By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
After 25 years on the Hays police force and 19 years being cancer free, Patrol Sgt. Mitch Berens was diagnosed two weeks ago with Stage IV metastatic melanoma.
Mitch's fellow officers, friends and family are determined not to let Mitch go through his illness alone. Even complete strangers have stepped up to buy raffle tickets or donate to help Mitch and his wife through what undoubtedly will be a costly battle with cancer.
Mitch, 51, will be unable to work during his treatment. He will be applying for short-term disability, but that will not equal his total current salary, his wife Tisha said.
Tisha and Mitch have only been married three months. Tisha is a breast cancer survivor, Mitch had survived a previous bought of melanoma that involved his knee.
"It is kind of what attracted us to each other, because we both live each day like it is the last,” she said. “He, of course, thought he was past his cancer.
“He hadn't been feeling good. It kind of crept back up on him. I finally got him to go to the doctor, and they found it in his lymph nodes and his brain."
Mitch has already had one two-and-half-hour round of intense targeted radiation treatment. He will find out next week what type of melanoma he has, and that will dictate what type of treatment he receives. He hopes to be able to continue his treatment here in Hays.
Tisha described Mitch as being stubborn, but she said that has been what is helping him get through his cancer diagnosis.
"He is the most positive man you will ever meet," Tisha said. "He can take a gloomy day and just completely turn it around. He is very optimistic about his cancer. He is a very optimistic man. He's fun to be around."
Tisha and Mitch each have two grown children. Mitch grew up in Victoria, and Tisha said they have great family support in the area.
Cpl. Phillip Gage is the president of the Fraternal Order of Police Hays Lodge No. 48. He's known Mitch since 2010.
"We have never really experienced something like this with one of our members," he said. "We took charge and wanted to raise some money and offset some of his medical expenses."
Gage said many of the businesses and individuals who have already donated to help the Berens know Mitch personally on and off the job and value him as a person.
"He looks at the full picture," Gage said of Mitch. "He always has a super positive outlook on everything. ... He's a very good man."
Gage said the community’s response has been tremendous. Gage was getting so many messages through Facebook about the posts he had made about Mitch that his cellphone couldn’t handle the traffic. His Facebook app shut down.
His first post had 21,000 views in six days.
A woman that neither Tisha nor Mitch knew, Renee Seltmann, made cookies and sold them for a donation for Mitch. Janice Skeen purchased the cookies for $50, and Seltmann matched her purchase with a $50 donation.
“I think that was really neat, because they don’t personally really know him,” Tisha said. “We’re just really seeing the kindness of people now. It is really helping him get through.”
All of the outpouring from the community has made a hard time bearable for the couple.
Mitch was not feeling well the day Tisha and Gage were interviewed by Hays Post. However, Tisha said Mitch wanted to make sure the community knew how amazed and grateful he is for all of the community support.
“Mitch and I were just talking about this last night that we have never been closer than we are right now. We have never been happier,” Tisha said. “Yeah, it’s hard and we have hard times, but we looked at each other and said we’ve never been happier because we feel so loved.
“We know each day is a gift. I know that is a cliche´, but with him it is. Today is truly a gift to be around him.”
Tisha said Mitch is using his experience as a cancer survivor to take on his latest challenge.
“His attitude is that I am going to do this,” she said. “I am going to beat this. I did it once. That was the practice round. ‘We got this,’ he says.”
Ways to help Mitch
Chili feed: The Fraternal Order of Police of which Mitch is a member is sponsoring a chili feed at the Downtown Pavilion starting at 5 p.m. Saturday. Freewill donations will be accepted for the chili. Food will be sold until sell-out.
Raffles: The FOP also has accepted donations of items for several raffles. Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased at the Hays Police Department or notify the FOP through Facebook. When all the tickets are sold for a particular raffle, the FOP will conduct a drawing on Facebook Live. The limestone name rock comes with a custom engraving.
Tickets for the Honor Defense pistol and Yeti cooler are sold out.
T-shirts: Phaze 2 will be printing T-shirts to benefit Mitch. Cost will be $15. $11 will go to the Berenses. Orders must be in by Jan. 6 for the first printing.
Monetary donations will be accepted through the Fraternal Order of Police. Donations can be delivered to the Hays Police Department, 105 W. 12th St., or you can mail them to FOP, P.O. Box 1075, Hays, KS 67601. A donation button for Mitch will be added to the FOP Facebook page, but that paperwork is still being processed.
Meals: Rachel Albin has created a signup page on Take Them a Meal to sign up to take meals to the Berenses.
Share a wish for wellness online at caringbridge.org. Friends and family also can check on Mitch’s progress in treatment through this page.
Future event: Voices Through Cancer plans to organize a benefit basketball game Fire vs. Police in the spring.
Raffle donors included Crawford Supply, A&A Coors, Doug 's Gun Shop, Ciarra and David Rupp, Big Creek Veterinary Service, Jesus Lopes and Kelly Stenzel.