May 2, 2011

Care Team Helps Trucker Stay Active

With their children all grown, trucker Bob “Bucky” Behrmann and his wife Donna enjoyed being a husband and wife trucker team. They’d always had a strong partnership, with Bucky as the provider and Donna taking care of things at home but now they enjoyed being on the road together.

Bucky knew something was wrong even before doctors diagnosed him with a form of melanoma in April 2009. Three days later, he started aggressive chemotherapy to treat his stage four cancer, and several weeks later, radiation was added to his treatment plan. Due to the location of the cancer he required tube feedings. Doctors gave Bucky a 10% chance of survival.

When he joined Care Wisconsin’s Family Care program in September 2009, Bucky had just regained his voice and was struggling with balance and memory issues—probable side effects of the cancer treatments he’d just finished.

With previous cardiac issues, Bucky already had several stints in his heart, and arthritic shoulders from a fall from a semi several years before. All of this combined to make it difficult for him to care for himself.

Now Donna and Bucky live in their Beaver Dam apartment and continue to work well as a husband and wife tandem. He uses a walker and is working to increase his stamina and sense of balance. While he always took care of her, now Donna collaborates with Bucky’s team of a care manager and RN care manager to take care of him.

The independent and sociable Bucky misses being able to take off on his own. He does frequently socialize with his buddies at the coffee shop, giving both he and Donna a little break. And his interests in politics and technology have helped him to jump on the information highway. He uses Facebook and the Internet to keep connected with the community and his extended family. 

Referred to as “Mr. Personality” by his care team, Bucky’s energy is matched only by Donna’s. The couple is grateful he’s still in remission and happy to have the support of a team. While they can’t keep trucking along, they have found other ways to enjoy life’s ride.

Photo top, right: Donna Behrmann is a loving caregiver to husband Bucky.

Photo bottom, left: Care team members Becky Waldmann and Julie Geoffrey enjoy working with this husband-wife team. 

For more personal stories about Care Wisconsin and our members, see our  2010 Storybook.

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