By Susan Bromley

Staff Writer

Emily Snitgen believes everyone has an angel somewhere.

“You don’t really know where they are until you meet them,” said the 2007 Brandon High School graduate. “They come out of nowhere just to save the day.”

Emily Snitgen has multiple angels, some she has met and some she has not, but she is grateful to all, particularly Dean and Lu Bancroft, who organized a Christmas to remember for her family, struck by hardship this year as Emily battles stage IV cancer.

The Bancrofts learned of the family’s struggles from Emily’s parents, Keith and Mary DeWitt, who are their Groveland Township neighbors.

Emily and James, who have been married for six years, moved to Flushing a year ago with their two children, Madeline, now 5, and Alexander, 3. The family was enjoying their new home and James and Emily were busy working— he as a welder for Delta Tubes Fabrication and she as a baker at Bavarian Inn in Frankenmuth—when Emily began suffering severe back pain in April. She was prescribed various pain medications, but without relief. Not long after, she discovered a lump in her breast and on May 4, she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Ten days later, an MRI disclosed that the back pain was related to the breast cancer, which had spread to lymph nodes and ultimately metastasized to her bones— with spots on her spine, her shoulder, her ribs and one on her hips. Radiation began immediately and she has been undergoing mild daily doses of chemotherapy. If everything goes as planned, Emily, who is receiving treatment at Karmanos Cancer Institute in Flint, will have a mastectomy or lumpectomy in about two months.

“I’m very optimistic, it seems like they know what they are doing,” said Emily. “This was out of the blue— I just thought it was back problems and it was so much more. Being young, I’m used to a go, go, go type of life— gotta work and get things done and now I’ve gotta halt and take a step back and a time out for health and spending time with the kids. That is what was really great with the foundation helping with Christmas and I could spend time having fun with Christmas without having to worry financially with the kids and having presents.”

The Bancrofts are no strangers to heartbreak. The couple’s daughter, Dena Bancroft, a 1998 Brandon High School graduate, was killed in a car accident in 2001 when she was 22-years-old. Dena Bancroft’s favorite time of year was Christmas and she loved children. Her parents created the Dena Bancroft Foundation to honor her memory and for the past 15 years, have chosen various families to assist at Christmastime, with the support of donations from family and friends. This year, the Bancrofts chose Emily, her husband James and their children, Madeline, 5, and Alexander, 3, as the beneficiaries of the foundation and called upon their friends and family to help provide Christmas gifts.

“The kids got very spoiled, way more than my husband and I have ever spoiled them— with a lot of really great stuff,” said Emily. “My son really loves Paw Patrol and you should see the quantity of Paw Patrol— I had to get a container and make sure he picked them all up. My daughter is really big into art supplies and they refilled her art supplies, she got so much of that, little kits and all sorts of things. She made a tiara and runs around with that on. They’re pretty sure they died and went to heaven, Santa was really good to them this year.”

Gifts for Emily and James were also included, much to their delight and surprise.

Lu Bancroft said she was happy to be able to give them such a Christmas, with the help of the community.

“Dean and I could not do what we do without the support of all our friends and family that donate,” she said. “There are such wonderful people in our community. Normally we help three or four families, but we really wanted to make this Christmas outstanding, they are a nice and loving family and their situation is so horrible and we wanted to create a wonderful memory.”

They did and Emily is looking forward to making more memories with her children and husband.

“My hope and dream is to kick cancer’s butt this year and spend more time with the kids,” she said. “And once we kick cancer, we are going to pay back all the good karma we have collected, hopefully as a family.”