Laurie Kulus

Laurie Kulus is strikingly beautiful. And fit. Lordie, is the girl fit.

She was, in fact, training to run the Nebraska State Fair half marathon on Aug. 29th, an event she couldn't wait to sink her teeth in.

"I was gonna rock that race," she laughs. "My goal was to run it in less than two hours."

Scott and Laurie Kulus

But a routine colonoscopy two weeks ago changed everything. Only days before the race, Laurie would check into St. Francis Medical Center for major surgery to remove almost a foot of her colon. Her very first colonoscopy had revealed a dangerously large polyp that, her doctor surmises, had been growing for ten years.

For a girl who's always taken care of everybody else, this was foreign territory. Laurie has always watched out for her widowed mother. She sat with her dad as he took his last breath, and she is, as her husband Scott and kids Bradley and Amber will tell you, the rock of their family.

"We've been hit hard this past year with lots of pain and struggles," daughter Amber says, "but Mom always says there's a reason for it. She says we just have to believe that something great will come out of it all."

As executive director of GRACE (Grand Island Area Cancer Endowment), Laurie writes grants, organizes assistance for families, and stays strongly connected with the Cancer Treatment Center. Because of her job, cancer is no stranger to Laurie, and in the same way she cares for family and friends, she also cares for those in the community stricken by a cancer diagnosis.

GRACE co-founders Lisa Willman and Julie Pfeifer say that Laurie has been a God-send to the foundation. "Her beautiful smile, warmth and compassion are just what our cancer patients need most when they sit with her and feel vulnerable, hopeless and afraid," Julie said.

Lisa adds that Laurie listens with an open ear and heart and is always willing to go the extra mile to find additional resources for patients. "She puts in the time to make a diagnosis less stressful and has really worked hard to form some alliances with other agencies and individuals who can serve as resources."

But Laurie's own possible cancer diagnosis was a blow. After the colonoscopy and subsequent devastating news, she went home to seriously consider her own mortality. Laurie did what women all through time have done in the face of gut wrenching fear.

She cleaned out her closet.

"I didn't want Scott to have to do it after I was gone," she said.

She cried a little, too. Then she pulled herself together. Bradley, her son, arrived from Omaha, and her daughter Amber with her husband Adam and baby daughter Brooklyn also flocked home. They barbecued and laughed, and Laurie played with her granddaughter. With the support of her family around her, Laurie made a decision. She would use her own experience to help others. Because that's what you do if you're Laurie Kulus.

"She's always helping somebody," her son Brad reflects. "I take a ton of pride in calling her 'Mom'. There's never been a time that she hasn't been around for me or anybody else who needed her."

A friend of hers whose own mother had died of colon cancer asked Laurie what she could do to help.

"Don't bring me a meal," Laurie ordered. "Go get a colonoscopy. That's what you can do for me."

It's her new mission in life - to get everybody she knows 50 years of age or older to schedule a colonoscopy.  "There's absolutely nothing to it," she emphasizes, describing the procedure itself as completely painless and prep the day before only mildly annoying.

Although Laurie herself was only 52 with no symptoms, her doctor was concerned at the size and aggressive growth of the mass in her colon.  "Had you waited another two years," her doctor gravely informed her, "we'd be having a different conversation."

Most polyps, if caught early, are not cancerous but can become cancerous if not removed in a timely manner. The size of Laurie's polyp was of great concern to her doctors. "Colon cancer is the most preventable cancer there is," Laurie explains, "and colonoscopies are completely covered by insurance. There's really no reason not to have one."

In the days before her surgery, Laurie talked to everyone she knew urging friends and family alike to take charge of their colon health.  "If I can talk even one person into scheduling a colonoscopy," she says, "then I've done something."

During the dark hours, she took refuge in the support of friends and family. Her good GRACE pals Lisa and Julie presented her with a gift of Scripture readings and a medallion. Laurie pressed the medallion next to her heart. "It meant the love and comfort of my friends," she says, "and that's so soothing to me."

The weekend before her surgery, Laurie and Scott jumped into the car with good friends to take a road trip to Iowa. She posted photos on Facebook.

"Having a great time with great friends and Styx!"  Her beautiful, happy face, close to Scott's, beamed from the photos.

When she came home, she prepared herself for major surgery.

Laurie didn't run in the Nebraska State Fair marathon on August 29th. Instead, though still weak from her operation, she manned a water station flanked by her friends Julie Pfeifer and Lisa Willman.

Her polyp was benign. No cancer. Not anywhere.

"My doctor told me the mass was one stage below cancer," Laurie explains. "Had I waited any longer to have my colonoscopy, it would have been too late. I'm blessed!"

Life, with its profound beauty and endless length of days, will continue for Laurie Kulus. Not content to sit on the sidelines, however, she will work to be an outspoken advocate for colon health.

"There's work to be done!" she flashes her brilliant smile. She will nag her family, friends, neighbors, and strangers on the street, if need be, to schedule their colonoscopies.

But she will also find time to hug her granddaughter, take a road trip with her husband, and begin a training regimen.

Because next year at the State Fair, by God, she'll be running a half marathon.