Boot camp charity aids Las Vegas breast cancer victims

At 25, Jolene vonMillanich paid in advance for her own cremation.

She picked out the silver urn where her ashes now rest.

She selected photos for a slideshow about her life and chose music that would play as friends and family said their goodbyes.

And attendees had to wear bright colors. Nothing dark or black.

The medical assistant from Auburn, Calif., just outside Sacramento, died last year from phyllodes tumors, a rare form of breast cancer that accounts for less than 1 percent of all breast tumors.

It's a cancer that can't be killed by chemotherapy, radiation or medication. Surgery can cut away the tumor, but the threat remains. No surgery could curtail how quickly the cancer spread throughout vonMillanich's body, including a breast tumor the size of a baby's head.

VonMillanich was able to pay for her final farewell with $1,000 donated by Boot Camp for Cancer Las Vegas, a two-year-old nonprofit that raises money through an annual boot camp and donates it to cancer patients and their families.

The goal is to help with utility bills, car payments or to put food in the refrigerator and provide some financial relief to make life - or death in vonMillanich's case - a little easier.

"It takes away some stress," said Trish Georges, who helped create the nonprofit.

Georges, 37, survived the same type of breast cancer that killed vonMillanich, whom she had met two years before at a national cancer conference. The lump in Georges' breast grew from the size of a marble to a golf ball over the course of five months. She underwent surgery to remove the tumor.

But the risk never goes away. It can always come back. And it did, last year. But the tumor was benign, and it also was surgically removed.

While she was fighting cancer, Georges could not work as a paramedic - a career she's had for more than a decade. So she moved in with a friend, who let her stay for free, and began collecting $400 a week in disability benefits.

Her co-workers held a car wash and raised $3,500. It helped pay some bills.

The relief that money gave Georges' inspired her to create the boot camp nonprofit.

"Maybe you're not going to make it through chemo or surgery, but at least, right now, there's one less thing to worry about. You can concentrate on feeling happy and not worry about how to come up with the next car payment or power bill," Georges said.

The goal is to find another family to help by December, she added. Georges and the team of trainers have scheduled the next boot camp for July 2013.

For Denise vonMillanich, Jolene's mother, the $1,000 donation from Boot Camp for Cancer Las Vegas gave the family peace of mind.

"We're low-income, and it would not have been possible without them," vonMillanich said. "It was a big load off our shoulders because we just got to enjoy being with her. It's a pretty overwhelming feeling dealing with cancer treatment, but that financial assistance makes such a big difference because not everybody has family members that can help."

It was a tough conversation to have, but "finally accepting the fact she was going to die" helped the family plan for "what to do next."

"We were blessed we had the time to do that and had resources to do it with," vonMillanich said.

Jolene was featured as a model in "The SCAR Project," a series of portraits of young women who battled breast cancer. The project, shot by photographer David Jay, aimed to raise public awareness of early onset breast cancer, raise funds for cancer research and "help young survivors see their scars."

Jolene's portraits show chest scars from her double mastectomy, when her breasts were removed.

She also documented the battle on Facebook as the cancer consumed her physically. The bald head. The bloating from medication. The IV pole pumping fluids into her body.

Tumors disfigured her face when they embedded themselves in her jaw, and she posted those pictures, too.

She grins in every photo. In one image, a smiling, freshly bald vonMillanich is clad in a white T-shirt that reads, "Stupid Cancer." She's holding a pile of her hair in her hands.

Sometimes she flashes the camera a smile and a middle finger - a sign the cancer consumed her body but not her mind.

"Her attitude made all the difference in the world," said Denise vonMillanich. "She was my ray of sunshine. She passed away in my arms, and I'll never forget that. That was pretty special."

In lieu of flowers, Jolene asked in her obituary that donations be sent to Boot Camp for Cancer Las Vegas.

Contact reporter Kristi Jourdan at kjourdan@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0440.