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‘I can’t believe how loved I am’: Deputy Fire Chief overwhelmed by support amid cancer diagnosis
Despite spending years advocating for cancer mitigation practices on the job, Minneapolis Deputy Fire Chief, Rita Juran, wasn’t prepared for it to hit home.
MINNEAPOLIS — When you spend your career in the fire service, you become an expert at responding on people’s worst days.
“I haven’t seen everything, but I’ve seen quite a bit,” said Minneapolis Deputy Fire Chief Rita Juran, who will soon celebrate 33 years serving on the Minneapolis Fire Department.
Though her experience has served her well throughout her career battling fires, she admits that nothing could prepare her for the cancer battle she’s fighting now.
“I’d rather run into a burning building and not know what the outcome is going to be there. I’d rather do that than have this go on right now,” she said.
As a woman working in a profession dominated by men, Juran has always prided herself on staying active and maintaining a high level of fitness, but during a hike at Itaska Park two weeks ago, she began to realize something was wrong.
“I said I need a break,” she said. “It almost felt like I had pneumonia.”
Despite taking time to rest when she returned home, after another struggle to complete a landscaping project in her backyard last week, she drove herself to the hospital.
Doctors initially discovered a blood clot in her lung was leading to her breathing problems, and further scans uncovered kidney cancer.
“I just felt like I was just sinking down when they told me about the diagnosis,” Juran said.
Despite years advocating for specialized washing machines and showering and cleaning protocols to mitigate cancer risks in her profession, Juran said she didn’t ever really anticipate her own diagnosis.
“Even though I’m not running into fires right now because I’m a deputy chief, there still is that piece of me (that thought) I am superwoman and this stuff doesn’t happen to me,” she said.
That’s when, on her own worst day, she quickly realized she had plenty of other heroes to count on.
“My boss, Chief Van Vickle, called me,” Juran said. “Right after I got the diagnosis and he said, ‘Do you want visitors at the hospital?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ People and fire rigs started showing up at Regions Hospital in Saint Paul from Minneapolis. I can’t believe how loved I am, and I’m so fortunate to have all those people. I can’t do this by myself.”
It didn’t stop there. A friend and fellow firefighter started an online fundraiser a few days ago and it surpassed the fundraising goal more than a week before her surgery.
“My doctors tell me they’re able to get in there, take out the kidney, take out the cancer and that makes me very grateful and optimistic,” Juran said. “And when I look through that GoFundMe page… it’s so humbling. People are so generous and also just so kind with me. That kindness is just overwhelming.”
That’s also why she’s already making plans for better days ahead.
“I’m gonna get to the other side of this and I’m gonna live,” she said. “I’m going to help other people who are in this position. That is my goal with this right now because the amount of love I’ve been given, I want to give some of that stuff back.”
While she is anxious for her surgery on Sept. 4, Juran said her entire family, including her spouse of 20 years, Tina, and her parents, have taken turns lifting her spirits in different ways. She and her son even had a chance to go see her favorite band last week, Metallica, with approval from her doctors of course.
Gary Peterson and his friends are collecting donations to help people in their community.
ST. LOUIS PARK, Minn. — A St. Louis Park pumpkin display is raising money for their local food shelf.
Gary Peterson started carving and painting three pumpkins over a decade ago. It’s now grown to over 100.
“I’ve heard people say they’ve come from Hutchinson,” he said.
Peterson along with two of his neighbors have spent the last 14 years growing their display, turning it into a neighborhood event.
“It’s been incredible, I just can’t believe how much this has expanded,” he said. “We did it just because we like to and then people were asking to give us money to cover the cost.”
The trio refused to take people’s money, but then one of them had an idea.
“My neighbor, Steve Leensvaart, just mentioned how about we just do it for the STEP program and the STEP program is our local food shelf in St. Louis Park,” he said.
So, they started to collect donations to help families in need. They’ve raised hundreds of dollars and donated hundreds of pounds of food over the last few years, carving for a cause.
“It is more gratifying every year,” Peterson said.
He estimated they have over 100 unique pumpkins in their yard. They’ve created the displays and come up with new family-friendly concepts for people to enjoy. Peterson said about 30 of their neighbors carved their own pumpkins to be put on display, and it’s been a big hit.
“It’s great. In the last couple of years, it’s turned into more of a neighborhood event,” said Sarah Durch.
“We love this Halloween display, we come every year to see it. We love that the whole community gets involved to craft and carve the pumpkins,” said Jami Gordon-Smith.
“The shading and the details are unbelievable,” said Elizabeth Hanson.
Hanson hopes to take her 2-year-old son trick or treating for the first time but is worried the cold temperatures might keep them indoors.
“We’re going trick or treating hopefully,” she said. “He’s going to be a firefighter, but we’re probably going to have sweatshirts maybe like two pairs of sweatpants underneath. We’re going to be bundled up.”
Gordon-Smith said her family will be out Halloween night no matter the weather.
“Halloween only comes once a year, so you really have to take advantage and enjoy the evening no matter what the weather brings,” she said. “Guess it’s not totally unheard of in Minnesota to have a cold Halloween, but we are going to try and modify and do a lot of layers underneath our costumes and then we might add some hats and maybe some warmer socks.”
Durch also isn’t surprised they’re in for another chilly night.
“Well, what would Halloween be without Minnesota cold? I feel like every time you plan a costume you have to plan for how you can make this work if it’s snowing,” she said.
Peterson said they will have a bonfire and some hot chocolate and cider on Halloween to keep trick-or-treaters warm while they look at their pumpkins.
Click here to learn where you can see the pumpkins and how you can donate.
Jeremy Jourdain was 17 when he was last seen on Halloween 2016.
BEMIDJI, Minn. — The search for Jeremy Jourdain, who was last seen on Halloween in 2016, continues now eight years later.
Jourdain was last seen at a family member’s house in Bemidji, according to the U.S. Department of the Interior Indian Affairs. He left the residence near the 500 block of Wood Avenue after midnight and while people followed him, no one was able to find him.
Jourdain was 17 at the time.
Officials said he was wearing a blue and grey sweatshirt, and blue jeans when last seen. He is Native American and is described as 6 foot 5 and 175 pounds.
If you have any information on his whereabouts, you can contact the Bemidji Police Department at (218) 333-9111. Tips can also be sent to 1-833-560-2065, or you can email ojs_mmu@bia.gov.
The organizations say many Asian Americans are planning to vote despite lack of candidate outreach.
ST PAUL, Minn. — Most people have been contacted in some way shape or form by a campaign in the last few weeks. And if the polls are right and the race for president is a dead heat, every vote will matter.
That’s why this is a head scratcher:
According to a September 2024 voter survey by Asian American Pacific Islander Data, 27% of Asian-American voters said they hadn’t been contacted by either political party trying to get their vote. Last spring, earlier in the voting season, it was even more – 42%.
Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are the fastest growing racial or ethnic group nationwide.
Their voter participation levels are growing too, with 60% of eligible Asian-American voters turning out in 2020. And AAPI Data reports as many as 90% of Asian Americans they surveyed said they plan to vote this cycle.
“Candidates are not reaching out to Asian Americans, which is a huge mistake,” said ThaoMee Xiong, executive and networking director of the Coalition of Asian American Leaders.
She says even though there are more than 200,000 eligible Asian voters in Minnesota, the Asian vote is under-appreciated.
“Neither the Democratic or Republican parties have been reaching out in huge numbers,” Xiong said. “They’re sending general mailers to everyone but … they need it in their native language.”
That’s why CAAL is partnering with two more organizations to keep voter turnout high and reach anyone candidates or advocates missed.
Xor Xiong is from Asian American Organizing Project, which focuses on engaging metro-area teens and young adults.
“Many of our communities are still facing barriers to go to vote,” he said. “There’s been more times than I like to admit in terms of when I was having a conversation over the phones of voters being surprised that they can take time off to go and vote, or they can bring the kids to the polling locations, or they can even bring someone to translate for them.”
“In Ramsey County, because of the large Hmong American population there, the polls in Ramsey County are federally required to provide interpreters and translated materials,” ThaoMee added.
Their nonpartisan campaign, Get Out the Vote for Asian Minnesotans, aims to get people registered and well-informed.
“Throughout Covid, there was a lot of anti-hate around the AAPI community and we are still feeling the impact of that to this day,” said Amanda Xiong, a community organizer with a group known as CAPI USA. “Even if folks are afraid to go to the polls, due to that, we try our best to then educate them around absentee ballots, voting early.”
“And so yes, there is a huge increase in terms of voter turnout, but then why is it still 70% feel as though they don’t belong?”
In 2021, the FBI reported a 168% increase in anti-Asian hate crimes.
In Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn Center, the groups knocked on at least 700 doors in one session alone while keeping safety top of mind.
“We make sure that there’s a car following all the door knockers,” ThaoMee said. “We put everyone on text chain … and we are putting a lot of precautionary measures in place for the day of voting.”
After the election, the CAAL plans to conduct surveys and send the results to county election officials. They’ve done this before and say it led to policy changes this year at the legislature including measures to ensure people have easier access to interpreters.
