-------------

Members of the Finger Lakes chapter of the Renegade Pigs Motorcycle Club -- made up of Public Safety officers from the ranks of police and firefighters -- pose with Judy Chrisman at Bleachers in Watkins Glen. The men are, from left, Dan Weegar of the Newark (NY) Police Department; Craig Pagnotti of the Wayne County Sheriff's Office; Randy Rice of the Newark P.D.; Kevin Owens of the Ontario County Sheriff's Office; Charlie Denosky, retired from the Ontario County Sheriff's Office, and Randy Kuhn of the Newark P.D.

'It was a big surprise'

Motorcycle group presents $500 to Judy Chrisman, who is battling breast cancer

WATKINS GLEN, May 9 -- It was a matter of friends looking after a friend.

The scene was Bleachers -- a bar and restaurant in downtown Watkins Glen -- on Saturday afternoon. On hand were a half-dozen rugged looking guys, all of them police officers from north of here, in Wayne and Ontario Counties. Three were members of the Newark (NY) Police Department -- the home base (when he's not serving, as he is now, in Afghanistan with the National Guard) of Bill Croft, a former Watkins Glen police officer.

On hand too was Croft's wife Carma, a 1994 graduate of Watkins Glen High School who lives in Newark. She got the police officers to go to Bleachers, and for a good reason. They were delivering, on behalf of their chapter of the Renegade Pigs Motorcycle Club (an international organization), $500 to Carma Croft's longtime friend, fellow WGHS grad Judy Dunn Chrisman, 34, of Horseheads.

Chrisman (whose husband Andy is away for a portion of each week as a corrections officer near Liberty, NY, and thus couldn't be present Saturday) was the recipient of this attention and the donation because ... well, because her friends are looking after her.

They love Judy Chrisman, and are very concerned about her.

For Judy Chrisman has breast cancer, Stage 4. She is undergoing chemotherapy at the Corning Cancer Center.

Another important member of the Chrisman entourage was also present Saturday: Debbie French of Big Flats, who has known Judy Chrisman since they worked together some years ago at Sam's Club.

French helped organize a fund-raiser for her friend last August at the Big Flats American Legion, and helped organize another one at the Elmira Gymnastics Club in February. She also helped arrange a 10-day visit by the Chrisman family -- Judy, Andy and sons Zakkary, 8, and Alex, 5 -- to Disney World in February.

Debbie French and Carma Croft arranged to have their friend Judy on hand at Bleachers on Saturday to meet the kindly cops and receive the donation from their club.

"It was a big surprise," said Judy. "I thought I was just coming here for lunch."

Judy wears a big smile, symbolic of her determination to keep her spirits up along with that of her family and friends.

"A positive attitude is important," she said. "It's the only way to deal with this."

"This" is a cancer that was diagnosed in February 2009, leading to chemotherapy and radiation treatments that lasted until October. Then there was improvement, and a break in the treatments, though Judy says "I'm not sure it ever left."

She was rediagnosed with cancer in November, and chemotherapy treatments resumed.

"It's Stage 4," she said, "and it's metastasized." It has, Carma Croft added, "spread. It's in the bones."

Judy looked relaxed, and happy to be among friends, but admitted to something which afflicts many people in her position: anxiety attacks in the night.

"Oh, yes," she said, nodding.

But now, in the daylight, it was all a little easier.

"But I'm tired," she said, a state that is common for her now. "I'm very, very tired."

There were two other very important people on hand at Bleachers: Judy's sons Zakkary and Alex. They were playing with other children -- two belonging to yet another friend of Judy's, and one belonging to Carma Croft -- and quickly and happily posed with their mother when they were asked to.

Judy was smiling in the photo, as she was during most of this lunch experience.

Again, attitude mattered.

"I have to," she said of finding the strength to remain upbeat. "I have two young children. I need to do it for them."

***

The spokesman for the police group was Kevin Owens, a member of the Ontario County Sheriff's Office. He explained that Carma Croft had approached them about donating some funds to the Chrismans -- a match for $500 she and husband Bill had provided for the Chrismans' trip to Disney World.

The officers were going to make the trip to Watkins Glen Saturday on their motorcycles, Owens said, "but it was too windy. So you have all these tough guys who carpooled in a minivan."

Among them were three members of the Newark Police Department to which Bill Croft belongs: Dan Weegar, Randy Rice and Randy Kuhn. One man, Craig Pagnotti, is with the Wayne County Sheriff's Office, while another, Charlie Denosky, is retired from the Ontario County Sheriff's Office.

"We do a lot of fund-raisers," said Owens. "The whole organization does." The group, he noted, consists of "public safety officers: police and firefighters."

According to its website, the International Renegade Pigs Motorcycle Club Inc. is "a non-profit organization ... united in support of all public safety officers and their families. We are active in numerous charitable causes and fundraising efforts, particularly those which benefit police officers, firefighters and their children."

Or, in this case, the friend of a fellow police officer's wife.

A very special friend.

Photos in text:

Top: Judy Chrisman, left, with friend Carma Croft

Bottom: Judy with her sons Zakkary, 8, and Alex, 5.