Eulia Mares benefit: ‘No one fights alone’
TONY BROWN/DAILY FORUM
Eulia Mares, fifth from right, poses with family members during a fundraiser Saturday at Hy-Vee organized to assist her financially in her battle against stomach cancer. Shown in the background is a Hy-Vee semitrailer displaying Mares’ likeness, second from left, in honor of her receiving the 2014 Legendary Customer Service Award, the retail food chain’s highest employee honor.
Maryville opened its collective heart and wallet Saturday during a grilled hamburger fundraiser for Eulia Mares, the beloved customer service manager at the local Hy-Vee supermarket.
Mares, who was recently diagnosed with stomach cancer, has worked for Hy-Vee for more than 20 years, and when word got out that she was facing a life-threatening illness, the response was immediate and heartfelt.
Store Director Travis Buysse ordered boxes of “Eulia Strong” T-shirts that have already sold into the hundreds. And on Saturday much of the town showed up for a three-hour burger feed in the supermarket parking lot, where large buckets were set out as repositories for free-will donations.
The buckets did not remain empty.
“There were no questions asked,” said Buysse about store’s sponsorship of an event that reached out to the community in order to assist Mares in her time of need. “You’ve got to do it. It’s mandatory. This is a family.”
Mares, smiling and in high spirits, was very much in attendance, welcoming and embracing a steady stream of friends and loved ones, including her sister who, along with her family, made the 12-hour drive from their home in Ohio.
Wearing jeans and a “Eulia Strong” T-shirt, Mares had dyed her close-cropped hair blue for the occasion and sported blue fingernail polish — blue being the symbolic color associated with the fight against stomach cancer, just as the more-familiar pink symbolizes breast cancer awareness.
Hy-Vee set up a large open-sided dining tent for the picnic and filled it with folding chairs and tables. Old friends chatted, neighbors greeted one another, and there was a lot of smiling and a lot of hugging.
“Eulia Strong” indeed — and a fitting show of support on behalf of a friend facing a disease that has spawned the national rallying cry “No one fights alone.”
Unlike many cancer patients who display understandable reticence, Mares is not bashful about discussing her disease, and, in fact, is taking her illness as an opportunity to convince others of the importance of regular screenings and early detection.
“I want people to know,” she said. “Get the test and get it done yearly. Don’t put it off.”
While Mares said her prognosis is hopeful, she is under no illusions about the tough road ahead. As things now stand, she is facing six weeks of chemotherapy after which surgeons at St. Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City will remove her stomach. Another six weeks of chemotherapy will follow.
If all goes as planned, Mares said her doctors have told her that “I’ll live to a ripe old age.”
In essence, physicians will turn a portion of Mares’ intestines into a sort-of stomach that will allow her to continue eating solid food, but only in small quantities.
“Instead of eating three meals a day, I’ll have to eat six,” she said.
As for her career with Hy-Vee, Mares, 69, thinks she just might have a few good years left.
“I’d love to come back,” she said. “It just depends on how well I do. But I love my job, I love my customers. Hy-Vee is a family.”
TONY BROWN/DAILY FORUM
Hy-Vee Human Resources Manager Sherri Hetrick, right, hands out hamburgers and potato chips during a Saturday fundraiser for Eulia Mares, a longtime store employee who is battling stomach cancer.
