Other Events:

• Occupation: developmental optometrist

Notes:

BIOGRAPHY:
Relay for Life survivor story: Dr. Ben Stoebner
Relay for Life survivor story: Dr. Ben Stoebner
Posted by editor Monday, June 25, 2007 at 3:11 PMViewed 2 times0 comments
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Local retired optometrist Dr. Ben Stoebner was born in the small town of Eureka, South Dakota, in the late twenties; a sturdy, steady young man whose father was a farmer until a door opened for an easier job and he rented out his acreage to go to work in a prestigious-sounding business called German Farmers Mutual Insurance Company. Ben attended Eureka schools, attended University of South Dakota, and graduated in 1953 from Pacific University at Forest Grove, Oregon, as a developed optometrist.Dryer and warmer, California beckoned to him and he opened offices, each for a short time, in Lodi and Boron (where he met and married school teacher Mary Jane McCarthy), and permanently in Tehachapi in 1965. The Stoebners raised two daughters and three sons, all of whom graduated from the local high school.At age 74, Ben was hospitalized in Lancaster with a perforated appendix requiring surgery, but tests also showed a cancerous tumor in his left kidney. Swift removal was necessary and he was transferred to the Univeristy of Southern California (USC) Hospital. Frightening barely described his predicament. After recovery from both operations, his brother, Darrold, who is a medical doctor, advised Ben to have further tests on his prostate gland, which had shown worrisome irregularities. After forty-two prostate radiation treatments at Comprehensive Blood and Cancer Center (CBCC) in Bakersfield to shrink the newly diagnosed cancer, he had surgery just a year after losing a kidney from the same dreaded disease.In April, 2004, with plans being made for the entire family to attend his youngest daughter's wedding at Whistler, British Columbia, Ben was playing golf when he noticed discomfort in his right ankle, much like a sprain. He didn't see a doctor; he had sprained ankles in sports that time alone had healed. As the pain continued, he finally saw a local physician. It was first believed to be a cyst, and later, more seriously, perhaps a lesion. X-rays showed a quarter sized hole in the area just above his ankle, and he was referred to a podiatrist. The specialist asked Ben if he had been checked for cancer in his ankle.Ben had a beautiful bride to escort to an altar in Canada so the sore ankle was put on hold. The night before the wedding, Ben, Mary Jane and his soon-to-be son-in-law were walking down a flight of stairs and Ben took a terrible fall, hitting his head on the wall and in agony with what everyone was sure was a broken leg.The wedding proceeded, with Ben filling his role as father-of-the-bride in misery and on much medication. A difficult, pain-filled flight brought him from British Columbia to the home of his daughter at Manhattan Beach. He sought treatment at one of the university hospitals, but there was not an orthopedic doctor on duty to treat him right away. He was taken to CBCC in Bakersfield, where tests showed renal cancer in the bone and confirmed the fact that the fall was not from mis-stepping, but from the cancerous hole in his ankle bone that had caused the leg to break. He was sent to UCLA. Doctors there provided two options: having the leg set using cadaver bone fragments as part of the repair, or the terrorizing choice of amputation. He was given a few days to decide. After much thought both pro and con, he spoke with his wife and each of his children, explaining to them his choice of amputation, reasoning that if it was done, the cancer and the pain would be gone. They all agreed.With the support of his family and friends, the amputation was successful, and the good doctor began his journey of healing, therapy, and eventually learning to walk with a false leg. Following surgery, he spent thirteen days at UCLA, thirteen days at a rehabilitation hospital, and was finally allowed to return to a little bit of heaven ? home! The first four months were spent in a wheelchair while waiting for the shrinkage of his leg that was necessary for fitting a prosthesis, but with determination and acceptance, both integral parts of Ben's personality, he adjusted to each segment of treatment and learned literally to take one step at a time.Today he walks freely, drives, works out at a gym and his gait is so normal people who do not know him well would never guess the triumph that allows him to walk wherever he chooses to go.He is now cancer free, takes medication to keep his bones strong, and goes for a check-up every six
months. He also smiles a lot.

Family/Spouse: Mary Jane McCarthy. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]