Brandon Twp.-Judy Thurston has a bucket list which has increased in significance since she was diagnosed with cancer.
When the former Brandon teacher climbed into the passenger seat of a semi-truck on Dec. 5 and rode away from the township to Dexter, she checked one more thing off her list, and added another happy memory.
‘I just always thought (semi-trucks) were so cool,? said Thurston. ‘I don’t know what I thought it would be, but I loved it.?
The bucket list item wasn’t as simple as hitching a ride with a truck driver passing through town. Drivers aren’t allowed to have riders without permission from the companies with which they are employed. Beth Wooster helped by telling family members who own a rig about her friend’s wish.
Soon, Thurston was in their semi-truck? which she notes is hard to get in and even harder to get out of? with Wooster and the driver (Wooster’s sister-in-law), marveling at all the different instruments on the dashboard, riding shotgun on the way to Dexter, lying down for a spell on the bed in the back, enroute to a special truck wash to have the inside of the truck’s trailer, which carries meat, sanitized.
During the 2-and-a-half hour experience, she also ate fried chicken, mashed potatoes and garlic toast at a truck stop? ‘all the stuff you’re not supposed to have.?
But Thurston was setting aside for a short time the health concerns that have been ever present since she was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2010. The cancer she has is not curable, but is treatable.
‘If you’re gonna have cancer, this is the good kind,? said Thurston, whose disease so far is contained to the blood.
Thurston had begun her bucket list before the diagnosis? in 2009 when she was retiring from the Brandon School District after a 40-year career as an elementary teacher.
‘You think about the things you want to do in life and it came together when I retired, because theoretically, I was going to have time to do all these things,? she said.
Her bucket list at that time included a hot air balloon ride, attending ‘away? games for both the Detroit Lions and Detroit Tigers, the semi-truck ride, an overnight train ride in which she can sleep in a pullman (overhead berth), and a trip to Australia.
She rode in the hot air balloon the same year she retired, and attended a Lions away game at Soldier Field in Chicago where she said they were ‘killed by the Bears,? but the bucket list has mostly languished since her diagnosis. Thurston endured eight months of chemotherapy and was declared in remission, but the cancer returned in 2012 and she has been doing rounds of chemotherapy off and on since.
She is excited to get back to checking off her bucket list, to which she has added a trip to Iceland. She is not sure if the trip to Australia will ever happen, as it is every expensive, not only for her, but for any traveling companions, but she hopes to see the Tigers play the White Sox or Cubs in Chicago in the new year.
‘I’m not in a big rush to do everything on the bucket list,? said Thurston, 67. ‘It took me this long to get a truck ride, but it was all arranged in a week. You never know what’s going to happen, you just have to be open.?
Her philosophy on life has changed since her cancer diagnosis, she notes. Thurston has always been very independent and it has been difficult for her to accept help, but her philosophy is that God is awesome, and people are, too.
‘My church family, colleagues from school, parents of students? they’ve helped me and taken me to doctor appointments,? she said. ‘It’s very difficult to need other people that much. I always knew people liked me, but I didn’t know how much they cared.?