About Audre Kramer

By Jean Doran Matua
EditorSixteen years past her cancer diagnosis, and she’s still here. Yes, many people survive cancer – in fact several from our area can be seen this weekend at the Relay For Life at the Ken Helling field at Kimball Area High School.

But not many survive even a year past the diagnosis of ovarian cancer. Today’s survival rate is less than 25 percent at five years; 16 years ago those odds were much worse. But Audre Kramer of rural Forest City has beaten the odds. She has not only survived ovarian cancer, but she has literally lived to tell the tale.

Kramer has written a book, entitled “Now I Know Why”. It is a book that easily can be consumed in one sitting. It covers her life both before and after cancer became a part of it.

Her story is not one of “poor me”, but rather of courageously facing each hurdle and learning along the way. It is also a story of hope and joy.

A rough beginning

Kramer grew up on a central Minnesota farm, not far from Kimball. She was the youngest of 6 children, with a rather autocratic father. Her brothers and sisters, and the outdoors, were Audre’s source of joy and comfort growing up. “We weren’t the poorest, but we were poor,” she said.

They were all brought up as strict Catholics, which influenced every part of her life, then and since.

Cancer strikes suddenly

At the young age of 42 Kramer was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. In a matter of days she was in the operating room, undergoing the first of more than a dozen surgeries.

Intense chemotherapy caused its own set of problems. The harsh chemicals most seriously affected her eyes, and she still suffers greatly because of them.

As doctors later found out, the form of cancer that struck Kramer is the inherited form (which only means she was predisposed to it), but that environmental factors likely triggered its onset.

The legless frogs: It’s in the water

Soon after her own diagnosis, she began to notice neighbors being diagnosed with various (and serious) cancers. Kramer alone has survived this special group. Seven other women within two miles of Kramer’s home developed ovarian cancer – far beyond the usual rate of occurrence.

During this time, in the pond just 200 feet from their home, the Kramers discovered deformed frogs. Lots and lots of frogs, without legs. Researchers swooped in, and continue to follow this phenomenon. Legless frogs have been found since then in 13 states, although they never specifically have identified a cause.

Kramer has done extensive research into the matter. She believes it’s the water. Farm chemicals and cleaning solvents dumped over many years were released into the local aquifer through the mining of gravel pits. It’s the only thing linking Kramer and the other cancer victims – and the legless frogs.

The problem has since subsided greatly. Only an occasional deformed frog is found in the pond, as those that survive don’t reproduce. The flurry of researchers has moved on apparently to investigate other things.

Kramer strongly recommends filtering any drinking water. At home she first runs her water through a water softener, then a water distiller and finally through a charcoal filter to improve the taste. “You have to look out for yourself,” she advises. “If I’m going to stay alive, I have to.”

Finding a purpose

“You can’t come through something like that and think the same,” explained Kramer. Surviving both the cancer and the chemotherapy have changed the way she views and experiences everything.

Being a cancer survivor Kramer feels is both a blessing and a responsibility. “I want to let people know they can survive – even when the odds are against them,” she said.

“When you fulfill your destiny, you don’t always know you’ve done it,” said Kramer. “What happens at the end of people’s lives happened in the middle of mine. Every day I just put as much into it as I can.”

A reminder

“I can still do everything I did – just not as long,” said Kramer. She walks two miles a day, and keeps up with her three children and four grandchildren. She still sees her cancer specialist every six months, even 16 years after her diagnosis.

Just when she reached the magical five-year survival point, they changed it for ovarian cancer to ten years. She’s well past that now, but everyone is still cautious.

“There’s no one living to compare me to,” Kramer said of her current medical problems. “There are no long-term survivors.”

She was reminded of her unique circumstances on a recent hospitalization. The night nurse, after coming on duty and reviewing her chart, came into her room and politely informed her that there must be a mistake. The diagnosis of ovarian cancer must certainly have been made in 1996, not 1986, right? The nurse had never seen someone who had survived so long past this diagnosis.

Near-death experiences: Miracles still do happen

But what happens when you don’t get a miracle? Yes, miracles still happen, but they are rare. Kramer believes that there is still hope and joy for those who don’t get miracles.

An undercurrent throughout her book is her near-death experience 16 years ago. In it, she saw a glimpse of heaven and the incredible love that penetrates every cell of your body. Because of it, she no longer fears death or the hereafter.

She has found near-death experience (or NDE) to be rather controversial, though, and something many people and families would rather not talk about openly. Since writing her book, many people have come to Kramer in private to share their own NDEs. “It’s not quite so unusual as we think,” said Kramer. “My grandmother and aunt had them, too.”

Scientific skeptics often refute NDE as a physiological reaction to oxygen loss in the brain, to impending death. But Kramer’s experience was different: she was wide awake, sitting in her living room, with nothing medically going wrong. It was just a flash.

“I knew growing up that miracles occurred in the Bible, but not today,” Kramer said. “To me, a near-death experience is just a modern-day miracle.” Kramer suggests that people write down their NDEs, that they discuss them with their family, and pass them on to future generations.

The book: A story of hope

“Now I Know Why” is available on loan at the public libraries in Kimball and in Litchfield. It can also be purchased at Watkins Floral and Gift, Nicola’s Coffee and More in Litchfield, and at the Tri-County News office in Kimball.

Hers is a compelling story, and an “easy read”. Kramer writes like she speaks – clearly, straightforward and unembellished. And the whole story – in spite of the trials and bumps along the way – is one of hope and love. No one reading this story will view their own life the same way.