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Caregiver Says Spirituality Important in Cancer Treatment
The president of the Galesburg School Board says he learned firsthand, twice, how to care for someone who has cancer.

Rick Welty was a keynote speaker Friday night at the opening ceremonies for the Knox County Relay for Life. Welty's wife is a two-time cancer survivor, and knew after the first breast cancer diagnosis in 1997 he had to do everything he could to help his wife.

Welty says there are three ways to be a caregiver -- spiritually, emotionally, and physically -- and says of those, spiritually is perhaps the most important.

"When my wife came back from being released from the hospital after her first surgery, I remember we stood in our home and my folks over. We stood in a circle and we prayed," Welty said. "And my wife said that she was so overwrought that she couldn't pray. And my mom said, 'Don't you worry. We're taking up the slack.'"

Welty says there were times when his wife felt that she couldn't fight the cancer anymore, to which he said he knew she could. And, as it turns out, she did just fine.

As for being a physical caregiver, he admits he can't cook or do some of the cleaning, but it was otherwise easy being a caregiver to someone he loved so much.

As WGIL News reported first Saturday morning, around $129,000 was raised during this year's Relay.
07 24 11 by Newsroom
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