October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month - a situation that Gothenburg’s Mary Harbur is all too familiar with. On Nov. 12, 2014, Mary was told that she had stage 2b grade 3 estrogen-positive breast cancer, with lymphovascular invasion that spread into her lymph nodes.

Mary had a bilateral mastectomy in December 2014. In January 2015, she had 15 lymph nodes removed in her right arm and started 17 months of chemotherapy. The first six sessions were seven-hour treatments using four chemotherapy drugs. In June 2015, Mary received 32 rounds of radiation. During the next five years, she endured four surgeries on her chest and a hysterectomy.

While undergoing treatments, Mary received a special gift of a bag filled with comfort essentials. It touched her so deeply that she decided she wanted to share that with others going through a similar ordeal, and with the help of her friend Lyndi Miller, the Chemo Comfort Totes program was launched in Gothenburg.

Though Mary’s personal journey was breast cancer, she understood that all patients going through chemo and radiation treatments share similar stories and needs. Therefore, she wanted to provide comfort totes for as many of those individuals - of all ages and all types of cancer - as she possibly could. Thanks to the generosity of so many people and businesses, Mary and Lyndi have provided comfort totes to literally thousands of cancer patients in the past nine years.

People can “sponsor” a tote for $45, and those sponsors are then invited to help fill the bags to be distributed. The bags are delivered to cancer patients at Heartland Hematology & Oncology in Kearney, CHI Health Cancer Care at Good Samaritan in Kearney, and Callahan Cancer Center in North Platte. Totes are also given to the Lexington, Cozad, and Gothenburg hospitals.

Mary said donations come from the entire area between Kearney and North Platte, and new donors surface each year. “Sometimes they or someone they knew received a tote and they want to give back,” she added.

The totes are filled during the first two weekends in December and distributed later that month. One such recipient of a comfort tote in the past was Callaway’s own Christie Pitkin, who shared the following thank-you with Mary and is reprinted here with Christie’s permission.

“Dear Mary, I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for my comfort tote bag. I was thrilled with the bag and with all the goodies inside of it. What an amazing amount of work it must take to keep those coming to all the cancer patients that walk through the doors in Kearney. Your dedication to such a good cause should be celebrated and applauded. I was moved by your card and your scripture verses that were included. Cancer is not something that I would have asked for but I'm a believer in God and that he can work through all things if we allow him to transform us by his love, his word and his light. Thank you also for the prayers that you offer on behalf of the people that are facing cancer. Sometimes we get so busy focusing on what we can see and the problems that we face that we forget that He is our rock and our encourager no matter what we are facing. Again, thank you so much for the gift, the time and effort and money that goes into providing these to each person. Sincerely, Christie Pitkin” Along with the totes that are delivered to the hospitals, Mary also puts together at least 10 totes on the side that are requested from loved ones for their family or friends, as well as children’s totes upon request “They are made especially with the child’s interests and likes etc. No child should ever have to face this mountain, so I want them to feel as loved and special as I can,” Mary shared. “We even include the siblings and the parents as well, even if it’s a gift card or snacks while traveling back and forth.”

Mary has set a goal of filling more than 300 bags this year. If you would like to sponsor a Chemo Comfort Tote, you may do so by sending money via Venmo to @Mary-Harbur; or a check to Mary Harbur at 40870 Highway 30, Gothenburg, 69138. For questions or more information, contact Mary at 308-529-2205.