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A photo accompanying the story of Lauren Hemming, who passed away in January 2005 after a nine-month battle with non- Hodgkin's lymphoma, haunted her. So much so that she began a nine-month research project at Northwestern Michigan College that included researching nitrate contamination in the areas where Hemming and she had grown up.

"It was a huge part of my life for the better part of a year," she said.

On Sept. 23, 2005, she presented her paper, which looked at the correlation between incidences of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and the agricultural practices of northern Michigan.

When, on Sept. 26, 2006, she learned she had the same type of cancer as Hemming, she said all that knowledge washed away.

"Despite the research, when I was diagnosed, you feel so stupid," she said.

Tengelitsch, a 1997 graduate of Elk Rapids High School who now lives in Traverse City, is in remission, and her family is planning a "Concert for a Good Cause" fundraiser at 6:45 p.m. April 12 at the historic Elk Rapids Township Hall to help offset the medical costs. She described her battle with cancer, which will be part of a memoir she's writing, and said she doesn't think the celebration of her remission will ever end.

Tengelitsch's experience with cancer began in May 2006, when she "intuitively felt something was wrong."

"I told my husband that I had cancer," she said.

In July, she dreamt her husband, Erick, was dying of the disease. In the dream, she had to fend off ferocious creatures and noticed her husband's shoulder was illuminated.

"I thought, who gets cancer in the shoulder?" she said.

The next morning while taking a shower, she felt a large lump in her armpit. The medical community was great, she said, but they insisted it was probably nothing. She intuited that it was more, and so a doctor did a biopsy.

After finding out on Sept. 26 that the lump was cancer, she said the next two weeks were the hardest. Her prognosis was reasonable, but she didn't know it, she said. She contemplated the worst.

"It was scary," she said.

The winter, with its darkness, was difficult. But she said she had to keep a good mindset.

The cancer itself doesn't do much, she said, it's the treatments the body is fighting. Te n g e l i t s c h went through four rounds of chemotherapy called R-CHOP, which included four- to sevenhour infusions while on prednisolone, and almost four weeks of radiation.

"You go through treatment ... drugged until you don't feel like you at all," she said.

Once the drugs wear off, though, "you realize what great people you met." There are so many people who helped that she said she's grateful to them all.

Her husband, in particular, was remarkable, she said.

"He is my hero," she said. "He kept things so normal, which is what you want when your world is turned upside down."

She remembers him buying a Lego set to keep everyone -- their three children, Kennedy, Ava and Lucy -- occupied.

Williamsburg resident Heather Miller let Tengelitsch cry in her arms after her first treatment, which she said was the hardest for her.

Dawn Hemming -- Lauren Hemming's mom, whom Tengelitsch hadn't met before -- was there throughout chemo.

"It was a powerful experience," Tengelitsch said.

Hemming took care of her, brought food to her house and arranged help in the community.

Her oncologist, Dr. Peter Kohler, was "perfect" for Tengelitsch.

"When I met him, I thought, 'If I was a mutated B cell, I'd be shaking in my boots,' " she said.

Throughout the rigorous testing, he was unmovable, and he reassured her that when she found a second lump, it wasn't cancer.

Now that she's a survivor, she said life is a lot better. Though her family is dealing with financial stresses, she said the process allowed her to lose a lot of fear.

"When I lost my hair ... I lost a lot of old thinking," she said.

Each day, she's more aware of being active and has incorporated more fun projects into homeschool-ing her children.

She gets ill more easily, but that doesn't stop her.

"I'm getting sick more often, but I feel like a stronger person," she said.

She's not the only survivor who has said she's thankful for the experience because it gave her a chance to reprioritize, she said.

Now she's planning to return to NMC to continue premed courses en route to becoming a chiropractor. She's also working on a memoir called "Imperfectly Yours: A story of womanhood, sisterhood, and the greater journey," which she's composing on an old typewriter.

The typewriter is symbolic of the imperfections in life, like cancer:

"Everything you put forth is on the page, flaws and all."

Tengelitsch said she has meant to celebrate her remission, and so far a bottle of wine has commemorated it.

"The celebration I don't think will end," she said. "Every time I get down, I think, 'You know, I'm here.' "

"Concert for a Good Cause" will feature a silent auction and performances by Claudia Schmidt and New Third Coast. Doors open at 6:45 p.m. Thursday, April 12, and the concert begins at 7:30 p.m. For more information, call Tom or Pam Dennehy at 231-264-8884.