Wendy Maechtle has fought off cancer for 30 years with a determined spirit and help from Wings, her local guardian angel.

Just last month, Maechtle discovered she must face a fifth round with a skin cancer called malignant melanoma. Her local oncologist told her he had no more options for her here and urged her to see a melanoma specialist in Seattle.

She agonized about the expense of going, then called the local nonprofit organization formed to ease just those worries. She applied and received a check for gas, lodging and food.”

“Wings saved me big time,” Maechtle said. “I don’t like to ask. I like to donate and collect for them. But I’m in a position where Christmas is just over and I’m still paying for bills for number four cancer.”

On Thursday, she will give back as a volunteer on the phone bank during Wings’ 16th annual radiothon aired by Bee Broadcasting radio stations from the Sportsman and Ski Haus in Kalispell.

From 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. both Thursday and Friday, volunteers such as Maechtle will accept donations from people who call or walk in in response to the broadcast that features cancer patients helped by the organization.

People may also send checks to Wings at P.O. Box 7852, Kalispell, MT 59904.

According to Wings Board President Brace Hayden, several years of tight economic times make their need for contributions even greater than in previous years.

“Last year, we distributed more than we took in,” he said. “Times are tough and there are a lot of patients in the valley using our services.”

Like Maechtle, he knows from firsthand experience the stress of facing cancer treatment along with the extra nonmedical expenses. Hayden received financial help when he was struck by multiple myeloma.

“Insurance typically doesn’t cover transportation costs,” he said. “Wings really helps.”

Maechtle couldn’t agree more.

It was a much bleaker financial outlook back in 1982 when she received her first diagnosis.

She said that she went to the doctor to refill a prescription and, as a side issue, had the mole on the back of her left calf removed. It was about half the size of a dime and she had noticed it changing.

To be safe, the physician sent the mole to Missoula for analysis.

“It came back positive for melanoma stage three to four,” Maechtle said. “They thought I was probably not going to live.”

She had to go to Seattle for more surgery including removal of lymph nodes in her groin. Because she remained vigilant for any new bumps, Maechtle found her next occurrence in 1987.

“I found a tumor, like a nodule, on the thigh of my leg, and I had a surgeon in Kalispell take it out,” she said. “It was malignant melanoma so I had to go back over to Seattle.”

Faced with a more extensive treatment, Maechtle had a lot of expenses but found little financial help for patients in the valley. She said the American Cancer Society had a program that helped with very small amounts of cash.

“You got $100 for a year and it took quite a while to get that,” she said. “By the grace of God, friends and family, we got over there.”

Maechtle had chemotherapy confined to her left leg, a seven-hour treatment. For the next 14 years, she remained cancer free.

She continue checking for suspicious moles and bumps when she found what looked like eight spider bites on the left leg in 2001.

When the last one remained too long, she had it checked out.

“Sure enough, it was melanoma,” she recalled. “This time they took a great big chunk out of my leg and did a skin graft and I had to be on Interferon for a whole year. Well, that gave me nine years.”

It was close to the time of the 15th annual Wings radiothon fund-raising event last January, on her birthday, when Maechtle discovered she had melanoma for the fourth time. The tumor was again on her thigh.

It was the first time she didn’t volunteer for the event.

“I was quite distraught,” she said.

Maechtle had the tumor taken out in Kalispell. With consultation with Seattle specialists, her oncologist gave her a green light not to take additional treatment at that time. She was warned that a test showed she would get more melanomas, most likely in 10 to 20 years.

But only 10 months later, a nodule appeared in the exact same place. Maechtle called it an unwelcome Christmas present.

She contacted two people she had worked with at Wings. Soon after her application was turned in, she received a call that her check was ready to help her travel to Seattle with her husband.

“So I got to go over there not worried about gas money and lodging and food because of Wings,” she said.

On Jan. 9, Maechtle met with the specialist in melanoma who told her about a drug so new that no one had received it yet in Kalispell. Maechtle starts the chemotherapy here after taking five “heavy duty” chemotherapy treatments in her left leg.

This year, her diagnosis of a fifth cancer won’t stop her from helping Wings, even on the same day she starts radiation.

“I’ll be there on the phones at the Sportsman from 12 to 2 p.m. Thursday,”  Maechtle said. “A lot of times I spent the whole day there. One year I ran for pledges. I was kind of planning to do that this year but I guess I won’t. Maybe next year.”

With the guardian angel Wings on her team, she has no doubt that she will survive to volunteer for many more radiothons.

“God has a plan for me or I’m too ornery,” she said with a laugh. “Maybe both.”

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com .