I would also stress that they should give themselves permission to take care of themselves. I almost cancelled my initial doctor's appointment because I didn't want to have to leave work early. I was going to have the lump checked out months later at my yearly visit. I only ended up keeping the appointment because of a very caring co-worker who basically pushed me out the door. I'm so thankful I didn't wait to be seen. I would tell them leave work early, cancel plans, put your housework on hold. You are allowed to take a moment to take care of you.

“Lastly, a lot of people think they'll be ok if they don't have a family history of the disease. I am living proof that you don't need to have family history to be diagnosed. I would also stress that women of all ages should be vigilant. Younger women often don't think they need to worry about cancer, but again, I was a healthy 30-year-old one day and a cancer patient the next. It can happen at any age and early detection can save lives.”

Whelan said the nurses at the Cancer Institute are appreciative of the gift cards given to patients. Jakes said she loves to see the faces of people they are helping.

“I think it’s so important when you’re in small communities to find the places you can help locally,” Whelan said. “It’s not that donating to a bigger organization isn’t good. You make the biggest impact when you can donate on the local level.”