By Sarah Green
KHI News Service
House Chaplain Eunice Brubaker said she hopes
her battle with cancer has allowed her to be an example for legislators. (Thad Allton/KHI)
TOPEKA, March
30
Chaplain Eunice Brubaker has to remember to bring her state-issued ID when she goes to the Kansas House of Representatives each day to deliver the opening prayer.
The chaplain lost her hair after starting chemotherapy treatments in January to fight breast cancer. She wears a variety of wigs, so she doesn”t always look the same as she did the day before.
Heading into the House chamber a few weeks ago in a long, brown wig, she was stopped by a doorman and asked to leave because he didn”t recognize her. On Wednesday, she came to the House with short, carefully-styled, dark red hair.
Brubaker was diagnosed with cancer during a routine checkup shortly before House Speaker Melvin Neufeld, R-Ingalls, asked her to be the chaplain for the 2007-2008 sessions. After a successful surgery, three months of chemotherapy and now radiation treatments, she said she has an “excellent” prognosis.
Cancer doesn”t stop for politicians, their family and friends. Presidential hopeful John Edwards and his wife, Elizabeth, announced earlier this week that Elizabeth”s cancer had returned; White House Spokesman Tony Snow, too, said he would fight another round of the disease.
In the Kansas Legislature, Sen. Barbara Allen, R-Overland Park, waged her own battle with breast cancer after she was diagnosed with the disease in 2005. Earlier this year, she sponsored legislation allowing for a state license plate that will help fund breast cancer research.
Brubaker takes her job as the House chaplain and as a role model to others seriously. Wearing different wigs is part of her own message to legislators.
“I”m trying to communicate that you don”t have to let cancer get you down and out,” she said.
“Life goes ahead”
Neufeld met Brubaker years ago when she came to his church in Cimarron to give a presentation about Nazarene missions in the Philippines, where she worked as a missionary. When he stays in Topeka on weekends, he attends the Fairlawn Church of the Nazarene, where she is an associate pastor.
“I wanted to have a chaplain the House could relate to, and who could communicate back to the House,” Neufeld said. “The fact that she”s undergoing cancer treatments, I thought that would further help keep people in reality, and point out that life goes ahead when there”s cancer.”
Brubaker, 51, had already started canceling travel arrangements and other obligations after her cancer diagnosis. Neufeld”s request worried her at first: How would she balance her illness, her job as a minister, and being the House chaplain?
“When he talked to me about it, he said the main thing is the praying,” Brubaker said. “I thought, “that”s one thing I can”t cut out.” I”ve got to be praying.”
The chaplain opens each general session with a prayer. In Brubaker”s case, the prayers are generally short and usually humorous.
“When there is tension, where there is stress, I try to bring out humor to deal with it,” she said, adding she”s learned to be careful when approaching certain topics.
“I have to be very careful when I pray about sports teams,” she joked. She often checks the prayers that open sessions of the U.S. Congress to make sure she”s on the right track.
Though this is Brubaker”s first session as a chaplain in the Legislature, the job combines two of her long-time interests. She earned a bachelor”s degree in political science from MidAmerica Nazarene University in Olathe and a masters degree from the Nazarene Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Mo. in intercultural studies.
“People have movie stars, singers and musicians they like to follow, but for me, it has always been politicians,” she said.
She was active in the Young Republicans club in high school in Indiana and worked with local and state politicians. Before becoming a missionary and then a minister, Brubaker had wanted to be a foreign ambassador, a congresswoman, and a CIA agent, noting the last career choice presented a conflict of interest.
“I would have had trouble being a CIA agent and doing my church work,” she said.
The two topics you”re not supposed to talk about
religion and politics
happen to be two of her favorites.
“In some ways, there is no difference,” she said.
An example
The photo on House Chaplain Eunice Brubaker’s I.D. card was taken before she lost her hair
from chemotherapy. She wears different wigs to work almost every day. (Thad Allton/KHI)
Since January, Brubaker has only missed one day of the session because of her illness.
In addition to losing her hair, Brubaker experiences intense bone pain after chemotherapy; walks slowly and says she”s usually tired, which is unusual for the self-described “people person.”
“I told my radiation technician that they would do the one thing no one else has been able to do
slow me down,” she said.
But when she”s in the House, she”s “always ministering to people,” said Rep. Joe Patton, R-Topeka.
“She”s very encouraging, very friendly, always concerned about others,” Patton said. “You never hear about her own problems. She always has a smile on her face and a good word to say.”
Along with her faith, she credits her husband, Ken, and her church community with giving her strength to keep going.
“I have believed from the very beginning that I will be healed, either in this life or in death,” she said. “I can”t set and fret and worry about this. That takes away energy I could be using to get better.”
She”s had fun, even, picking out her wig for the day and matching it to a new outfit. The former blonde said she”s been shopping for a new wardrobe that would better suit a redhead or someone with auburn hair.
Serving as the House chaplain has been an honor, she said, and a way for her to help encourage others.
“If I can, I want to continue doing this so people realize it doesn”t have to stop you
it may slow you down, but it doesn”t have to be the end of all things,” she said. “Hopefully I can be an example to other women, as well as men, with cancer.”
-Sarah Green is a staff writer for KHI News Service, which specializes in coverage of health issues facing Kansans. She can be reached at
sgreen@khi.org
or at 785-233-5443, ext. 118.