Recipes raise money for UCAN effort

Jimmy McClanahan of Carter County lost his battle with cancer in 2011, but his family remembers what United Cancer Assistance Network’s help meant to him. Yearly, they make a donation in his memory to help other cancer patients.

“My youngest son had cancer and needed help. UCAN helped him,” said Ella Meda Ferguson Alexander of Ellington. “This is our sixth year” to give money and this year, the family presented a check for $2,500 to UCAN.

McClanahan had colon cancer, which spread into his lungs before he died. He was 46 when he had his first surgery. He died at almost 51, Alexander explained.

“My son lived in Carter County, on the edge of the Butler County line,” she said. “It was just amazing how much UCAN helped him. I know it helps all the cancer patients and it’s so greatly appreciated.”

This is the second time the family has pooled their favorite recipes to print and sell a cookbook, Alexander said.

The first cookbook’s proceeds were “not quite that large. One of my grandson’s, Travis McNail of Chesapeake, Virginia, matched what we made from the cookbook this year,” Alexander said. “We did one previously in 2012. Everybody said it’s about time, when I asked if we should do another one. So we did.”

While 15 to 20 family members donated recipes, “me and my sister were the two who put the book together,” she said.

Alexander and her sister, Betty Kelly of Poplar Bluff, spent eight months getting the cookbook ready to print.

“On this one, everybody sent the recipes they wanted in there,” Alexander said.

Alexander said, “they will love our cookbook. They will get all home-tested, family-tested recipes. I’ve only got 65 left out of 200. There’s a few family members who haven’t gotten their’s yet.”

The books are $12 each unless they are mailed. With postage, each book costs $15.

Copies are available at the UCAN office, from Kelly in Poplar Bluff or from Alexander in Ellington.

“Anybody who wants a good cookbook may send me a letter to order the book,” she said,

Her mailing address is 290 Woodlawn Terrace, Ellington, Missouri, 63638, or they may call her at 573-663-2784.

UCAN is designed to provide individualized support for area cancer patients. Its mission is to help ease some of the burdens brought about in the wake of a cancer diagnosis, thereby enhancing the quality of life experienced by local cancer patients. The UCAN office is located at the Danny Bell Cancer Center to offer patients easy access to its resources.