Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 31, Number 9, 1 Kepakemapa 2014 — PORTRAIT of HOPE [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

PORTRAIT of HOPE

II I eimomi ' I I Golis is I not only I a cancer u r v i - vor, she is a cancer caregiver as well," the American Cancer Society, Honolulu says about the 53-year-old Native Hawaiian who is one of five women spotlighted through Portraits of Hope. Portraits of Hope is part of the society's Making Strides Against Breast Cancer campaign, whieh includes a fundraising and awareness walk in Honolulu on Oct. 4. Golis, a 15-year survivor of non-Hodg-

kin's lymphoma, helped steer her younger sister, Rochelle, who has an intellectual disability, through breast cancer in 2009 and salivary gland cancer in 2012. Both sisters are now cancer free. Golis used her own experiences to help her sister navigate a lumpectomy, ehemo-

Making Strides Against Breast Cancer

When: Saturday, I 0ct. 4, 6 a.m. registration, 7-8 ; a.m. rolling start Where: Richardson Field/Ford lsland, 57 Arizona Memorial Drive in I Honolulu Online: making strideswalk.org/ honoluluhi Contact: honolulu histrides@cancer. I org or (808) 4329163

therapy and six weeks of radiation. "Sometimes I'm thinking that I was blessed to have cancer, because I was able to help people with what I went through," SEE H0PE ON PAGE 12

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Leimomi Golis, right, and her sister Rochelle. - Courtesy: Ameiiean Cancer Society, Honolulu

HOPE

Continued from page 11 Golis said. "I understand what the treatments are like, what it feels like to go through (them), the doctors appointments, doing follow ups, all the little details." A registered nurse and a Mā'ili, O'ahu, resident, Golis co-facilitates a weekly cancer support group at Pali Momi Medical Center and brought Rochelle along. "She made friends with my friends who had breast cancer, so they were another support for her," she said. Golis, who is her sister's legal guardian and has been caring

for her since her teens after their parents died in their 40s, has volunteered with the American Cancer Society for about 15 years. On the day of the American Cancer Society walk, Golis said she'U be there, either walking or volunteering in the survivors' tent. In November, she's looking forward to a trip to New York with

friends from college to see the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. "It'll be cold," Golis said. "I'm very blessed to have good friends. They help me through a lot." — LisaAsato I

"Sometimes I'm thinking that I was blessed to have cancer, because I was able to help people with what I went through."

— Leimomi Golis