Benefit aids parishioner with cancer

By Kenny Keane, Globe staff reporter
Posted Nov. 7, 2002

Most people would probably agree that true friends are hard to find. Oftentimes the realization of who these people are comes to light at difficult times when one needs these rare individuals the most.

A group of individuals fitting this description came together on Oct. 26 at the St. Boniface Parish Hall in Sioux City to support their friend who is suffering from a rare form of cancer.

Jim Roethler, a well-known Sioux City businessman and a member of St. Boniface Parish, has been diagnosed with multiple myeloma. Despite his illness, Roethler, 51, continues to work as a supervisor at Terra Chemical, where he has been employed for 29 years. He is the husband of Linda and the father of Tommy, Tony and Tammy.

Then there are those friends, mentioned above, who put together a dinner, auction and dance to raise funds to help Roethler and his family defray medical and other expenses while in Omaha, which is where he is hoping to receive a stem cell transplant in December if it is determined he is a candidate for it.

"It was just so gracious of all the people to come out and give me support," Roethler said. "I know that there are a lot of other people in greater need. My friends just happen to feel the need to help me out. The help is way more than I'll need I'm sure, and we plan on using it exclusively for that."

The help came in the form of just over $38,000, which more than doubled the goal of $15,000, according to Sheryl Stusse, co-chair of the benefit. She said that donations were still coming in the mail after the event, but the majority of the funds came from the donated items bid on during the auction.

"We had close to 90 items, and every single thing was purchased," she said. "Everyone was in shock over what people were bidding. Many people commented that they had never seen that much energy and love in one room."

Two items in particular, a football signed by the entire Green Bay Packers team and an autographed Kansas City Chiefs' pennant, brought in over $5,000. The football itself brought in $1,800, but more amazingly, the $5 pennant was actually bid on three separate times for a total of $3,300.

"We couldn't believe it," Stusse said. "They kept throwing it back in, and it went again. We were just in shock."

Even those who didn't participate in the auction added their support just by showing up, as tickets for the benefit were $10 per person. Stusse guessed that close to 400 people attended because the hall was overcrowded, and it usually holds about 300.

The original schedule was to have the dinner and auction from 6-8, followed by a dance with the music of the group Rattlebone from 8 to midnight, but Stusse said the dance didn't start until around 9:40 with so much enthusiasm making the auction run late.

"This thing was a lot of work, but it ended up being so easy and fun to do because everybody wanted to do it," she said. "Because he is such a wonderful man, everybody wanted to do it for him. I've never experienced anything like it."

Everyone's kindness and generosity touched Roethler's wife Linda, who said whatever they don't use for their bills will be given to help other people who have the multiple myeloma cancer.

"It's just unbelievable. We're so blessed to have such wonderful, kind, caring people for friends, family and just acquaintances," she said. "We'd like to help out other people who are in need of it when we hear of it. Hopefully we can help other families, too. When they have such big bills like this that will be coming up it is kind of overwhelming."

Roethler said it was overwhelming and mind-boggling to see the number of people who came.

"It was very heartwarming to see all the support from all the people from all the various aspects of my life - from my high school days through the Marine Corps in college and through all the events of Heelan that we had attended and the different organizations that we had been in and are now a part of," he said. "It was kind of amazing how it brought everyone together. It was sort of a common event for all of them, and yet they didn't know how everyone knew me."

However, it was what everyone knew about Roethler that brought them together to support him. Multiple myeloma does not have a cure, and according to Roethler, when it returns - this is the second time it's come back after three years - it's more aggressive.

He said the prognosis without a stem cell transplant is about 30 months, and 50 percent of the people are alive after 30 months with just the normal treatment. However, for those who have the transplant, he said the statistics show that 50 percent of the people are alive after 60 months.

Whatever the outcome, Roethler said he doesn't know how he'll ever repay everyone for all the help and all the volunteerism.

"It was just a remarkable thing," he said. "It just breaks me up to think that all these people did this for me, and I hope that I can repay them someday."