Neil Sanders has spent much of his life helping others, but now he needs a little help in return. This Sunday, a poker run will start at the Hawg Pasture in West Salem and end at a benefit for Sanders at the Log Cabin banquet hall in Bangor.

The 59-year-old Barre Mills resident of 10 years was diagnosed with squamous cell carninoma on Feb. 12. Since then, surgery plus radiation and chemotherapy for a tumor on the back of his tongue and a lymph node on his neck have used up almost all of his savings.

A 17-year Navy veteran, Sanders left the service as a chief hospital corpsman. As a civilian he was an emergency medical technician, a First Responder in the West Salem area and chief deputy medical examiner for La Crosse County.

For the past nine years he worked locally for Access Medical Transit, transporting the handicapped, the elderly and dialysis patients to their appointments. The benefit for Sanders is being organized by his fiancee, Mary Revels, and by his family and friends.

“It’s been his sister and his daughter and pretty much all his family and friends,” Revels said. “We’ve all pulled together and we have meetings every Sunday to figure out how to help. Neil has been a people-server all his life, so that’s why we’re asking people to help out now.”

The Poker Run will start from the Hawg Pasture in West Salem at 11 a.m. (registration starts at 9). “Whenever all the bikers get back we’ll have a drawing for prizes — first prize is a one-day free rental of a Harley and $50,” Revels said.

The benefit at the Log Cabin will run from 2 until 8 p.m. Besides a silent auction, there will be clowns and live music. Items to be raffled include massages, quarter-barrel parties, Brewers, Loggers and Packers packages.

Sanders, who rides a Harley but is not in any club, has lost a lot of weight since February. “He’s gone from 190 pounds down to 140 pounds,” Revels said.

Sanders might need more treatments and surgery in the coming year. But after an operation last week, his doctors say he is cancer-free. Still, there are plenty of bills.

“We’ve been paying as we go,” Revels said.

Although he could barely speak because of the recent surgery, Sanders did respond when asked how he feels about all the help people have offered him.

“This has been the greatest and most humbling experience of my life,” he said.

AT A GLANCE

WHAT: Cancer Benefit and Poker Run for Neil Sanders

WHERE: Log Cabin in Bangor and the Hawg Pasture in West Salem.

WHEN: Sunday, Aug. 24. Poker Run begins at 11 a.m. from the Hawg Pasture and ends at the Log Cabin. Benefit featuring music and prizes will run from 2 until 8 p.m. at the Log Cabin.

DONATIONS: Send to First Community Credit Union of West Salem, 1410 W. Hwy. 16, West Salem, WI 54669 (all money donations are anonymous)

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