The Longest Journey

By TAD BARTIMUS

Legendary dog musher DeeDee Jonrowe has braved blizzards, whiteouts, 40-below-0 temperatures, gale-force winds and logistical challenges that could stymie a military quartermaster. Each March for the past 19 years, she and her team have begun the Iditarod dogsled race in Anchorage, then run another 1,100 arctic miles down the trail to finish in Nome, Alaska.

Twice Jonrowe, 48, has finished just steps behind the winner. She's been in the top five eight times, and placed in the top 10 on 11 occasions. But last year, 100 hundred miles from Nome, an exhausted Jonrowe fell out of the leadership and wound up 16th. Four months later she was diagnosed with breast cancer; doctors estimate she's had it for six years.

Now Jonrowe is on the hardest journey of her life. Her beloved dogs can't pull her through her pain, sadness and fear, though she says being with them is immensely comforting. Halfway done with eight chemotherapy sessions, she's lost her hair and much of her physical strength; radiation treatment may lie ahead.
"I have two messages for women," Jonrowe said. "First, every one of us, no matter what our age, must do self-exams. We have to be aggressive about mammograms and follow our own instincts. I insisted on a sonogram when my mammogram results were inconclusive. That led to a biopsy, which found the cancer.

"I'm a triathlete, I don't smoke or drink, and I've been physically active my whole life. That didn't matter. I still got breast cancer. So I especially want young women to do self-exams, since they probably don't get mammograms. I just heard of a 19-year-old with breast cancer. There are no guarantees.

"Second," Jonrowe added, "we need to raise more money to do more research to find a cure. I want to help get the word out, so that this awful experience I'm going through isn't wasted."

Jonrowe's courage along the trail and her success in a traditionally macho sport have inspired admiration among women, particularly young girls to whom she is a role model. One of them -- Kelly LaMarre of Chicago -- has become a live-in assistant who feeds and helps train the dog teams while Jonrowe and her husband, Mike, focus on her chemo treatments and rehabilitation.

Fellow mushers -- particularly neighbor Martin Buser and his wife, Kathy Chapoton -- often drop by with meals for the couple.

"The men are so sweet, they don't say anything about my bald head except, 'Now you're just like us,'" said Jonrowe, tears lurking in her voice.

Her best friend and her dogs' veterinarian, Dr. JoAnn Rehn, is her medical advocate. Her husband takes care of the paperwork, which has been complicated because the Jonrowes' health insurance didn't include chemotherapy treatments.

"We were lucky to get another insurance policy, but it costs a fortune," said Jonrowe, whose financial woes were already on the rise before the diagnosis. Last spring, retailer Eddie Bauer and a major dog food company dropped their sponsorship, and since then, tight money has forced Jonrowe to lay off employees who helped feed and exercise dozens of racing dogs.

"When I'm not taking a nap or getting a treatment, I'm on the trail," Jonrowe said. "My goal is to run the next Iditarod, but I'm also training Kelly, who will go for the first time. If for some reason I can't run, it's wonderful to have her to focus on."

Friends have organized several benefits to raise money for Jonrowe's astronomical medical expenses. She recently participated in an online charity sports auction that raised $5,500 for breast cancer research when a bidder bought her two-day mushing clinic donation. She teaches mushing at the kennel next to her rural home.

Despite all her Iditarod hardships and several close calls, including a car accident that nearly killed her and Mike several years ago, Jonrowe says battling breast cancer is her biggest challenge.

"My incredible husband and friends, the support of thousands of Alaskans, my faith and my love for my dogs, and their love for me, are the cornerstones of my hopefulness," Jonrowe said. "The dogs don't know I'm sick, so we just do what we always do. Being out on the trail with them is good medicine."

REMEMBER: October is breast cancer awareness month. So is every other month.

© 2002 The Women Syndicate

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