Miracle Man of St. Leo

He still mows six lawns a week in the summer around his neighborhood in St. Leo.

He still snow-blows his driveway and recently shoveled what was left of a huge drift left over from the recent snowstorm two weeks ago.

And he still shows off his moves on the dance floor at social events with his wife. Not bad for an 85-year-old man who just five years ago was battling pancreatic cancer.

Welcome to LeRoy Kack's world. Kack, a quick-witted native of St. Leo, recently sat down and talked about his life, his 63-year marriage to his wife Audrey, and how fortunate he feels to be a five-year cancer survivor; a rare feat for someone his age.

As Audrey relayed the information about his battle with cancer, LeRoy would interject with an occasional quip to lighten the mood.

“When they sent him home from the hospital, the doctors told him to eat several smaller meals,” Audrey told. “But he didn't.” “To heck with little meals,” LeRoy said while flashing a wide smile.

“I wasn’t going to eat little meals. I ate three big meals a day like you're supposed to.” LeRoy was born and raised in St. Leo. His father owned a tavern in town and eventually LeRoy took over running the joint.

“Kack's Place,” he said when asked the name of the place. “My grandpa built it and my dad started it. It had one pool table, spittoons, and an outhouse out back.” “We sold beer, candy bars, ice cream cones and things like that,” said Audrey.

“A cone with two scoops of ice cream was a nickel.” When asked what he did at the tavern, without hesitating, LeRoy said, “Drank beer”.

LeRoy met Audrey, a Minneota native, at the Minneota Dance Hall (now the American Legion building). They were married in 1955 and had eight children; four sons and four daughters.

They currently have 17 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren.

Their children are: Bruce, who lives in Minneota; Bill of Willmar, Charlotte Pohlen of Redwood Falls, Robin Johnson of Fargo, Mary DeVos of St. Leo, Jackie Eischens of St. Leo, Rick of Wisconsin, and Todd of Prior Lake.

The Kacks sold the tavern in 1965 and LeRoy went to work for a year at the general store in town, and then drove truck for Mooney's Trucking (eventually bought out by Duininck's Trucking) until he retired in 1997.

Life was good for the Kacks.

They enjoyed socializing, playing cards, dancing and spending time together. But in early February of 2013, LeRoy went into the bathroom at their home and almost immediately knew something was wrong when his urine was dark brown.

So he had Audrey check to see if she knew what could be causing it. “It was as dark as a can of Coke,” she said. “I called the Sanford Canby Hospital and told them what was going on and they said we needed to get right in.” Scans were done in Canby and, after a five-day stay with a multitude of tests, LeRoy was referred to the Sanford Hospital in Sioux Falls.

“I never felt sick or anything before all this,” LeRoy noted. “I had no signs of anything wrong.” The Kacks drove the 120 miles to Sioux Falls and LeRoy began undergoing a battery of tests as soon as he was admitted.

On Feb. 20, a surgeon performed an ERCP (endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography), which allows a specialist to inject dye in order to view the liver, stomach, pancreas and bile duct.

A sample tissue was also collected for a biopsy.

“They put a stent in my bile duct to open it up because it was blocked,” LeRoy said.

“That’s why it wasn’t cleaning my liquids like it should.” While LeRoy was recovering from surgery for the insertion of the bile duct stent, a physician met with Audrey and reported the results.

“He told me it was pancreatic cancer,” she said.

“I didn't want to be the one to tell (LeRoy) so I asked the doctor to tell him.”

Upon receiving the news, LeRoy broke down and wept. Audrey tried to console her husband by telling him that “Everything will be okay, Dad”, a name she often calls him.

“I was a little shocked at first when the doctor told me,” he said.

“But I wasn't too surprised.” LeRoy was given two options by the surgeon; to have surgery, which would come with a risk for someone his age; or do nothing and he would be given approximately one year to live.

“The doctor told us to take a few minutes to decide,” Audrey said. “So we and our family talked about it and said we’re going to do this.”

But LeRoy revealed that he knew his decision even before the doctor left the room. “I had my mind made up right away,” he said.

“I was going to have the surgery. There was no question about it.” The doctor then told the Kacks that he would do the best he could for them.

“He told us to have faith and that the Lord will be with us,” Audrey recalled. “But he also was honest and said if he couldn’t do anything because it was worse than he thought, he would sew LeRoy back up.”

LeRoy had his surgery on March 7, 2013. The surgery lasted about 5 1/2 hours and included the removal of tumor in the pancreas, removal of the head of the pancreas, as well as the removal of a portion of his portal vein, gall bladder, appendix and lymph nodes near the head of the pancreas.

The remaining pancreas and digestive organs were then resected. In LeRoy’s favor was that the cancer was contained in the pancreas.

After a week stay in the Sioux Falls Hospital, Leroy was sent home on March 14, along with a feeding tube that had been inserted into him in case he wasn’t able to eat. The tube stayed in him for two months before it was removed.

“I never used it,” LeRoy said about the tube. “I could eat just fine. But it hurt like the dickens when they took it out.” The day after LeRoy’s surgery (March 8), he and Audrey’s granddaughter Crystal (Mary’s daughter) was giving birth in the same hospital to their great-granddaughter, Alexis.

LeRoy began his first of several rounds of chemotherapy in the latter part of May, 2013 at the Cancer Center in Sioux Falls.

In August of that same year, he began six weeks of radiation.

When asked what it meant to be a five-year cancer survivor, LeRoy’s smirk gave an indication that his response was going to be anything but serious.

“I didn’t win anything for it,” he joked. “It just means I get to keep going a little longer.”

“LeRoy has been very blessed with many great friends and a wonderful family who have given him many thoughts and prayers. He keeps his faith every day.”

And LeRoy has adopted the slogan: “Together we fight, together we win.”

Leroy turned 85 this past Feb. 24, and became a five-year cancer survivor on March 7.

Every morning, LeRoy and Audrey play a couple of hands of cards at the kitchen table.

They also play cards on Wednesday at the Community Center in St. Leo.

“And I still like to drink a beer now and then,” he added.

In the summer, LeRoy grooms his lawn like a groundskeeper at a golf course.

He also mows five of his neighbor’s lawns; but not for the money.

“Just for the heck of it,” he says, shrugging his shoulders.

“Why not?” “He likes to weed whip, too,” Audrey laughed.

“And there’s not a weed in sight around here in the summer.”

LeRoy returns to the Sioux Falls hospital every six months for a checkup and a CT scan.

His next visit will be in July. Don’t be surprised if he asks them if he can mow their lawn, too.