Benefit for cancer victim to be held on June 11

Nevada Daily Mail

On Saturday, June 11, from 5-8 p.m., the VB's Book Club will host a benefit smoked pork dinner in the East Park of Rich Hill.

Entertainment for the evening will include several local performers as well as an auction.

A free will donation will be taken, and proceeds will go to the Jim Kithcart Friends and Family Fund at the Security Bank in Rich Hill to assist with Kithcart's medical expenses.

Every five minutes someone new is diagnosed with a blood cancer. In July 2001, Kithcart, a 1973 graduate of Rich Hill High School, was diagnosed with leukemia after a routine blood test. Jim did not have any symptoms for nearly a year. Then in the fall of 2002 he started a series of chemotherapy sessions and blood transfusions.

His condition took a drastic turn for the worse and he ended up in the hospital for more than 30 days. At that time he had surgery to remove his spleen and was given many blood transfusions. In 2003, Kithcart had a good year in which he had no hospitalizations and was able to return to work.

But after three failed treatments in 2004, his doctors began a discussion to do a stem cell transplant. In January 2005 the decision was made to test his two sisters to see if either could be a stem cell donor. His sister, Donna, turned out to be a perfect match and on April 7, her stem cells were harvested and transplanted into Kithcart.

He is home and recuperating. It is a day-to-day recovery. Since April 27, he has been hospitalized twice, experiences he refers to as his "bumps in the road." His recovery will take approximately a year, during which he cannot work, be around groups of people or do many of the things a person does in a routine day, because takes that long for his new immune system to develop. Kithcart never complains and has a very positive outlook.

His goal is simply to be able to go back to work.

Those attending the fund-raiser are encouraged to bring lawn chairs.