Mimi Mason-Bentel
Survivor
Bend, OR
Biography
Mimi Mason-Bentel met the 2025 Bike Americ team during the final stretch of their ride at a Blockbuster in Bend, OR. She sat with the team by the side of the road to share her story with non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a type of blood cancer. Mimi found success in her cancer story through her excellent doctors in Bend and her support system, which included her family—and of course, her grand-dogs.
Diagnosis AND TREATMENT (AND SUCCESS!)
I was diagnosed over six years ago—I think it’s been six—with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
Luckily, they got it in stage one. And the reason they got it in stage one, and this is the important part of my story I’d like to share, is I had taken a Pilates class, and I had gotten really sore, and I was sitting cross-legged on my couch, and I was massaging where it was sore. In my right groin, I felt this really hard, swollen lymph node. I mean, it was pretty significant.
So then I went to my primary, told her about it, and I said, “you know, this just doesn’t feel right.” Immediately, they sent me over to have it ultrasound and biopsied. The hardest part was waiting for the results, but it didn’t take super long.
It did come back positive for the non-Hodgkin’s. Because it was in stage one, I had to do three rounds of chemo and 18 radiation sessions, each in a row. And along the way after that, they did a CT scan and said, “yep, all gone.”
They monitored me every six months for five years, and…yay! Success!
“It never hurts to speak up if you think something’s not quite right. Because some cancers, you don’t have many symptoms.”
What was your biggest support system?
Friends, family, the oncology department.
They had great counselors there, and they supported you with massage and acupuncture and Reiki, and just excellent physicians all the way. And then at that time, my daughter lived here, so I had my daughter and everything here to help support. And my grand-dogs.
One thing I would share is just don’t be afraid to reach out for support and love and guided visualization, positive attitude all the way, as much as possible. Watch funny movies, laughter, those kinds of things.
Did you change the way that you lived your life or looked at your life?
Each morning was a blessing. I already ate organic and exercised a lot and all those things, so there wasn’t much around that to change…That’s part of just good self-care, definitely.
And if your physician isn’t listening, find another one. I was so grateful that my doctor knew me really well, and she was on it right away. She trusted what I was saying and got me the right tests and sent me to the right people early on.
It never hurts to speak up if you think something’s not quite right. Because some cancers, you don’t have many symptoms. My husband had pancreatic cancer, and that’s kind of a hidden thing. And then one day he had some pain in his lower quadrant, and by then it was already stage four. Following up, you know, it’s important to do those tests that rule out those things like your mammograms and blood tests and go have an annual check with your doctor every year.
“If your physician isn’t listening, find another one. I was so grateful that my doctor knew me really well, and she was on it right away. She trusted what I was saying and got me the right tests and sent me to the right people early on.”
ADVICE
I think the whole key of my story is, it’s important that we people—especially like in a shower, you’re toweling off, but just double-check. Feel your body, massage your places every once in a while, because you could catch your lump and…have success!
A video of Mimi’s conversation with the team can be found on our Portraits Project YouTube channel here.