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Brenda Potts - Hunter, Gatherer, Breast Cancer Survivor

During each treatment, Brenda said she would close her eyes and daydream about her upcoming muley hunt in Wyoming and Montana. Just 13 months later, her dreams came true. Brenda Potts celebrated her recovery from breast cancer by taking this big bruiser on an all-women's caribou hunt in Quebec a year after her diagnosis.

Q. Who taught you how to hunt and when?

A. My Mom and Grandma got me started in hunting when I was little. I always tell people I grew up with a bow in one hand and a Barbie doll in the other. My dad got us into shooting 3-D tournaments when I was in grade school. I went squirrel hunting with my grandmother once when I was little and remember walking along beside her as she carried her gun, wearing that old green blotchy army camo, and I thought she was the most beautiful woman in the world and I wanted to be just like her. My mom took me bowhunting with her once when I was small, and it started to rain. It was just a light mist, but back in those days we didn't have the rainwear technology we have now. So we hid under a big bush to keep dry. I remember the smells of the wet woods and asked my mom what was that musty smell? She said that was a buck that had just walked by. I was amazed at having had an animal so close I could smell it but hadn't been able to see it. To this day I love to hunt in that magical timeframe just after the rain stops.

Q. Why are you so passionate about hunting?

A. When I was a kid, we played outside all day. We spent our weekends at the campground. My brother and I tracked animals through the woods for hours for something to do. We devised little traps to catch chipmunks. It was punishment to come inside and no fun at all to watch TV. We only had three channels back then anyway, ha! When you learn to love something as a child it sticks with you for life. Hunting is my life. Because of that, for me hunting is also about stewardship of the wildlife and the responsibility and opportunity to protect the natural wonders that God made for us to enjoy. My favorite quote is, "In the woods we return to reason and faith."

Q. What is your favorite type of hunting?

A. My favorite type of hunting is bowhunting for whitetail deer. I like that I can do it all myself, from scouting the property, to selecting the tree, hanging the stand, clearing shooting lanes and finally making the shot. When you have done all that work and the animal comes so close, it is a rush. I sometimes need some help dragging the deer out of the woods, but we all like to have help with that!

Q. Tell us about another hunter in your family, your husband Stan.

A. My husband, Stan, has worked very hard to make a living in the outdoor industry. He gained local attention when he killed what was at the time the number two bowkill in Illinois. That was more than 25 years ago. Since then, he has become well known for his ability to select treestand locations that put him in bow range of mature bucks. Most of them have been killed on camera for a variety of video and television projects.

Q. How did you get your start in the hunting/outdoor communications business?

A. While I was working for the Illinois Natural History Survey as a Creel Clerk on Clinton Lake I started writing a fishing column in the local newspaper. Then I wrote my first article for "North American Whitetail" magazine. After that I just kept sending in queries and getting magazine assignments. While working for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR), I kept my secondary career as an outdoor writer going.

Q. How long have you had your own business?

A. When I got laid off from the IDNR I decided to start my own marketing company to serve as a media and pro staff liaison and marketing consultant. I worked for the IDNR for seven years prior to starting my own company in 2005. My first client was Bad Boy Buggies.

Q. Tell us about your work.

A. The services I provide my clients include writing press releases, managing pro staff, media relations and marketing consulting. I also continue to write for several magazines and web sites. I have my own column called Gettin' Outdoors in Challenge Magazine, which is distributed by subscription and through Pilot Travel Centers nationwide. I am also a professional contributor for huntingnet.com. I have written two books, "Illinois Whitetails," a historical and biological look at Illinois' deer population ,which includes the Big Buck Recognition Program records, and "Younger's Wild Adventures: Secrets of Turkey Ridge," a kid's non-fiction book.

My latest project is serving as co-host for SHE's Beyond the Lodge. This television show is title sponsored by SHE Outdoor Apparel and accomplishes several goals, including highlighting the tremendous clothing made by SHE and providing us with the opportunity to act as mentors to encourage other women to get involved in hunting and shooting sports.

Q. What makes the SHE Safari line unique/special? Is this a special passion for you, to make function and good fit available to women?

A. SHE Outdoor Apparel began as SHE Safari, a single clothing line sold on the Internet by Pam Zaitz. The response and demand for her clothing designs were so overwhelming that Pam knew this venture had the potential to become something much bigger. She expanded into camouflage clothing then developed upland and shooting lines. The name change to SHE Outdoor Apparel was warranted a year ago because the company so quickly outgrew its original concept. SHE Safari is now a single collection within the parent company. The clothing styles are now divided into five collections called SHE Upland, SHE Camo, SHE Shooting, SHE Style and SHE Safari.

For me, working with this company has been a dream come true. I believe in the products and have tremendous respect for the owners, but I am also afforded the opportunity to do some "greater good" projects. Not only does the company provide exceptional clothing with great styles and fit, they focus on providing products that make hunting and shooting easier for women. They open doors and change attitudes and make women feel welcome in these traditionally male dominated sports.

Q. What other clients do you work with?

A. I love working with small companies and helping them achieve their dreams. My first client was Bad Boy Buggies. This was back before anyone knew their name. When I introduced them to everyone I knew at the SHOT show that first year, I will never forget what Tom Mansell said. With that Texas drawl he said, "Miss B last year at this show we were sitting here with no one in our booth. We practically had to stick our boots out in the aisle and trip people to get them into the booth. This year we are packed with people and busier than ever. Thank you!" Those are the types of reactions that make all my effort worthwhile. I know what it is like to put your heart and sole into a company and work long hours trying to make it a success. Marketing can be a tricky animal and to be able to successfully help company owners with that is a privilege.

In addition to SHE, my latest client is Camocarpet.com. They make area rugs and camouflage carpet in Realtree and Mossy Oak and specialty outdoor carpets that can be used in cabins, ground blinds, boats, offices etc. Their tag line is "Bring the Outdoors In" and it is a fitting explanation for how the product lets you showcase your love of the outdoors.

Q. How did you prepare for a career in the outdoors?

A. I have a Bachelor of Science degree from Millikin University in environmental biology and 31 hours toward a master's degree in Biology. My master's thesis focused on the effects of nitrogen compounds on the recombinant prodigy of two single celled algae species, which is an important component in some aspects of genetic research. I have been fascinated with the microscopic world ever since my parents bought me a microscope for a gift when I was in third grade. I started out to be a research scientist. How I ended up in marketing and public relations still surprises me.

Q. How has the industry changed since you started?

A. My Mom and Grandmother were hunters. For the women to go hunting right along with the men was perfectly natural in my family. Hunting has never been an intimidating arena for me, but for many women it is. Fortunately, the advent of television and other avenues of communication have provided women with more information so they too can feel comfortable venturing into this pastime. Tips and techniques once shared one-on-one can now be shared with thousands over the TV and with millions virtually overnight via the Internet. Technology has certainly changed the way we learn and the way we feel about what others think of us. Women who may have once been uncertain about going hunting because they thought it was for men only, have the chance to see lots of other women doing it. And the old adage, if she can do it so can I, certainly encourages others to try. This is a turn for the better. With more women in the industry, more stewards of this heritage and the wildlife it supports will be introduced to a wonderful way of life.

Q. Have you been in any other careers outside of hunting/outdoor communications?

A. I once owned a building on the square in Clinton and started my own custom frame shop called Woodland Art Studio. For five years I worked long hours and loved every minute of being an entrepreneur. This is why I love helping current clients succeed because I remember what it was like to put your heart and soul into owning your own business.

After I sold that business Stan and I moved to western Illinois and tried our hand at outfitting and guiding. This was a ton of work, but a lot of fun, too. I have some crazy stories from that job. You certainly meet all kinds of people in hunting camp. Some of the guys were a little leery of having a female guide but my clients killed more and bigger bucks each year. So I sort of got a reputation after that. The only trouble I had being a female guide was with a client who insisted on changing his clothes before heading to the tree. So I had to keep my eyes closed and stay in the truck while he stripped to his underwear and changed clothes on the bumper. His dad would let me know when it was ok to open my eyes. The dad once thought his son was gone and we backed up the truck and knocked him off the bumper.

Luckily he was almost fully clothed by then! Another client from Tennessee argued with me for 10 minutes when I tried to field dress his doe. After convincing him I had done about 30 deer so far that season, he finally agreed to let me do it. And when I was done, he said, "Well, dang, I ain't never had no girl field dress my deer before!"

Q. You were diagnosed with cancer a few years ago. Tell us about that experience.

A. In early August of 2007 I found a lump in my breast. I told Stan about it, and he handed me the phone to call the doctor. The following week began a series of doctor and hospital visits, from the mammogram, to the sonogram, to the MRI, to the biopsy. Waiting and wondering. It took three weeks to progress through all the tests. The MRI was read wrong. They said it was just something to keep an eye on. But the biopsy confirmed it was cancer. I shudder to think what might have happened if we had stopped with the MRI and not had the biopsy. I doubt I would be here today.

Q. What were your first thoughts when you were told? What progression did your thinking go through from the first diagnosis to the treatment and post treatment stages?

A. In the beginning it was so surreal. I kept thinking hey, this stuff happens to the other guy. But now, I was the other guy. I went through my days on autopilot waiting for test results. The phone call came at 4:45 p.m. on August 24. I will never forget it when the doctor said, "It's cancer." I was so shocked, I just handed the phone to Stan. He took over. He got all the details, called our friends and family. I just sat there in shock. God was watching over me from the beginning. That night someone we knew had been on a conference call with an oncologist discussing an organization called Kids Hunting For A Cure. We got the doctor's phone number and started asking questions. He gave advice and told me what to expect and what to ask my doctors.

We asked the preacher at our church to say a prayer with us. Then our friends and family started praying. Of course I prayed for healing, but I mostly prayed for strength. And I felt strength coming immediately. I felt like I was enveloped in a safe halo of prayer. It would be my first operation, and I was oddly not the least bit scared. I could feel the strength of the prayers. When I came out of surgery the nurses kept asking me what my pain levels were. When I told them 1 out of 10 meaning almost no pain, they would look at me so oddly. I guess this was rare. I was fortunate to have amazing surgeons and doctors and care and a tremendous support group.

Fear of the unknown was hard to take. And not feeling in control was especially hard to take. You get to make choices, of course, but you have to rely so much on the advice of doctors who are complete strangers to you in the beginning. One of the most bizarre moments came when the oncologist was telling me what my treatment options were and she rattled off statistics...you have an x percent chance of being alive in ten years if you do this and this, and you have an xx chance of being alive in ten years if you do this, this and this, too. I remember thinking; well I want to go back to the days when I was operating on the somewhat naive assumption that I had mostly a 100 percent chance of being alive in ten years. That was the moment I truly came face to face with my own mortality.

Having a scientific background I understood a lot more about what was being done than was probably good for me. I spent a lot of time researching my treatments on the Internet. Once in awhile that can be unhealthy, and you can scare yourself silly. So I finally quit doing so much of that and learned to trust the doctors more.

When they say it is a battle, they are not kidding. A friend gave me a t-shirt with a pink ribbon over a slogan that says "Fight Like A Girl!" So that is pretty much what I did.

Q. What did your treatment consist of?

A. I opted for an aggressive response. After surgery I had chemotherapy and radiation. My tumor was rather large (5 cm) and aggressive. Cancer cells were in the canal headed to the first lymph node, but thankfully had not actually made it to my lymph nodes. They removed two lymph nodes and both tested negative.

Q. In your online field journal, you said this was your first hospital stay. What was that like?

A. My friends and family all looked so worried when I was headed in to surgery. But I knew I was going to be ok and was not scared or worried. Within seconds of meeting my surgeon I felt like things were going to be alright. And as I mentioned earlier, I had such a safe feeling as if I could feel the prayers working. When I came out of surgery I had one heck of a case of vertigo that lasted a month, which was quite aggravating because 9 out of 10 tests they wanted to perform following surgery required me to hold my head in a position that would set the room spinning. It was quite a challenge but the technicians got creative, and we worked around it. They test your heart to make sure you can withstand the chemo drugs, and they scan you to look for other tumors. They found something on my liver, but it turned out to be ok.

Q. Tell us about your experience with chemo/radiation. How did you deal with the effects of the treatment?

A. On my first day of chemotherapy I was surprised by so many different types of people in the infusion lab undergoing treatment. People of every age, color, size and sex were in there hooked up to IVs, talking and laughing as if this was something normal. It was very bizarre at first. I had to fight the urge to rip the needle out of my arm and run screaming out of the room when the drug first started dripping into my arm.

Chemotherapy was tough for me. One of the drugs I had to take knocked my hemoglobin down pretty low. I ended up going in for two blood transfusions. Not everyone reacts to the drug that way, but I guess my bone marrow factory wasn't as strong as it should have been so it was a struggle. The first drug was supposed to be administered for eight treatments.

Every Monday I went to be hooked up to an IV that administered it. It took five to six hours. The staff was amazing. I did not opt for a port, big mistake, because the veins in my arms began to be less and less cooperative as the weeks went by. It got to where there was only one technician who could get the needle in. He became my hero. One of the weirdest parts was watching my veins turn black and my skin getting that pale look. I was tired a lot. The drugs made me sick and I couldn't eat. I lost 30 pounds. Then they switched to a different drug for the remaining eight treatments. It was a nasty bugger.

Everyone reacts differently, but I had a lot of pain in my knees and legs. Other patients would be affected in other parts of their body. My doctors prescribed medication to counteract all the bad effects so it was tolerable.

After going through so much together I ended up bonding with both of my oncologists. They became wonderful advisors and I was worried about going from weekly visits to every three months. But it was just separation anxiety.

The chemotherapy made me lose my hair. That really didn't bother me much. I had so much fun with wigs. I had five of them; two that I bought and others came from the American Cancer Society. When I got tired of one I would take it back and get a new one. One week I was blonde, the next week a red head.

I began radiation therapy about six weeks after the chemo was done. That was completed in February, about six months after my initial diagnosis. The radiation therapy was not hard to do and I didn't have much trouble with it other than feeling exhausted. It is the most difficult reaction to explain. I would go in and lay under a big machine for a few seconds and it felt like nothing was happening. Eventually I would get so weak I couldn't finish a sentence without being out of breath.

Somehow I got the idea in my head that the devil was trying to keep me from going to church. So every week, my mom would drive me to the door of the church and let me out. I would walk slowly to the first bench and sit down. Then I would walk to the first pew and sit down. Then I would walk to the pews in the front row and sit. I didn't have the strength to stand during the hymns and could only mouth the words. But I made it there every Sunday and am quite sure the devil was not happy. That was pretty satisfying.

Q. How long did it take for you to get back on your feet?

A. This is a hard one to explain. Although I was hunting again about six months after the radiation treatments ended, I am still not completely recovered almost two years after the diagnosis. My hemoglobin is not yet back up to normal levels so that makes me tire easily. But I am getting stronger every week.

Q. Did breast cancer change you? If so, how?

A. Breast cancer definitely changed me for the better. I try not to take things for granted any more. I try to appreciate things that are important like God, family and friends. I try to be more thankful for every day. God willing, I hope to be here for many more tomorrows, but don't take it for granted that I will be. Tomorrow is promised to no one.

Q. What and/or who helped you the most move through recovery?

A. Stan was a rock of support and kept a positive outlook all the time. My mom was amazing. She took care of me through the entire experience. Friends sent cards and flowers. I was overwhelmed by their kindness. Kandi Kisky and Pam and Brian Zaitz raised $10,000 dollars in my name and donated it to the Kids Hunting For A Cure Foundation. God gave me strength.

Q. How did you celebrate your recovery?

A. By going hunting, of course! But not just any hunt would do. Vicki Cianciarulo invited me to go on an all-women's caribou hunt with Safari Nordik in Quebec. I had always been fascinated with the tundra ecosystem and the caribou herds. It was a dream hunt. Exactly one year after being diagnosed with breast cancer, I left the house at 4:45 p.m. on August 24 and headed to the airport. It was one year to the very minute that I got that phone called confirming the diagnosis. It was the most amazing hunt, and I killed two caribou, one of which is a big monster bull. And it was all filmed for SHE's Beyond the Lodge. Fellow team members Vicki Cianciarulo and Kandi Kisky were great support for me helping carry luggage and not letting me get to worn down. I couldn't have done it without them!

Then I just kept celebrating! I went deer hunting in Montana, Kansas, Illinois, Iowa and Texas. I went turkey hunting in Texas, Wyoming and Illinois! Today I walked two miles! I shot my bow again! Honestly, every day is a celebration!

Q. Tell us about something you really want to do, accomplish or travel to in your future, and why it's important to you.

A. The other questions were easy to answer, but this one gives me pause. When I was diagnosed and in the heat of the battle and would hear survivor stories, it gave me hope. Hope is a powerful weapon in the battle against cancer. My wish is that my story of survival gives someone else hope. I am grateful for opportunities like this interview and episodes of SHE's Beyond the Lodge that enable me to share my experience and pray that I am allowed to continue serving as hope for others who may be struggling.

Although my check ups are good, the possibility of a recurrence always lingers. To some this may seem like a daily battle for control of my mind. But I prefer to turn it into a positive and use it to my advantage. Instead of putting off those things I always wanted to do, I am now actively planning to do them. Always wanted to ride the Amtrak to Chicago, kill a bull elk with a bow, hunt mountain lion, write another book, see Glacier National Park, and go hunting with my family and friends and my SHE team members about a thousand more times! After that, I hope I did enough to get to heaven. Maybe then I can go squirrel hunting with my grandma again.

Not long ago I met a young lady who impressed me so much I decided to ask her to do an internship with me. Her name is Alli Armstrong and at just 11 years old she is quite the accomplished hunter. Her intern project is something we call "Kids Gone Hunting." I asked many of my friends in the industry to send us the footage of their kids hunting. In addition to Alli's hunt footage we have lots of other kids hunting for all kinds of species with gun and bow. We put them all into the "Kids Gone Hunting" DVD and will be giving them out free to kids at the Illinois State Fair, National Hunting and Fishing Days, hunter safety classes and any other venues that we can. We have raised enough money to replicate 2,000 DVDs, but we would love to do even more. So anyone interested in sponsoring the project can still take part.

Proceeds from the project benefit Kids Hunting For A Cure (for cancer). More details on this project are listed on my web site under the Kids Gone Hunting icon at www.huntthemidwest.com. Or you can E mail me at brendapotts@hughes.net.