TV anchor Dawne Gee confronts new cancer fear

WAVE 3 television anchor Dawne Gee is confronting a new fear on the heels of her recovery from kidney cancer. A medical procedure Monday revealed a tumor in her stomach.

"It is a cruel game, the health thing, when you know something is wrong. I have a bad feeling," said Gee, 51, who has also had benign tumors in her brain, breasts and uterus. "I know I will have surgery again, that part I know."

A grandmother of two and a mother of three, Gee returned to work anchoring nightly newscasts on WAVE 3 last month after successful surgery for kidney cancer in October. The new cancer fear comes as she has been cutting back on sugar, eating more fruits and vegetables and exercising at the YMCA several times a week.

While she's been healing from the removal of half of a kidney, Gee has been experiencing some digestive distress. On Monday morning, an endoscopy at a Baptist Health clinic revealed the mass growing in her stomach.

That left Gee living moment to moment, fearing stomach cancer, while she awaits biopsy results.

Late Wednesday, Gee learned more about the growth, that it is called a gastro intestinal stromal tumor. Not all such tumors are cancerous, Gee announced during her 7:30 p.m. WAVE 3 broadcast, adding more tests are required.

"I will be talking to the doctors. they are not always cancerous," Gee told WAVE 3 viewers. "I will take all the prayers anybody can give."

In an interview, Gee said her long history of benign tumors lead her often to reflect on her fatigue and fear of what could be ahead.

"I have escaped everything," she said, noting the benign tumors before her kidney cancer battle last fall. Then, "just a couple of months later, they find something else. Sooner or later, everybody's luck runs out. I just hope that is not where I am."

On Monday, Gee said, "I cried and I cried and I cried until it felt like my head was going to explode." On Tuesday, Gee was back on the 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. evening news. "I got up and went to work," she said.

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While she waits for the results, Gee is anchoring evening news and producing her weekly "Pass The Cash" segments. In that program, Gee collects cash, sometimes from passers-by, to surprise a person in need.

On Tuesday, Gee received a call from a UPS worker seeking help for a colleague without a furnace or working stove amid this week's subzero temperatures. Wednesday morning, Gee surprised Michelle Brewer, 31, at work at the Watterson Towers office complex on Bishop Lane with $300.

Asked what WAVE 3 fans can do to help, Gee said she would appreciate it if people do not ask how she is feeling.

"I just don't want anybody to ask me how I'm doing because I'm not well. I'm blessed. I say that more than 'I'm good,' " she said Wednesday while on assignment on Bishop's Lane. "I don't feel like saying 'I'm good' anymore."

Gee joined WAVE 3 in 1994, co-anchors the 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. newscasts and hosts WAVE Country with Dawne Gee. The Louisville native also emcees up to 200 volunteer speaking engagements annually, especially for favorite charities like the Spina Bifida Association, the American Cancer Society, St. Baldrick's Foundation and the Kids Cancer Alliance.

You can share encouragement and your thoughts with Gee at facebook.com/courierjournal or contact her at dgee@wave3.com, Dawne Gee (Facebook) and on Twitter @DawneGeeWAVE3. There is also a #GetWellDawne hashtag.

Jere Downs can be reached at (502) 582-4669, Jere Downs on Facebook and @JereDowns on Twitter.