The event, held at Sinclair Community college, was sponsored by the Kettering Medical Center Foundation and benefits the Women’s Wellness Fund. The new Crown Jewels of Dayton Calendar that has raised more than $90,000 for the fund over the past four years, was also introduced.
“I didn’t get through cancer and the Olympics by myself; you have to choose your team very carefully,” Fleming said. “You also need a breast cancer team you can trust who can help you make decisions.
Skating has changed a lot, she said, since her Olympic win in 1968 when the games were broadcast in color for the first time and when a costume, made by her mom, cost about $20. In contrast, she said, Nancy Kerrigan’s Vera Wang outfit in 1994 cost $13,000. And while today’s skaters are surrounded by handlers and agents, she and her mother handled the onslaught of lucrative offers alone.
When it was time for her to take the ice on that eventful day, Fleming recalled, she was truly terrified.
“When the music came on, it was like a friend came and took me by the hand,” she said. “That music told me what to do.”
Learning to focus under extraordinary pressure, she said, is a skill she has tapped into throughout her life.
A breast cancer diagnosis that came five months after a normal mammogram and check-up was only one of the unexpected life circumstances Fleming has faced. Her father died at age 41 of a heart attack, leaving her mother with four young daughters.
“From my mother’s strength, I learned not to crumble,” she said. One sister died at age 50 and another underwent triple bypass surgery.
“I encourage people to take charge of their health, know their numbers and risk factors,” she said.
Fleming and her husband, Greg Jenkins, have been married for 40 years and operate a winery in California. A pink wine, Victories Rose, helps raise funds for breast cancer research. She has two sons, grandchildren, and continues to strive for balance in her life.
“You find out you are a lot stronger than you thought you could be,” she said. “I realize the good times have given me confidence, but the bad times have given me strength.”
For more information on the Women’s Wellness Fund, call (937) 395-8607.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2440 or MMoss@Dayton
DailyNews.com.
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