Amy Short and her family have decided to stay positive.
“We think being negative only brings you those results,” she said.
Some people would find staying positive challenging considering what the Shorts are facing.
Amy knew something was wrong in March when she started getting migraines. A trip to the hospital showed everyone’s worst fear— a brain tumor. She was soon diagnosed with Glioblasoma. Glioblastoma is an aggressive type of cancer that can occur in the brain or spinal cord. Glioblastoma forms from cells called astrocytes that support nerve cells.
Sadly, the Shorts were familiar with battling cancer. Just months prior, Amy’s husband Tim was diagnosed with cancer.
Tim went to his annual routine physical and the doctor said he needed a colonoscopy due to his age. The colonoscopy showed there was a mass that turned out to be cancer. He had surgery and chemo.
A recent MRI showed that Amy’s tumor has not grown.
“This simply means we are keeping things under control right now,” Amy said.
Currently, Amy is wearing an Optune device, which is the newest standard of care for Glioblasoma patients.
Optune is a cap covering a series of electrodes which the patient wears on their head as long as they want every day. It is powered by a battery pack that patients can carry with them. The cap works nonstop, applying alternating low-intensity electric fields to the tissue under the electrodes—200 kilohertz pulsing front to back, side to side, endlessly repeating as long as the patient is wearing the device. The electric fields interrupt cancer cell structures during division, disrupting the cell as it tries to replicate. While it is often difficult to get chemotherapy to work on brain tumors, Optune goes directly into the brain, shuts down and kills tumor cells, while it spares normal cells.
“I wear Optune 24 hours a day, but take it off on the weekend if I’ve banked up enough hours through the week,” Amy said.
She is also continuing with chemo treatments five days every 28 days and will get an MRI done every couple of months.
“We choose to remain positive and not let cancer define us,” Amy said. “We have cancer, it doesn’t have us! We also have too many sporting events to go to, so we must stay healthy.”
The Shorts have been active in the St. Joseph-Ogden softball community for years.
All three of their daughters, Maureen, Audrey and Katherine, have all played softball and Tim is the coach of the Central Illinois Diamonds.
They also helped with the SJO softball team.
Lana Wolken, wife of former head coach Randy Wolken, said she got to know the Shorts when Maureen was on the softball team.
“Amy was one of those moms that was always eager to discuss the game afterward,” she said. ”She was always willing to provide what was needed to the team. “
Tim played a major role in getting the “Randy Wolken Field” scoreboard with Buddy McElwee and Greg Knott, Wolken said. He also made sure concessions were ready for home games and spent many hours grilling and selling sandwiches.
“Tim helped Coach in multiple ways because he loved the game, loved the teams and is just that great kind of man that steps up to the plate to get things done,” Wolken said. “These two have always been super Spartan promoters and supporters. If Coach and I ever needed anything, they were always there to help.”
Randy agreed and said that in the last six years Tim has always been there for SJO softball.
“Whether it was getting the diamond ready, setting up the batting cage each spring, getting water off the diamond so we could play a game, lending a hand at summer softball camp, or anything else I might need,” Randy said. “He was always thinking ahead and made sure to take things off my mind which allowed me to concentrate more on the coaching aspect of the game.”
As soon as the community found out about Tim and Amy’s situation, St. Joseph rallied around them just like they have rallied around the community many times.
“We are always in awe and so blessed to be a part of such a loving and caring community,” Amy said. “It provides hope when there is so much hate in the world these days. We are always grateful to those reaching out and helping, which includes our workplaces. We are overwhelmed by so much generosity.”
Amy said that while they did keep Tim’s diagnosis private for a while, it was more difficult to keep her diagnosis quiet.
Amy said that when she received her diagnosis, the waiting room was packed with friends and family.
And lots of the hospital staff was also from St. Joseph and took care of Amy during surgery and took care of the family in the waiting room.
“You never realize how lucky you as you are wheeled in to have brain surgery and you look up to have a friendly face look at you and say ‘It’s going to be okay, I’m going stay with you,’” Amy said. “That’s my friend, Peggy McDonald from St. Joe.”
McDonald did stay with Amy and gave updates to her family.
“Others from St. Joe saw my name on the board and went to the waiting room to check on my family,” Amy said. “Our community has wonderful caregivers and I was blessed to have a few of them with me and my family that day. So, my diagnosis was probably back to St. Joe before I was.”
The community has held several fundraisers for the Shorts including a donation drive and a softball tournament.
This Sunday, community members will hold a quarter auction.
“I haven’t a clue how it works,” Amy said. “But I know we have great friends who said it’s fun and we trust them.”
One of those friends is Dana Rowland who is chairing the event.
The doors of the Royal Community Building will open at 3 p.m. and the auction will start at 3:30 p.m.
A quarter auction is an auction where people purchase paddles and items will be displayed and auctioned one by one. Each item will have a retail value which determines the number of quarters required to bid. One quarter for an item with a price of $5-$25, two quarters for an item of $26-$50 and so on up to four quarters. Once the quarters have been collected, people will raise their paddle in the air. The announcer will draw a number and if your number is called and your paddle is in the air you win the item. If the number wasn’t played the player will yell “no bid’ and a new number will be announced until a winner is found.
Paddles cost $2 and concessions will be available.
Rowland said she and her friend Julie Atwood were talking about ways they could help the Shorts. Both of their hometowns routinely hold quarter auctions.
“They are a lot of fun,” Rowland said. “And not many people here have ever been to one.”
Rowland said it was important that the event be family friendly since the Shorts are so family orientated.
Items up for auction include handmade Christmas items, a quilt, gift cards, an afghan and donations from local businesses. Rowland said there are 100 items in total.
Wagner Signs and Graphics donated items to the auction.
Jen Wagner said she and her husband Jim love the Shorts.
The Shorts were some of the Wagner’s first customers when they started their business.
“They support local, they support community, they support so much,” she said. “You’d have a hard time finding another couple as selfless as they are. We are happy to call them friends.”
Rowland said it took some convincing for the Shorts to agree to the quarter auction.
“After some persuading, they agreed to let us host the quarter auction in their honor,” Rowland said.
The Shorts appreciate everything the community has done for them, but in true Short fashion, they are already thinking about how to pay it forward.
“Because we have always tried to help people, the kids understand that we are now on the receiving side and they are surprised by the generosity and grateful,” Amy said. We are now talking about who it is that we can pay it forward to.”
Amy said would tell people who are facing a cancer diagnosis to stay positive, as hard as it may be and to lean on your friends.
“These are speed bumps in our road and the cards we’ve been dealt, so with the support of our family, friends, and community, we push forward,” she said.
