News editor
Phoebe and Steve Janzen planned to arrive early for the “Crushing Cancer” benefit auction Saturday morning in Marion.
“I went out there at 7:30 because I planned to be there at 7:45 to help,” Phoebe Janzen said.
What they didn’t plan on was a freight train. A freight train blocking the only road to leave their property, and it wasn’t moving. They were stuck.
“This may happen once a week, but it’s usually less than 45 minutes,” Janzen said. This time, the wait was considerably longer.
“I believe it was 9 when I just decided to go through,” she said. “I climbed over them, and I felt confident it wasn’t going anywhere.”
Once on the other side of the train, one of her daughters picked her up and took her to Marion. Steve was left to wait it out.
“I called the company in Texas a couple of times,” Steve said. “They had a rail out on down the line.”
The auction, held in the Marion Community Center, raised $11,767.10 for Steve’s cancer treatments. The next step in the process will be clinical trials in Dallas, Phoebe said.