Duhamel back after cancer treatments at Mayo Clinic

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) - Former KOTA news anchor and current State Senator and Pennington County Sheriff’s Office public information officer Helene Duhamel is back after cancer treatment at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.

Duhamel was at Mayo for six weeks, getting proton beam radiation treatments for lung cancer.

Duhamel announced back in April that she was battling cancer again, this time caused by radiation from treatments for Hodgkin’s Disease more than 30 years earlier. She says the latest radiation treatments were combined with weekly chemotherapy.

Duhamel says, “I’m thrilled I finished the 30 treatments. But just in the last week, it’s become really hard. My skin is very burnt and peeling. It shows me the size of the tumor, which I probably didn’t have a good understanding of before. It’s become really hard to swallow. Apparently the tumor is wrapped around my esophagus, so the radiating around that has really made it hard to swallow. Then all of the sudden, out of the blue, I have nausea, which is a terrible thing when you’re trying to hold onto your weight.”

Duhamel says next up is a checkup in October, with a CAT scan. She says it will be about three months until they know if the radiation worked, but adds that her tumor did grow during her treatments. Helene says the people praying for her have made a huge difference, along with all of the support that she’s gotten from neighbors, friends and her family.

Duhamel says, “Oh, it’s the most meaningful thing. You recognize there are an army of people that want me to do well in this fight and are there for me, making a difference every day. It’s a huge part of fighting cancer.”

Duhamel says she plans to be holding her spot in the legislature in Pierre. She says the road has been tough, but that’s she’s going to continue to fight.

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