Throwing out the first pitch at a Texas Rangers g ame
8
“When I looked at her, there’s something about her eyes
that made me feel better.”
The cancer patient and the gifted surgeon became
friends.
Before Locke launched her battle with breast cancer,
her strategy needed to be mapped out and decisions had
to be made.
“I started seeing the other doctors that would be
involved in my treatment and finding out what my treat-
ment would entail,” Locke said. “My cancer was so small
and they’d caught it so early that it wasn’t a decision that
I had to make today or tomorrow. Dr. Gunter wanted me
to have the whole picture.”
Even working with an excellent doctor, one she had
full faith in, Locke had some frustrating moments.
Locke recalls one visit when she told Dr. Gunter,
“Why are you giving me all these options? Why don’t you
just make the decision for me?” She said, “I can’t decide
for you.”
Dr. Gunter smiled and explained to Locke that she
was one of the lucky ones. Her cancer had been discov-
ered early while it was very small. Those factors gave
her a lot of options. But, finally it came down to the fact
that only Kim Locke could decide what was best for Kim
Locke.
Ultimately, Locke chose a lumpectomy.
“She pointed out that my odds were about the same
whether I had a lumpectomy or mastectomy,” she said.
“My surgery was Feb. 16, 2017.”
Surgery went well as did the post-surgery treatment.
“The radiation effected me hardly at all,” Locke said.
“Some people have their skin burn. You go every single
day and see the same people every single day. Some
of the girls would have some burning to the skin, but I
didn’t. …I was done by about the first week of May.”
Mother’s Day, May 14, was a special day for Locke.
“I was lucky enough to be chosen as the official Texas
Rangers Bat girl,” Locke said. “My husband nominated
me. Each of the 30 Major League Baseball teams has an
Official Bat Girl. On that day they brought me out and I
got a pink bat engraved with my name.
I got to throw out the first pitch. All of the players
wear pink. I was incredibly honored to be able to do
that.”
Locke told Dr. Gunter about her upcoming Bat Girl
experience.
“Monday, I was at work and I got a call from Dr.
Gunter’s office,” Locke said. “It was Victoria from Dr.
Gunter’s office and she said that Dr. Gunter had gone to
my game and she had taken a video of me throwing out
the first pitch and she had sent it to me.”
“From then, it was getting back to the norm. I would
go in super early so I could take off to go to radiation. I
had been at that job for 11 years.” She took off two days
on the day of her surgery and the day after. Other than
that, Locke was the same super-reliable worker she had
always been.
After arriving home one afternoon Locke began
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