Wendy Maechtle has super credentials for walking in the survivors' lap tonight during the Kalispell Relay for Life cancer benefit at Legends Stadium.

"I survived melanoma [skin cancer] three times in 1982, 1987 and 2001," she said.

Maechtle, 53, of Columbia Falls, glows as she tells of seeing her daughter Amanda marry and her son Mike graduate from high school in the last few months.

Not bad for a woman diagnosed with spreading cancer 26 years ago.

"It was 1982, and I had just moved back to Montana from Olympia, Washington," she said.

Maechtle worked first at Colonial Manor, then got a job as a nurse's aide at Kalispell Regional Hospital. She was on her way toward her dream of building a new life in Montana when she noticed a spot on her leg.

"It was like a little tiny mole, the size of a dime, on the back of my left calf," she said.

Not terribly concerned, Maechtle watched the mole become raised and occasionally bleed for the next six months. She decided to have a doctor in Columbia Falls remove it when it became a source of irritation.

Skin cancer was the last thing she expected when, a week later, she got an urgent call from her doctor's office telling her to come in immediately. That day in September remains etched in her psyche.

"I remember it was a beautiful day just like this when I went in," Maechtle said Wednesday. "When I came out, everything had turned gray."

On her doctor's advice, she traveled to the University of Washington Medical Center for treatment. Specialists in Seattle opted to operate immediately, expecting to open up her leg and possibly her abdomen in search of tumors.

"Melanoma spreads like wildfire at stage 3 or 4," Maechtle said. "They had a feeling it was going to be terminal."

The surgeon removed all the lymph nodes in her left thigh during the operation. When the pathology tests found no sign of cancer, Maechtle returned to Montana with a hopeful prognosis.

"They said, 'Wear sunscreen and check for lumps and bumps in the shower,'" she recalled.

For the next couple of years, she had CT scans every six months. Life got better and better with marriage to her husband David in 1985 and the birth of Amanda in 1986.

But then her roller-coaster ride began again when her daughter was just 10 months old.

"I was lying in bed watching 'Terms of Endearment' about a woman who has cancer when I felt a lump," she said.

Maechtle took her concern about the lump in her thigh to her physician. When blood work came back clean, the lump was diagnosed as a fatty cyst or scar tissue from her earlier operation.

By February 1987, she decided she wanted a surgeon to remove the lump for her own peace of mind.

"He removed it and it was a huge melanoma," she said. "I had to go back to Seattle and they told me again, 'You're probably terminal.'"

She was treated with a heavy profusion of chemotherapy into her left leg. Maechtle said it was an innovative approach developed by a University of Washington professor.

Her recovery was difficult with complications including an infection in her leg. She also suffered nerve damage from the heavy chemo, leaving her numb from her thigh to her knee and prone to swelling and severe cramps.

But she survived and, once again, life got brighter.

"I was doing great," she said. "In 1990, I had a son."

Maechtle had also found the perfect job, working in the office of Kalispell Medical Oncology. She said she always had loved working with cancer patients but her own survival now served as a source of hope and inspiration to newly diagnosed people arriving at her desk.

As the years passed, her confidence grew that cancer was behind her. She remained in remission for almost 15 years when a spider bite on her leg failed to heal and just didn't feel right.

Maechtle showed the spot on her calf to her boss and friend, Dr. William Boehme. He advised watching it for a couple of weeks to see if it cleared up.

When it didn't, she went to a surgeon who didn't think the spot was a recurrence. Maechtle again followed her gut instinct and new motto.

"When in doubt, take it out," she said. "It came back malignant melanoma."

Maechtle returned to have a wider piece of flesh removed, followed by a skin graft. She was left with a pronounced divot in her calf but she has no regrets.

"I'm just glad to be alive," she said.

A year of punishing chemotherapy with interferon followed the operation. Maechtle was able to take treatment right at her own clinic but it was far from easy dealing with the side effects of the powerful drug.

"I called it 'interfering,'" Maechtle recalled with a laugh.

For the first round, she took chemo for two hours, five days a week for four weeks. Then she progressed to self-administered shots three times a week.

"It was like a bad case of the flu for a year," she said. "I was so sick and so depressed."

Her hair got thin but she couldn't stand wigs. She joked that she washed her two hairs, rolled them in the curling iron, then called it good.

Maechtle was ready to bail out at six months when she discussed her options with Boehme. After some consideration, she felt her fighting spirit revive.

She joined Weight Watchers to deal with all the weight she had gained and started exercising. She continued her drug treatment.

"I lost 100 pounds total in nine months," she said. "I became a power walker and then a runner in 2003."

Maechtle set a goal to see her daughter marry and her son graduate from high school, which she achieved this year, so she set a new one.

"My goal is to be a grandparent someday and live to enjoy that," she said with a smile.

Along with encouraging the patients at the oncology practice, Maechtle advocates the use of sunscreen and body awareness to everyone, especially her children. She also continues personal vigilance in looking for lumps and bumps or spots.

"Nobody knows their bodies like themselves," she said. "I call it being on cruise control until I hit a bump in the road."

Maechtle also gets mammograms every year to screen for breast cancer. But she hasn't let worry control her life.

She said her three battles with cancer have changed her outlook. By facing death, Maechtle had lost her fear of it.

"I've made peace with myself," she said. "I'm not afraid of the word cancer."

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com.