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Originally published July 11, 2024
BELMONT COUNTY, Ohio (River News Network) – A local mayor disclosed her cancer diagnosis for the first time publicly Tuesday morning on “Dimitri-Live and Dangerously Local” on River Talk.
St. Clairsville Mayor Kathryn Thalman told Dimitri that she was diagnosed with breast cancer last year.
She credits serendipity and friends for guiding her through her treatment and recovery.
Thalman is known for keeping constant company with her beloved Collie, Sammy, and it was while walking him on the St. C. walking trail that she met a woman who would become her champion in her battle against cancer.
The woman was a stranger but would soon become a cherished friend, revealing to Thalman that she, too, had battled breast cancer. The woman was also a physician, a hospitalist, who traveled between Barnesville and Cadiz hospitals and Maryland. She helped Thalman navigate the treatment process.
She also received support and care packages from her staff in the city building.
Thalman says she was in disbelief when her doctor told her she had breast cancer.
I was stunned. You could have knocked me over with a feather. I just did not have time for this.
St. Clairsville Mayor Kathryn Thalman
Thalman says her cancer was stage 1. She underwent three surgeries and had radiation treatments in Pittsburgh. She said she was very angry when Wheeling Hospital staff called her the day before Thanksgiving to tell her she needed another surgery since they did not get all of the margins of the cancer cells. She thought she would be cut up like a “Thanksgiving turkey.”
Despite her condition, Thalman kept up with her duties as mayor and even scheduled her treatments around city council meetings.
She said she struggled with coming to terms with her diagnosis and was at times angry with God. She thought the sand could be running out of her hourglass, as she put it, so she updated her will and made financial arrangements for the care of her pets.
Thalman now has her health back and has mammograms every six months to check her recovery progress.
I’m fit as a fiddle now.
St. Clairsville Mayor Kathryn Thalman
Thalman says the old adage about being kind to others since you never know what battles they are fighting rings true for her.
Thalman is in her second term as Mayor of St. Clairsville.