BILLINGS — Cancer survivors and their care teams gathered Sunday afternoon at Zoo Montana in Billings for a barbecue celebration, uniting patients and providers in a relaxed setting outside of the clinic.
Christina Schy was one of the many survivors in attendance who has recovered from breast cancer on two separate occasions.
Click here to see the celebration:
"It was definitely hard," Schy said Sunday afternoon. "Eight years later I guess it came back as invasive. I just didn't expect it to ever come back and definitely not that soon."
Lung cancer survivor Dennis Henderson received his diagnosis in 2020 and is still keeping tabs on his heath today.
"When I went in to my first doctor, she said I'll take care of that," Henderson said. "I still go in probably once a month to make sure it doesn't come back."
While Schy and Henderson's stories are different, both are appreciative of the care they received from the Billings Clinic.
"It's been amazing," Schy said. "They're the ones that have gotten me through."
"It's everything. I go there with a pretty good mindset and I leave there with a good mindset and I believe that's half the game," Henderson said.
The event on Sunday evening at Zoo Montana brought together care teams and their patients over food and conversation. For Schy, it was extra special as she works in the cancer center for the Billings Clinic as well.
"It's so nice to kind of come in a laid back relaxed atmosphere," Schy said. "It's nice to be able to bond with people in a different way."