BP Cancer marks 25 years

If you believe in heaven, it isn’t hard to picture Eunice Coughlin and her daughter, Darla Bauer, smiling at each other in amazement.

They are, after all, the foundation of the Blooming Prairie Cancer Group and its wildly successful fundraising and awareness campaign.

After Bauer died in April 2000, the Fifth District Eagles Cancer Telethon, based in Rochester, took on new meaning for Coughlin.

Then in its fifth decade, the Eagles telethon regularly raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for cancer research, bringing in donations from fundraisers held by Scout troops, service organizations and more across southern Minnesota.

“She just thought, ‘the other small towns can do it, why can’t we?’ She had just lost Darla, so that was the catalyst,” said Bonnie Coughlin, who married one of Eunice’s grandsons, Mark.

Now, 25 years after Eunice put together her own cancer fundraiser, the tradition she started continues to grow.

The Blooming Prairie Cancer Auction is set for Sept. 11-12, featuring a live auction at 6:30 p.m. both nights.

Last year, the event raised nearly $150,000.

“She was amazed at how much it grew,” said Bonnie, “because the first year, we raised something like $1,700. It was so small; just basically family friends, bake sales – whatever we had to sell to each other.”

But it was something tangible Eunice could do in memory of her daughter, and it just kept building.

Bonnie can relate: She and Mark lost their youngest daughter Kylie Mae to rhabdomyosarcoma in 2003, when Kylie was just a month old.

The second or third year after Eunice started her little fundraiser, Cheri Krejci and Jennifer Melton stepped in and started helping.

Soon, the B.O.B. Run got involved; the Bikers of Blooming Prairie grew their hair out for months, then raised funds in exchange for a dramatic series of haircuts.

“That was a huge boost,” Bonnie Coughlin said, “and Eunice was kind of instrumental in that, too. The guys raised, like, $10,000.”

It was one of the last events she was a part of; Eunice died – of cancer – in September 2008, but she seems to remain in the mix.

Her daughter, Sue Helgeson, “still makes her pies,” Bonnie said, just as she did for that first auction back in 2001.

Her grandson, Brandon Helgeson, will serve as the emcee both auction nights, as he did last year.

Another generational shift of note is the passing of the torch from Krejci to her daughter, Lindsey French.

She’s been with the cancer group for about five years; this is her second year as president.

“Once you’ve been touched by cancer, you want to do whatever you can to help in the fight, so that’s my biggest reason,” French said.

In her case, her mom is her biggest reason: Krejci was diagnosed with breast cancer not long after Eunice died.

“She’s one of the lucky ones,” French said of Krejci. “She’s going to be 17 years cancer-free in December. We’re fighting for a cure, and to just help people who are going through their cancer fight, too. A really big piece of the Blooming Prairie Cancer Group is the community fund,” which provides financial support for families undergoing treatment and medical care.

Coughlin, Mandy Doocy and Amy Snyder make up the remainder of the core of the auction committee.

“Every member of our committee helps out,” French said, “we just make sure we have all the pieces in place.”

That’s a bit like Eunice Coughlin, who was described as “a force.”

“She told us what to do and we did it,” Bonnie laughed.

“Grandma’s like, ‘cook 50 pounds of hamburger,’ so you cooked 50 pounds of hamburger – that’s just what you did.”