Ellen Klausmeyer is an optimistic person. “When I was a child my favorite song was Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah,” she said, referring to music from a 1946 Disney feature film. Klausmeyer’s lifelong belief in a positive tomorrow was tested in April 1998 when she found a large lump under her left arm. “I never did breast self exams - never thought I needed to,” she recalled. "I was only 34 at the time and there was no history of breast cancer in my family.” After her initial diagnosis at a local hospital, a nurse friend advised Klausmeyer, an artist and writer, to get a second opinion at the Karmanos Cancer Center. “I fell in love with Karmanos,” continued Klausmeyer. “The staff was amazing, and my doctor, Michael Simon was awesome.”

Dr. Simon and the Karmanos Cancer Center Breast Multidisciplinary Team determined that Ellen’s tumor was an aggressive, estrogen-negative form of breast cancer. “I was willing to do anything to survive,” she recalled. After surgery that May, Dr. Simon and the Karmanos Breast Team advised the Royal Oak native that she was eligible to participate in a clinical trial involving an innovative treatment therapy. Using her own stem cells, Ellen had bone marrow transplant, which at the time was being evaluated for effectiveness in treating certain types of breast cancer. “It was hard and I felt really ill, but Dr. Jared Klein on the Karmanos Bone Marrow Transplant Multidisciplinary Team was great, as was my lead surgeon, Dr. David Bouwman. Every Karmanos doctor that saw me was tremendous, there were always broad smiles and good humor. I credit them with helping me survive a very scary time in my life,” remembered Klausmeyer. Her successful treatment also included chemotherapy and radiation at the Cancer Center’s Gershenson Radiation Oncology Center.

Restored to health, Klausmeyer joined the Karmanos Patient and Family Advisory Council. Focused on promoting, facilitating and delivering the best possible care for Karmanos cancer patients, survivors and their loved ones, the Council consists of 18 patients, family members or caregivers who have had routine contact with the staff at Karmanos. “I have been impressed as to the speed with which the Cancer Center management follows through on suggestions from the Council,” said Klausmeyer. ”The Karmanos staff and their focus on cancer care is really beneficial for those of us who are fighting this disease.”


In 2002, Klausmeyer was again confronted with a cancer diagnosis. During a Lasik procedure, the doctor bluntly told her he saw a tumor in the front of her left eye. “I was devastated and felt very alone,” she said. “I realized right away I needed the comfort and sense of control over the disease that I had found at the Karmanos Cancer Center.”

Klausmeyer had a rare form of cancer, ocular melanoma. While most melanomas initially grow in the skin, some can start in other parts of the body. Surgery successfully removed the tumor from her eye and Klausmeyer again regained her health.

Klausmeyer believes that, even though the cancer treatments have left her with an underlying fatigue, her zest for living has returned. As she plans for a September wedding, she is also back to her art and writing, working on a book for children who have cancer. “I want to share the kindnesses that I was shown while I was ill,” she said.

Her most recent artistic creation is a pin with colors representing the different forms of cancer researched and treated at the Karmanos Cancer Institute. She hopes that one day it will be sold to raise awareness and funds for the fight against all types of cancer. “There really is hope,” Klausmeyer said. “Even if you get cancer more than once – I’m living proof of that.”