Phillips celebrates life

ONTONAGON - Dorothy Phillips' desire to go hunting during her two days off from teaching at the Ontonagon High School in 1984 probably saved her life.

Phillips was helping out a friend, the late Gladys Chamberlain, who needed medical work at Marshfield but would be unable to drive for 24 hours after the tests. Phillips talked her into getting her checkup on Wednesday so they could go hunting on Thursday and Friday.

Phillips found herself in Marshfield with nothing to do for 24 hours and decided she might as well get a physical checkup. She was 50 years old and when the doctor found out she had never had a mammogram, it was included in the testing.

She never got to go hunting or back to school for six weeks because that test found a deep cancer of the breast. A biopsy was scheduled for the next day and surgery the following day for a double mastectomy.

"I was stunned when I got the verdict and the first thing I thought was, I am going to die," she said. Once the surgery was over, Phillips vowed she would "never go back to school until I can shoot a layup."

In addition to teaching physical education and business, Phillips was a junior varsity girl's basketball coach.

On the wall of her home was a wooden goose and, with rigid determination several times a day, she would work her arm to climb the wall and reach the goose. It was about the height she would need to make that layup. It took six weeks, but it worked and she went back to work and made that layup.

"The goose is still on the wall and now at 80 years old I can still make layups," she laughed.

Phillips feels fortunate she accepted an offer to participate in a blind experimental study. For five years she was sent pills to take. She did not know if they were Tomoxifen or a placebo. She found out after five years she was on the Tomoxifen and agreed to five more years on the study along with regular check-ups.

Phillips retired from teaching in 1986 and she and Chamberlain built and ran an RV park in Ontonagon for 14 years. Chamberlain died in 2002 and two years later Phillips sold the business. Her work in rehabilitation paid off. She has been the captain of her golf team, with steady scores in the 40's for nine holes. She has been affectionately called the "Gorilla" for her strong golf play.

Phillips is the president of the Ontonagon County Animal Protection group, corresponding secretary of the Chamber of Commerce, trustee of the Ontonagon United Methodist Church, and member of the Ontonagon Labor Festival Committee.

She credits her Faith in God and her positive attitude for her recovery.

"Don't lie down and give up," she advised other cancer survivors, and "always stay positive and keep a sense of humor."

She advises all women to get the mammogram that might save their life.

If Dorothy Phillips ever starts to forget how blessed she is she just looks at that wooden goose on the wall.