By WAYNE JOSEPH
By WAYNE JOSEPH
Tribune-Herald correspondent
What would you do if you discovered that you had a disease and didn’t have much time to live?
Would you go home and feel sorry for yourself, or would you start making short term goals and begin exercising?
George Kelly chose the latter.
In 2009, Kelly was diagnosed with kidney cancer and had it removed in September of the same year.
“After the kidney was removed the blood test showed I still had cancer, so after more testing I was diagnosed with B-cell lymphoma,” Kelly said.
There are 32 types different kinds of lymphoma, and Kelly’s was Walderstrom’s macroglaobulinemia and IgM monoclonal gammopathy. Kelly blames the disease on his being subjected to Agent Orange during his service in Vietnam.
It was after that grave diagnoses that doctors told Kelly he had between six months and four years to live.
“I had the option of going home and feeling sorry for myself and dying, or I could fight it,” Kelly said.
Kelly decided to fight and the battle is still ongoing.
“I decided to give myself goals to reach six months down the road,” he said. “Once I achieved a goal I would set another goal.”
The cancer attacked Kelly’s nerves going into his legs and he began to lose all feeling from the knees down, making it difficult for him to walk.
“(Veterans Affairs) gave me a wheelchair to use, but I was afraid that once I got into it I would never get out of it,” Kelly said.
Last summer at the “Salute to Veterans 5K run/walk” Kelly needed to be pushed the entire way, which was a humbling experience for him.
“One of the goals that I had set was to get out of that wheelchair and walk my daughter down a stretch of beach on Molokai for her wedding,” Kelly said.
In February, seven months after being put into the wheelchair, Kelly walked his daughter along a sandy beach in Molokai and accomplished another one of his goals.
“I knew I better start walking before my daughter’s wedding to build up strength. I was afraid I wouldn’t have the discipline to walk on the days that I felt bad from the chemo and the cancer,” he said.
Kelly enlisted the help of a Ric Kama, a 78-year-old former marine who serves in the Korean and Vietnam wars.
“Since that time, every morning at 9 a.m., except on the days I have doctor’s appointments or chemo treatments, we go walking,” Kelly said. “We have also added two more people to our walking group.”
Kelly and his group will walk anywhere from one to four miles daily. During their walks, they pick up roadside trash and help to eradicate miconia with his Semper Fi walkers.
During the Merry Monarch parade, Kelly participated with the aid of a walker.
This tough 67-year-old was born in Great Falls, Mont., and went Kailua High School on Oahu before graduating from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
Kelly is also careful with what he eats.
“I need to eat foods that counter the anemia from chemo, fruits and green vegetables,” he said. “I do eat a lot of fish and shrimp instead of the red meats.”
But Kelly admits to going out and splurging for an occasional banana split for breakfast!
“I look at living life to the fullest. I know that if you have cancer you don’t need to worry about the rain, just learn how to dance in it,” Kelly said of his breakfast banana split.
Kelly was elected as commander of Veteran of Foreign Wars Post 3830 for three years before taking a year off, and he’s now been re-elected commander.
“I needed to take a year off to try to improve my health and now I’m ready to serve again,” Kelly said.
As commander one of Kelly’s many jobs is to help all the other vets in the lower Puna area.
“We help vets from the World War II to the newer conflicts such as Iraq, Afghan, and the others,” he said. “We try to help the homeless get out of the bush and we just had a homeless veteran stand down on May 25 at the armory in Keaau.”
The tireless Vietnam vet with terminal cancer still works to make sure that others like him are able to get their medical, educational and housing benefits.
“We work in the local community to give scholarships, to aid the needy families, help the abused women’s shelter, and work with the elderly and to give to the food bank,” Kelly said.
On July 4, Commander Kelly will once again participate in the Salute to Veterans 5K, but this time, instead of being pushed in a wheel chair, he will attempt to walk the entire 3.1-mile distance with his Semper Fi group.
Profits from the event will go to VFW Post 3830’s building fund. The post’s goal is to expand its facility to serve the many homeless vets and others in the Pahoa community desperately needing their services.
You can join George Kelly and the many veterans that will participate in the Salute to Veterans 5K on July 4 by calling coordinator Marlene Hapai at 966-9894 to get an application, or go online at www.vfwpost3830.com.
And someday should you happen to see another Vietnam veteran walking the back roads of East Hawaii, remember to say “woof” and never shy away from “Running with the Big Dog.”
Email the Big Dog at waiakeabigdog@aol.com.