photo by Brie Cohen

Dennis Raleigh, center, stands to next members of his support system, his wife, Peggy and his son Matt at Raleigh’s Ace Hardware. Matt, with the help of Peggy, has taken over running the store. Dennis has been battling a rare type of cancer in men called extramammary Paget’s disease and is thankful to be here to celebrate Thanksgiving.

Thankful to be alive

Hardware store owner survives two kinds of cancer

Published Wednesday, November 25, 2009

This summer, Albert Lean Dennis Raleigh wasn’t sure if he’d make it to see Halloween.

His cancer — which was initially diagnosed in July 2008 and cleared after surgery — had returned.

And this time it spread to his lymph nodes, spine, vertebrae and lungs.

Within a few days of finding out the news, he began an aggressive treatment of chemotherapy.

“It can really take a toll on your body,” said Raleigh, who owns Raleigh’s Ace Hardware. “The first couple weeks were absolutely miserable.”

But a week and a half ago, after taking another computerized tomography scan, or CT scan, he found out that his tumors have either dissipated or have slowed.

“I’m so thankful to be here for this holiday, and I’m looking forward to being here for other holidays,” he said. “I’ve been given extra time — I can’t ask for much else.

“I believe it’s the combination of prayer that led the clinic to do what they were able to do for me and the outpouring of support. It’s been amazing to hear people I know and people I don’t even know come in and offer their support.”

Raleigh, who moved to Albert Lea from Colorado, opened his hardware store in July 1994. He said he came to Albert Lea because he thought there was an opportunity for a hardware store.

He and his wife, Peggy, have five children: Amanda Grzybowski, Michelle Rossate, Wendy Lunning, Matthew Raleigh and Michael Raleigh.

“I think we’re all going to be thankful that Dad is here this year,” the father said.

In July 2008, Raleigh found out he had prostate cancer and a rare inner-skin cancer in men called extramammary Paget’s disease.

He had surgery in September of that year, and afterward, Raleigh said he considered himself to have a clean bill of health.

Then in June of this year, he started having back pains.

“I figured it was the summer workload,” he said.

“Cutting grass. I was getting to where I was overloading what I should be doing.”

But by the middle of August, he said he knew things were getting worse instead of better.

In September, he and his wife took a trip to Canada. While there, he noted, the pain was so intense he couldn’t sleep at night. He couldn’t walk and he could barely get out of the car.

“I was feeling that my cancer had come back,” Raleigh said.

When they got back to Albert Lea, that’s when they found out that the cancer had spread.

Because the cancer is so rare, his doctor, John Laurie at ALMC, has only been able to study roughly 50 cases to develop a plan for Raleigh.

“Worldwide that’s not a lot,” he said.

Laurie started him on chemotherapy and added things to balance his life and his diet. Slowly, Raleigh was able to start doing things again.

Though there are still tumors in his body, he said he’s “alive and well.”

“I have to be thankful for the family and friends and the people in town here who have come in and said they’re thankful for me,” he said. “And this Mayo facility down here is a miracle worker. We have no idea how fortunate we are to have that in this town.”

He’s still undergoing chemotherapy treatments in increments of three weeks on and then one week off.

He doesn’t know when the end of his chemotherapy will be.

He’s turned the store over to his son Matt and officially retired in September. He still occasionally works on a consultant basis, and his wife does many of the things he used to do at the store.

“I’m not cured, but I have a better outlook on being able to stay around for a while than I did a while back,” Raleigh said.

“There’s a lot of people who go to get up one morning and they died. They don’t have the time to get things done. We’ve had time to deal with the changeover.”

For Thanksgiving, four out of his five children will be coming to the family’s home on Brookside Drive for dinner.

Raleigh said he wants to thank all the people who have lent their support, prayers and kind wishes.

“I really do appreciate it,” he said. “I believe that’s what brings me through this. The prayers and the treatments I’ve gotten, the two of them together have pulled me through.”

His family and friends have become extremely meaningful, especially knowing how many people have been looking out for him, he added.

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