Berthoud Weekly Surveyor | Covering all the angles in the Garden Spot

Fundraiser for Angie – dedicated volunteer and single mother needs our support

February 07, 2019 | Local News

By Dan Karpiel

The Surveyor

When Berthoud’s Angie Purdy went to record a series of Christmas songs for her mother, she never knew the heart-felt good-deed – something Angie does for her friends, family and the Berthoud community on a consistent basis – would bring back life-altering information.

Angie Purdy

Angie went quarterly to a professional recording studio to compose the album, something her father suggested with the good-natured dig, “We need something to keep the mice away,” but in her final visit to the studio, the producer immediately recognized a significant change in Angie’s voice. At his behest, Angie contacted her doctor, thinking the alteration in her vocal cords could be  related to the chronic sinus infections from which she suffered for a long time. Investigation found a mass in her soft palate, something the doctor said he had never before seen.

The mass was removed, a 95-percent resection, and biopsied at three different labs in Florida, Washington D.C. and Annapolis, given its extreme rarity (1:20,000,000). On Nov. 29 the news came back that Angie had a plasmacytoma with an amyloidosis myeloma derivative, meaning she has two separate cancers, a blood cancer and a bone cancer. With five percent of the mass left, Angie is currently under-going radiation treatments in hopes of shrinking and ultimately eliminating the mass. The goal is to keep one form of the cancer at bay, prevent it becoming systematic and thus terminal, while aggressively treating the other. Some of the best physicians in the world have signed on to treat and hopefully cure the exceedingly rare affliction from which Angie is suffering.

With aggressive treatments and the ultimate outcome unknown, the Berthoud community has come together in support of Angie, a widowed mother of two whose daughter Heidi, now 23, has special-needs. Throughout her 13 years as a Berthoud resident, Angie has given over 10,000 hours of her time to various causes around town, selflessly helping others.

Let’s PLANet Giving, a Berthoud charitable organization chaired by Suzanne Doles, is organizing a fundraiser with the goal of bringing in $25,000 to help Angie as she courageously battles this terrible disease. With Angie being a tremendous sports fan, the organization has been able to secure the involvement of the Denver Broncos alumni association.

The event will be held Feb. 23 at 6 p.m. at Grace Place in Berthoud and will feature a live and silent auction, and several Broncos alumni, including Le-Lo Lang, Bucky Diltz, Larry Evans, Frank Robinson and Steve Atwater are scheduled to be in attendance. Berthoud resident Aaron Rath, owner of Overtime SportsNet and chairman of the Berthoud Sports Hall of Fame, is helping use his deep connections in the world of sports to bolster the event.

As Rath explained, “This event is one of those events that a person just has to be part of. Angie gives so much of herself and her time to this community that I have to help her. She was one of the first people that I noticed in this community when we moved here eight years ago. There are so many pillars of greatness and selflessness in this community, and Angie is one of the tops. Her heart for others and Berthoud is immeasurable. The fact that I was asked to help with this event is an absolute honor. Helping a sister in Christ in her time of need is something that I was called to do, and I am honored to do it.”

As a clear demonstration of just how greatly Angie has positively impacted so many in her life, childhood friend Michelle Finley, who now resides in Florida, is offering her support from afar. As Finely so eloquently said, “Growing up in a small town it is easy to have lifetime friendships. Especially when your families still reside there as well, both of our parents still do live in Holyoke. I can easily say Ang is a classmate favorite to many of us to this day. She is one of the most genuinely good humans I have ever met. I have a feeling many of us consider her one of their best friends. Even through trials, and she has had some truly horrific ones, she found a way to be happy and positive. Ang has been through so much in her life, but when you meet her, you may never know it. Her history is sad, but yet when you meet her you can see her faith in God shine though, and she has held strong in that God has a plan for her and even in the battles, good will come.”

The battle for Angie has only just begun, but the out-pouring of support has been overwhelming for her. “It really chokes me up every time I think about it because I just don’t think I’m worthy of this kind of attention,” Angie said. “Suzanne has reminded me … people want to help, let them help you, let us help you. It’s not you asking, we’re asking on your behalf. That has meant so much to me.”

Further information about the event to help this courageous woman who has given Berthoud so much, including registration and ticketing information, can be found at www.letsplanetgiving.org.

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