MINNEAPOLIS — When you spend your career in the fire service, you become an expert at responding on people's worst days.
"I haven't seen everything, but I've seen quite a bit," said Minneapolis Deputy Fire Chief Rita Juran, who will soon celebrate 33 years serving on the Minneapolis Fire Department.
Though her experience has served her well throughout her career battling fires, she admits that nothing could prepare her for the cancer battle she's fighting now.
"I'd rather run into a burning building and not know what the outcome is going to be there. I'd rather do that than have this go on right now," she said.
As a woman working in a profession dominated by men, Juran has always prided herself on staying active and maintaining a high level of fitness, but during a hike at Itaska Park two weeks ago, she began to realize something was wrong.
"I said I need a break," she said. "It almost felt like I had pneumonia."
Despite taking time to rest when she returned home, after another struggle to complete a landscaping project in her backyard last week, she drove herself to the hospital.
Doctors initially discovered a blood clot in her lung was leading to her breathing problems, and further scans uncovered kidney cancer.
"I just felt like I was just sinking down when they told me about the diagnosis," Juran said.
Despite years advocating for specialized washing machines and showering and cleaning protocols to mitigate cancer risks in her profession, Juran said she didn't ever really anticipate her own diagnosis.
"Even though I'm not running into fires right now because I'm a deputy chief, there still is that piece of me (that thought) I am superwoman and this stuff doesn't happen to me," she said.
That's when, on her own worst day, she quickly realized she had plenty of other heroes to count on.
"My boss, Chief Van Vickle, called me," Juran said. "Right after I got the diagnosis and he said, 'Do you want visitors at the hospital?' I said, 'Yes.' People and fire rigs started showing up at Regions Hospital in Saint Paul from Minneapolis. I can't believe how loved I am, and I'm so fortunate to have all those people. I can't do this by myself."
It didn't stop there. A friend and fellow firefighter started an online fundraiser a few days ago and it surpassed the fundraising goal more than a week before her surgery.
"My doctors tell me they're able to get in there, take out the kidney, take out the cancer and that makes me very grateful and optimistic," Juran said. "And when I look through that GoFundMe page... it's so humbling. People are so generous and also just so kind with me. That kindness is just overwhelming."
That's also why she's already making plans for better days ahead.
"I'm gonna get to the other side of this and I'm gonna live," she said. "I'm going to help other people who are in this position. That is my goal with this right now because the amount of love I've been given, I want to give some of that stuff back."
While she is anxious for her surgery on Sept. 4, Juran said her entire family, including her spouse of 20 years, Tina, and her parents, have taken turns lifting her spirits in different ways. She and her son even had a chance to go see her favorite band last week, Metallica, with approval from her doctors of course.