by Melissa Newland
The Baraga County Community Foundation (BCCF), along with the Unified Warrior Foundation (UWF), the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community (KBIC) Wiikwedong Ogichidaa Veterans Society, and Baraga American Legion Post 444, hosted a memorial service honoring Fallen Veterans of Suicide Oct. 21, 2017 at noon. The Youth Advisory Committee of the BCCF partnered with Retired Army Sergeant and Executive Director of the UWF George Eshleman, to host the event in the Upper Peninsula in support of the work of Eshleman. The group honoring the fallen Veterans met first at The Finn’s in Skanee, where the Youth Advisory Committee of the BCCF presented gifts to the Veterans present for the service. The fleet of vehicles then made their way to the summit of Mount Arvon for the ceremony. Eshleman opened the ceremony with his story. After losing his best friend to suicide, he hiked a total of 3,545 miles, including 2,189 miles of the Appalachian Trail. The family of his friend asked him to carry his Army name tag with him to Mount Katahdin. To read more, subscribe to the L’Anse Sentinel online, or buy a print copy at our local retailers.

by Melissa Newland
“We make plans for the weekend, plans to go on vacation, plan for retirement, but nobody plans for cancer!”– Debbie Eliason. Nobody does plan for cancer, but Bob “Eel”and Debbie Eliason have had to do just that after Bob was recently diagnosed with T3 locally advanced esophageal cancer in August. Bob was at his physician’s office for his biannual checkup for Barrett’s disease, which he had been diagnosed with about eight years ago. Barret’s disease is caused by longstanding acid reflux disease that causes damage to the cells of the lower esophagus. Bob had been managing his Barrett’s disease by taking a proton pump inhibitor, Prilosec, that blocks the release of stomach acid. He had also been going in for scheduled upper endoscopy procedures. An endoscopy procedure involves the insertion of a flexible fiberoptic scope through the mouth, throat, and into the stomach. The frequency of this procedure is determined by how fast the cells are changing. On Aug. 17, Bob went in for a routine scope at Baraga County Memorial Hospital (BCMH) with Dr. Pat Bulinski. After the procedure Dr. Bulinski indicated he had biopsied a polyp, but all looked well and would let the Eliason’s know the following week the conclusive results. On Aug. 21, Bob received a phone call at work from Dr. Bulinski’s office letting him  know he needed to come to the hospital as soon as possible for the results of the biopsy. To read more, subscribe to the L’Anse Sentinel online, or buy a print copy at our local retailers.

by Nancy Besonen
Doreen Zagar has done it again! The “Yooper Gals” celebrated the pioneer spirit Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2017 with horse & wagon rides and a big spread at Zagar’s in L’Anse. The former Red Hat Society club gone rogue marches to the beat of its own drum. Last Tuesday, Doreen was the drummer. Women dressed as all manner of pioneers, from dance hall girls (Faye Lozier) to a “poor pioneer woman busy baking biscuits” (Ruthy Brown) to a pistol-packing outlaw (that would be Doreen) gathered at Zagar’s for an afternoon of food, friendship and fun. Guests gathered at Zagar’s bar (“saloon”) indoors, visited on lawn chairs outside or cruised, as. Dean Wascher of Greenland drove groups of happily waving Yooper Gals around town in his horse-drawn wagon–with one Gal toting a toy rifle riding shotgun on the back. “We meet once a month, and once a year I host a great big one,” Doreen explained prior to the event. “This year I’m doing ‘Pioneer Day.’ I’ve got a horse and wagon coming out of Greenland, and you should see the menu! I’m going all out. This is what I like to do.” It’s all in the spirit of the Red Hat Society, an international social organization that encourages women to get together, get out and have fun. The movement began with a poem by Jenny Joseph titled, “Warning,” whose opening line sets both the tone and dress code for the organization: “When I am an old women, I shall wear purple, with a red hat which doesn’t go and doesn’t suit me.” To read more, subscribe to the L’Anse Sentinel online, or buy a print copy at our local retailers.

by Melissa Newland
This year, an estimated 2,600 men in the United States will be diagnosed with breast cancer. It is estimated 440 men will die from breast cancer this year. But for Steve Portice of Rose City, MI, grandson of the late Andrew McGee and Maggie Mae Portice of Skanee and son of George and Janice Portice of Twining, MI, these statistics are not going to include him! Steve was diagnosed with a 2.5-cm HER2/neu-positive stage IIIB breast cancer in June of 2016 after feeling a lump in his left breast. His diagnosis was confirmed after surgery was done Sept. 12, 2016 to remove the lump, along with 21 lymph nodes, among which four were found positive for cancer. A Stage IIIB tumor is characterized by having spread to the chest wall or has caused swelling or ulceration of the breast or is diagnosed as inflammatory breast cancer. It may or may not have spread to the lymph nodes under the arm, but it has not spread to other parts of the  body. HER2/neu testing is recommended because the outlook for HER2-positive cancers is reportedly improved if drugs targeting the HER2/neu protein are used as part of treatment. In some men with breast cancer, the cancer cells have too much of a growth-promoting protein known as HER2/neu (or just HER2) on their surface. Breast cancers with too much of this protein are called HER2 positive. They tend to grow and spread more aggressively without special treatment.  To read more, subscribe to the L’Anse Sentinel online, or buy a print copy at our local retailers.