Submitted Photo Jeff Balentine, a cancer survivor and retired police officer, lifts weights in the Trinity Cancer Exercise Rehab program in Minot. The program is funded in part by the sales of T-shirts during the Minot Y’s Men’s Rodeo on October 5-8 at the State Fair Center. Photo courtesy of Russell Gust

Cancer survivor Jeff Balentine is on a quest to get his life back.

Balentine, a retired police officer and former chief of police for the City of Minot, was two days away from leaving on a three-week vacation to Australia and New Zealand last October when he found out he had throat cancer.

“That was a trip of a lifetime. We had planned that for a year and a half,” Balentine said. “It was a fast moving, rapidly growing cancer and they advised me not to go. But, I wanted to go.”

And he did. Despite doctors telling him to cancel the vacation, Balentine experienced life to the fullest one final time before starting an aggressive radiation and chemotherapy regimen upon his returned.

The seven weeks of treatment that followed left Balentine exhausted, weak and not himself. He lost approximately 50 pounds with most of that being in muscle mass. It also took a toll on him mentally.

“I was in a bad place going through chemo and radiation, and losing that amount of weight,” Balentine said. “I couldn’t do the things I was used to doing.”

Balentine found hope in a free program offered to cancer patients. A 12-week Cancer Exercise Rehab program, which is co-hosted by Trinity Health and the Minot Family YMCA, to help those suffering from cancer in building back up their strength.

This process is done through individual supervision and guidance of athletic trainers. So, with the help of program coordinator and trainer Russell Gust, Balentine was on the path to becoming himself again.

“It meant a lot to me physically and mentally to just get back in the swing of things,” he said. “It allows me to gain back some muscle strength and weight. I’m getting back to being physically active.”

Balentine is currently 10 weeks along in the program, but admits he still has a long way to go.

“This is just step one of many steps,” he said. “I’m still very weak. I get tired easily and don’t have a lot of stamina. It’s a long process and they told me that. It’s not something that in 12 weeks you are going to be built back up again.”

Yet, Balentine is at least able to enjoy his favorite sports of tennis and golf again.

“It’s both cardio and strength conditioning,” Balentine said. “I play tennis and golf, so (Gust) zeroed in on those two aspects and designed a weight lifting and cardio regiment to help me build those core muscles back up for those two sports so that I can participate in those sports.”

The next step for Balentine, once the 12-week program ends, is joining the YMCA and continuing to keep pushing forward. A once daunting task of recovery made easier due to the knowledge and personalized training Balentine has received over the last three months.

In support of the Trinity Health Cancer Exercise Rehab program, the Minot Y’s Men’s Rodeo raises funds for the rehab program each year during its annual Tough Enough to Wear Pink night. This year’s “pink night” is October 6.

Since the pink campaign began in 2007, $640,250 has been raised through T-shirt sales and other community fundraisers.

Pink is now the new blue for Balentine.

“I wore a blue uniform for 31 and a half years,” he said. “I was proud to wear the police uniform every day to work. Now, I’m proud to wear a pink shirt in support of cancer awareness, and hopefully a cure for cancer.”

Pink T-shirts can be purchased at the Trinity Cancer Care and the Y’s Men’s Rodeo being held October 5-8 at the North Dakota State Fair Center. The rodeo starts at 6:30 p.m. on October 5-7 and 1:30 p.m. on October 8.