By Mary Sasa

Staff Writer

Changes were subtle. Graying hair. Fatigue. Hair loss. Every time Mark Kupfer came home from school at St. John’s University, more about his mother, Jean Kupfer, was different.

"Her face … you could tell she was fighting something," he said. "She lost that energy she used to have. She was tired."

It was in 2000 Kupfer first heard about his mother’s breast cancer. After her double mastectomy, things were fine for a couple years, but when doctors found cancer again in 2002, he watched as her body deteriorated.

On Valentine’s Day 2003, she died at age 49.

Before her death, Kupfer already started doing things for her. She wanted to live in her "dream" home, so after graduating from college, Kupfer bought his parents’ house so they could move into her dream house across town in Shakopee. He would also make the trip to their home to help when he could.

"It was hard," he said. "I’d go over there and be leaving in tears, disgusted. Just seeing how her body wasn’t working … sometimes I had to leave and go into the bathroom. Just seeing the pain she was in and seeing the toll it was taking on her body."

In honor of his mother and in the fight against breast cancer, Kupfer will climb Mount Hood in Oregon on June 9 to 10. He and 18 others will pursue the Mount Hood summit as part of the "Climb to Fight Breast Cancer," a fund-raiser for the Seattle-based Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

Along with his fellow climbers, Kupfer has pledged to raise $3,000 for breast cancer research programs being conducted at the Hutchinson Center.  Kupfer’s mom was his best friend and he could talk to her about everything, and she always cheered him on, telling him he could do anything.

Now that she’s gone, he can still hear her cheer.

"She always told me, ‘you can always do what you want to do,’" he said. "She was always there, and she wouldn’t take no for an answer."

- For more of Mark's journey, read tomorrow's print edition of the Shakopee Valley News. A PDF of Thursday's edition will also be posted on-line at noon Friday.

 Mark Kupfer (left) is pictured with his friend Mike Sand in the Andes Mountains in Peru. The two will climb Mt. Hood to raise money for cancer research.