After experiencing the trials and turmoil of cancer with his wife of 40 years, Sedona resident Emil Schubert decided to do his part in raising funds for cancer research.In November 2004, Schubert’s wife, Nancy Schubert, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of ovarian cancer.
The disease moved throughout her body until it overtook her lungs and her body could no longer fight it.
In April 2006 she lost her battle with cancer, but not without leaving a mark on the lives she touched.
By Alison Ecklund
Larson Newspapers
After experiencing the trials and turmoil of cancer with his wife of 40 years, Sedona resident Emil Schubert decided to do his part in raising funds for cancer research.In November 2004, Schubert’s wife, Nancy Schubert, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of ovarian cancer.
The disease moved throughout her body until it overtook her lungs and her body could no longer fight it.
In April 2006 she lost her battle with cancer, but not without leaving a mark on the lives she touched.
For the third consecutive year, Nancy’s friends, family and community members are participating in the Sedona Marathon’s 5K race Saturday, Feb. 7, in her honor. Donations for the runners and walkers go to Better Than Ever, a nonprofit organization that raises funds for cancer research grants.
In the past two years, Schubert and supporters have raised $20,000 to go toward the fight.
Better Than Ever was founded in 2000 by Heather Alberts, Schubert’s part-time neighbor, who spends most of her time in Tucson with her husband, Dr. Dave Alberts, director of the Arizona Cancer Center at the University of Arizona’s Medical Center.
“It all started with the idea of getting people healthy and fit in a fun way,” Heather Alberts said. “We just want you to finish and have a wonderful time.”
Better Than Ever raises funds to support pilot projects and junior faculty development to focus on breast and gynecologic cancers at ACC. In 2007, BTE awarded $149,000 in research grants.
Since 2000, BTE has raised over $1.5 million, Alberts said, and not a penny goes to salaries — every penny goes to research on women’s cancer research and prevention.
Nancy loved hiking in the red rocks, Schubert said, and would be honored to know that people were participating in the event, in the community she loved, in order to fight cancer.
“She was a wonderful, magnificent lady,” Alberts said. “I said to my neighbors, ‘now you have to do this in memory of Nancy’ and they were thrilled because she was truly beloved.”
Thunder Mountain residents have formed a group of 20, Alberts said, with neighbor Larry Bean acting as coach.
“You need someone to take the lead,” Alberts said. “He trains the group once a week. He gets people motivated.”
A business owner in Chicago, a real estate agent in Sedona, Nancy was a renaissance woman, Schubert said, who designed their house when the couple moved from the Chicago suburbs to Sedona in 1999.
“She could do a bit of everything,” he said.
According to the Schuberts’ daughter, Erinn Henes, if diagnosed and treated early, the five-year survival rate for ovarian cancer is over 90 percent.
Unfortunately, due to the cancer’s nonspecific symptoms and lack of early detection tests, only 19 percent of all cases are found at that early stage. Many of the symptoms are common everyday ailments — lower back pain, abdominal bloating, mild discomforts and constipation, she wrote in an e-mail.
Instead, the disease is normally detected in stages three and four, where the five-year survival rate is 25 percent.
“My mother fought hard, until her last days, in hopes of overcoming this cancer,” Henes wrote. “Unfortunately that did not happen, but I know she would be ecstatic to know that it could be a reality for other women.”
Alison Ecklund can be reached at 282-7795, ext. 125, or e-mail aecklund@larsonnewspapers.com
