Cancer Touches Lives of Libertyville Store Owners

A serendipitous doctor’s visit

shop owner Kristin Dean visited her general physician in the fall of 2007 because she had a cough.

“It was totally unrelated,” Dean said. “The doctor had her hand on the door, she was ready to leave, and I said, ‘By the way, I’m having a few little problems.’”

At 43, Dean was far from having routine colonoscopies to look for irregularities or colon cancer, which doctors recommend at 50.

“So when I went in for the colonoscopy, that’s when they found it, and it was stage three,” she said.

The cancer, which doctors predicted had begun growing eight to 10 years prior, was in her colon and the lymph nodes outside of it.

“So they cut out a quarter of my colon, and then I started chemo,” Dean said. “The chemo was bad. My blood levels got so low. But, I’d have one bad week, and then I’d have one week that was better. It was never good, but at least I could get out bed. I would go to work, but I would sit there.”

Dean recovered, but was set to receive scans every six months to look for suspicious growths in her chest, abdomen, and pelvis. After a scan in the fall of 2010, doctors found a growth on her liver.

“I said, ‘Just let me know now if you think it’s cancer,’” she said. “I’ve already had it. I’d rather know now. And they said, ‘More than likely it probably is.’”

Doctors removed a portion of Dean’s liver, and all of the growth, allowing Dean to avoid a second round of chemo therapy. One year and two scans later, Dean is clear.

“I never said, ‘Why me?’ ” Dean said. “I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m so lucky. I’m lucky that I caught it.’”

Routine screening works

Kristine Knutson, owner of downtown’s How Impressive, considers herself lucky to have scheduled a routine mammogram.

“I went for a regular mammogram in the fall of 2009 because I turned 40. They found something, and they wanted me to come back,” she said.

Her doctors ordered a biopsy, and soon they contacted her with their findings — the lump was cancerous.

“One of my customers was a doctor, and one night she came over to look at all of my paperwork because I still didn’t believe it,” she said. “And she said, ‘Kristine, you have cancer.’ ”

Knutson received a lumpectomy in January, and was required to go through 6½ weeks of radiation.

“Now I’m on an oral chemo for five years, as a preventative medicine,” Knutson said. “And after that, I should be in the clear.”

A community of support

In the past five years, both Dean and Knutson opened their own businesses, battled cancer, and separated from their spouses. Both mothers and women of faith, they say the struggles became manageable with the support of each other, their churches, friends, family, community, and customers.

“I had meals set up for like three months, and I’m thinking how are these moms stopping their day and making me a meal,” Dean said. “Some of them were strangers, people I didn’t even know. It was those meals that really kept the kids and I going. It was unbelievable.”

She says during the holiday season, when she was sick, customers decorated her store for Christmas.

“As a mom, it was awkward accepting all of that,” Dean said. “We always put ourselves last. When the focus went on me, I was like, this is really weird. And my friends just told me to accept it. You almost lose control, but you have to just let them take over. That’s what kept me going and what kept me strong.”

Knutson says that receiving the radiation after her lumpectomy was physically exhausting. She was required to visit the hospital every weekday for six weeks to receive the radiation, which she says wasn’t easy as a store owner.

“I work really hard during the day, so sometimes I don’t eat until 3 p.m.,” she said. “So I made my radiation appointments at 11:30 in the morning, and it forced me to leave the shop. What I did was I made lunch dates with old girlfriends, old people I haven’t been in touch with, a different person every day. So I’d go to my radiation appointment, go have a healthy lunch, and come to my store.”

Inspiration to balance sickness and business

Dean had longed to own a downtown Libertyville store since she was a girl. After going to school for fashion merchandising and managing chain retail stores, Dean decided she was ready to do it in March 2006, and opened Serendipity.

“When I got sick, everyone kept asking if I was going to close the shop,” Dean said. “And I was like no. I wasn’t going to give up. It’s a part of my life. I still came to work. Whatever I could do, I still did. I don’t think of it as a job. I love it.”

Dean recalls after her liver surgery, she already was working from home a week later.

“I would work from bed,” she said. “I was ordering. Vendors came to my house, and I’d pick out clothes. They brought their rolling racks, and I laid on the couch. It was unbelievable.”

“Some of the smaller stuff, I didn’t really sweat. I knew what was important, and I knew what really inspired me, and that store really inspired me — even the second time that I got it. My accountant said, ‘You need to keep that shop. That shop keeps you going.’ ”

Giving back to the community

Knutson feels her store, How Impressive, gives her the ability to give back and support the community that supported her. She’s been involved with the Lake County Haven for 15 years, holds several charity events in her store every year, and says she can never turn down a donation.

“I feel like the community has given so much to me, that it’s the least I could do,” she said. “I love owning a business because I’m able to donate and make a difference in someone else’s life.”

“It was really difficult managing full-time employees, being in radiation, not having the sales come in that I should have during the hardest economic times, and having breast cancer,” she said. “But the community really stepped up — our church, people who made dinners and lunches. It was a great thing.”

Knutson’s How Impressive provides invitation services, stationary, and unique gifts. She recently moved into a new, larger space on Milwaukee Avenue, opening on Oct. 1; her store’s fifth anniversary. 1. She says she had 18 days to turn the store around.

“People stepped up,” she said. “We took out a wall, put in new lighting, painted. Carpenters, painters, movers, the UPS man, a fireman, a public service worker — everyone totally helped. I’m so blessed, it’s amazing.”