World Photo by Lou Sennick A year ago, Jean Hammer was in a Portland hospital battling cancer. Now, a year later, Jean and her husband, Randy, are taking things a day at a time and enjoying every minute together at their North Bend home.

NORTH BEND - Jean Hammer takes pleasure in the simple things in life. Strolling around Empire Lakes. Knitting a prayer shawl for Gloria Dei Lutheran Church. Or going on an adventure with her husband of 42 years, Randy.

None of these activities was available to the North Bend woman last Thanksgiving. She was simply trying to survive.

Doctors diagnosed Hammer with a cancerous tumor in her collar bone last September. Cancer wasn’t new to her, having survived a battle with a salivary gland growth five years earlier. But as Hammer put it, osteosarcoma is pretty lethal. Without chemotherapy, her doctors gave her three months to live. Even if it went well, they said she maybe had another year.

And the treatment wouldn’t be pleasant.

“My orthopedist said he wouldn’t take it,” Hammer said with a laugh.

She decided to fight.

She went under the knife Nov. 15. Three additional surgeries followed after a CT scan revealed tumors in her lungs.

“Thanksgiving was lost in the shuffle,” Randy Hammer said.

“It was horrible,” Jean said. “I was in very critical condition last November.”

She remained in the hospital for about a month. Even after she was released, the chemotherapy treatments continued. As if that weren’t bad enough, she caught pneumonia over the summer.

But she got better.

Hammer returned to her walks at Empire Lakes, where she slowly regained her stamina. Her appetite returned, and so, too, did her vitality.

Acquaintances were impressed with the turnaround.

“You can feel the vibes coming out of her,” said the Rev. Jon Strasman, the couple’s pastor at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Coos Bay.

This past September, the couple took a vacation to Lake Tahoe in California. Randy Hammer suggested several low-key activities, but Jean insisted she wanted to climb up a mountain to see Angora Lakes.

She did.

“I didn’t think she was ever going to see them again,” he said.

The next month, the couple went back to Portland for a follow-up with her doctors. The news was encouraging, though another scan in January will provide more detail.

“Things were much better,” Randy said.

The past few weeks, Jean Hammer has been able to pick up her knitting needles again. And unlike last year, the couple will be able to spend Thanksgiving with family and friends.

“We have our holidays again this year,” Randy said.

The couple also reconnected with loved ones. Letters poured in from around the country from friends and relatives wishing them luck and offering them their prayers.

They also received plenty of kindness when making visits to Bay Area Hospital, where Randy works as a physical therapist and Jean used to serve as a speech pathologist.

“We never realized how large our family really was,” Randy said.

They’ve also rekindled their love of the outdoors.

“We take moments of adventure,” Randy said. “We just jump in the car and go.”

Jean said it’s their experience in health care that helps them appreciate the time they have been able to share together.

“We know how quickly illness can come in and change everything,” she said.

Randy concedes he sometimes wondered if he would share another Thanksgiving with Jean. Now that it has arrived and she is doing well, he couldn’t be more grateful.

“This year, as hard as it was, was the best year of our marriage,” he said.