Supporting Linda

When Linda Saffle can’t find the words to express her gratitude, she gives out hugs. In recent months, Saffle has embraced co-workers, parents and friends. Her recovery from breast cancer has been a communal effort, one that she could’ve never done alone, Saffle says.

Saffle’s family made sure she never had to go alone to a doctor’s appointment or chemotherapy. Her co-workers donated vacation time, which allowed Saffle to heal without worrying about how to pay the bills.

At first, it was hard for Saffle – who is independent and strong willed – to accept help, friends and family say. Before having a mastectomy in September, Saffle ran marathons and exhausted her family by being unable to sit still.

At the Spokane Valley Fred Meyer store, where she works at the customer service counter, she’s beloved by customers for doing everything within her power to take care of them. And co-workers marvel at her ability to multitask. It’s not unusual for Saffle to simultaneously handle a long line of customers and get someone a Lotto ticket, all with a telephone to each ear.

Saffle says without the support — some from customers she barely knows — she would’ve spent the past several months of surgery and chemotherapy “in bed, crying.”

Saffle was recently told that the chemotherapy was effective and that she won’t have to go through radiation treatment. She hopes to return to work next week.

She’s regained strength and has increased her workouts at 24 Hour Fitness. She also began attending Real Life Ministries, looking for spiritual guidance and was recently baptized. Minister Gary Weber said he feels Saffle’s support system and her positive attitude have been essential to her recovery.

Saffle is the type of person who brings joy when she enters a room, Weber said.

That joy was on display on a recent rainy afternoon. Saffle stood in the rain watching her 12-year-old daughter, Jolene Cline, play tennis. Saffle bounced around between her son, Josh, her ex-husband, Lyle Cline, and her parents.

“She’s making everybody else feel lazy,” Josh Cline said as his mother kept several conversations going at once.

“She goes, goes, goes to a point where it exhausts us,” Lyle Cline said.

As important as her co-workers and friends have been, Saffle needed family support as well. Her ex-husband re-entered her life and has taken on the role of making school lunches and offering comfort when Saffle looks in the mirror and feels ugly.

Her son Josh cried with her when her hair began falling out in clumps, but said that otherwise, his mother has stayed positive in front of him.

Her parents, Bob and Marian Leavitt, go everywhere with Saffle, accompanying her to doctor’s appointments and chemotherapy. They make sure she spends spare time at their Spokane Valley home, so she doesn’t stay home alone and get depressed.

“Through this, I haven’t been able to cry,” said Marian Leavitt.

Leavitt says she’s kept emotions in check because she wants to be strong for her daughter. It’s been difficult to watch her daughter, who has always eaten healthy and exercised, get sick, said Leavitt.

“When you’re a parent, the first thing you say is, ‘Why isn’t it me instead of my daughter?’ ” Leavitt said.

After starting chemotherapy treatments in October, Saffle kept working. She had used up her own vacation and sick time, but felt she couldn’t afford to forgo a paycheck.

“She had no sick time left,” recalls her good friend and co-worker Janice Desjarlais. “She knew she had to work to be able to live and take care of the doctor bills. It was bad.”

Numerous co-workers said they were horrified as Saffle continued to work even as it became painful to stand. They worried when she had to wear gloves because her skin began to fall off in layers. They saw her cry when she lost her hair.

Fred Meyer employees eventually donated approximately 300 vacation hours to Saffle so she could take time off and heal. They raised money for a wig. They helped her pay bills and showed up at the hospital to give her moral support during her mastectomy.

“With time off, it seemed like a lot of stress was lifted off for her. She was relaxed and not tired as much,” Desjarlais said. “It’s like she’s back to her old self.”

At first, Saffle told friends she didn’t know how she could accept such generosity.

“I told her the best thing she could do for all of us was accept it,” said friend Cindy Filipy, who worked with Saffle at the Valley Fred Meyer store for many years before moving to a different store. “That made us feel good to give (vacation) to her. We just couldn’t do enough for her because she’s such a giving person.”

Saffle says she thanks God every day for the people at Fred Meyer.

Her experience has taught her to appreciate every day and not worry about money or losing her hair or being fat, she said.

“I’m doing a lot better, and it’s just because of the support I have,” Saffle said. “I just have to tell myself every day that I’m just thankful to be here.”