- April 28, 2024
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There was more than warm meals served at this local restaurant.
Tara Dills and DB Pickles Owner Pete Polzella share more than just a pickle reference. Both are currently living with two different types of cancer. And both say that if it wasn’t for community support — and little bit a humor — they wouldn’t have made it this far.
Dills was originally diagnosed with colon cancer three years ago at stage zero. Doctors congratulated her and said “You are so lucky that we caught it so early.” Nine months later, she felt the pain of kidney stones out of nowhere, and went back to the doctor early for her colonosocopy. She was told the cancer had moved to her liver, and she was now at stage four.
“No rhyme or reason,” said Dills, mother of three boys and one girl. “I’m like one in 10,000. The worst part was going to sit with the liver doctor who told me I had five years to live. My daughter was 10. I was a basket case.”
Through her full-time job fighting not only the cancer, but hospital infections, five surgeries chemotherapy reactions, foreclosure and trying to be a functioning member of her family, Dills also held a part-time job as a hostess for DB Pickles in Ormond Beach.
“I walked into DB Pickles with my daughter in tow,” Dills said. “Pete was watching me on the camera I later found out, and liked me. Hired me on the spot, and I started the next day.”
Dills found the atmosphere of the restaurant to be another shoulder she could lean on. Customers and fellow employees were always checking up on her.
“Pete was so awesome,” Dills said. “I had never worked at a restaurant before, ever. So it took awhile, but I loved it. I’m a people person. One of the customers friended me on Facebook. Some of them ask the waitresses ‘Where’s Tara? How is she doing?’”
Dills didn’t make Polzella aware of her condition when she was first hired. At the same time, Polzella had been diagnosed with stage four of a rare form of bone cancer called Waldenstrom macroglobulinemia. The former air force veteran and retired law enforcement officer always managed to stay healthy, and the fact that he was only 50 when the cancer began came as quite a shock.
“I had the cancer for seven years before I was diagnosed,” Polzella said. “My symptoms were simple, and it took them a couple of months to find it. It’s a rare cancer. Only 1,500 cases worldwide have been reported. There were a lot of tears and a lot of fear.”
“I revealed my condition to him when I found out the cancer was in my lungs, and I had to quit,” Dills said. “That’s when we bonded, when he found out. He told me his story, and totally understood. He gave me a month off. After I walked up to him in the parking lot, and he said ‘No, you’re taking another week.’ He wouldn’t let me come back to work.”
Eventually Tara had to quit when she found out she had to do another round of chemotherapy. She was recently told she was in remission, and has another official checkup date in April. Though she would like to return to work one day, getting better and taking care of her children on the only jobs she needs to focus on. Her two sons will be in orchestra and band this year at Mainland High School. One of her sons, Jonathan, was accepted into Cannon Music Camp for the summer. She’s currently raising money to send him there, and of course, Polzella has already donated.
“It is by no means a charity case,” Polzella said. “You gotta take people for what they are. She was honest. She did her job until she couldn’t anymore.”
Polzella said Dills isn’t the only cancer fighter he’s come across in his dining hall. In the 400 or so people that come through his restaurant everyday, there’s always someone who has fought cancer, is currently fighting or lost someone close to it.
“I think there’s sort of a camaraderie between people with cancer,” Polzella said. “I don’t think people realize how much it plays on your head all the time. It’s a plague.”
Though he was in remission for a year and a half, Polzella said eventually, his number started to slowly rise. There is no cure yet for his type of cancer, and he said people can live anywhere from five to 20 years with it.
“All you can do is keep it at bay, and know what you’re fighting,” Polzella said. “To be a good business owner, you need to be good stewards in your community. You can’t just take, you have to give bak. I’m by no means a saint, but I was raised a certain way, and I don’t compare myself to some of these people that I meet.
I lost three friends in two and half years. I count my blessings no matter what and take it as it comes. Tara is a strong woman, I pray for her and hope she can get through this.”
“All of a sudden, life takes on a different perspective,” Dills said. “People take sunrises for granted. This cancer won’t win because I’m not a quitter. What I hate is what the kids have been through. They were in total fear of losing their mom, and still are. But I think God is behind this. He gave me that kidney stone when I wasn’t going to the doctor. He forced me too.”
You can donate to Jonathan Dil’s camp fundraiser at http://www.youcaring.com/tuition-fundraiser/help-jonathan-dills-go-to-orchestra-camp/307201
