Striving for LPGA Tour, Laura Kueny is role model for cancer survivors

 

FORT MYERS, Fla. – The little girl took the club back and smacked the ball down the fairway, maybe 20 yards. The crowd screamed and cheered.

 

Laura Kueny has never forgotten it. Not just because that was the impetus for her entry into the game of golf. The 27-year-old, who is in Fort Myers for this week's Chico's Patty Berg Memorial at Cypress Lake Country Club, has another reason.

 

Kueny wasn't just playing for fun that day. She was the reason the charity golf event in Muskegon, Michigan, existed.

 

At the age of 4, Kueny was diagnosed with leukemia. A recurring urinary tract infection eventually led to testing and the diagnosis. She was sent to a hospital in Grand Rapids where a bone marrow test confirmed leukemia. She was given a 70 percent chance of living.

 

"We didn't really have a clue at that time that it was that serious," said Jim Kueny, Laura's father, who was a PGA Professional at Lincoln Golf Club, where the members put together that fundraiser to cover Laura's medical and travel expenses. He is now the PGA Head Professional at Old Channel Trail Golf Course in Muskegon, Mich. " ... When the doctors are walking toward you, you try to read their faces. They certainly weren't smiling."

 

Karen Kueny, Laura's mother, was a nurse – "You can see the positive and the negative," she said. After consulting with the doctor, the family decided not to have a port put in to administer Laura's chemotherapy, mainly due to the chances of an infection. That meant that Laura had to have an IV put in each time.

 

"They had to poke her every time," Karen Kueny said. "It was just more of a normal thing. And when she was away from it, she was away from it and she didn't have to deal with it."

 

For 2 1/2 years, Kueny underwent chemotherapy, then switched to oral therapy. When she was 18 and had not relapsed, doctors gave her a clean bill of health. It was around that time, Kueny wanted to know more about what had happened. She had been diagnosed at such a young age, she didn't remember too much about what was going on, other than that she was sick.

 

"I didn't know how sick I was until I asked my parents about it," she said. "That was kind of a wake-up call for me. Oh wow, this is serious stuff."

 

By that point, Kueny was into just about every sport. Eventually, golf won out, and she ended up playing at Michigan State. During her junior year, Kueny started to gravitate toward trying to play professionally.

 

"I realized I can compete with these girls," Kueny said of college golf. "I had three or four wins in college. It's an opportunity that most people don't get to experience."

 

Kueny won her first Symetra Tour event in 2013, and nearly made it on the LPGA Tour. She finished 13th on the money list, three spots short of qualifying. But after that first win, Kueny decided to make a visit.

 

"I feel God has given me a talent, and whether I make it big or not, I plan on using my talent to give back and to inspire other people," she said.

 

So Kueny went back to that hospital, now known as Helen DeVoss Children's Hospital. This time she wasn't a patient or there for a checkup. She was a vision. Something for those kids and their families to see. That it could be OK. Or maybe even better than that. She also visited with a nurse who had treated her, and one of the doctors.

 

"It was kind of cool to show how far I've come and where I'm at now," Kueny said. "(The doctor) remembered me. ... My whole reason for going back was to show them why they do what they do."

 

Kueny, who has a "survivor" tattoo on her foot, autographed a picture that hangs in one of the hallways.

 

"Hopefully it empowers and inspires other kids," she said.

 

That journey, as Kueny refers to it, also carries over to the golf course. Golf can be a difficult game, especially mentally. To be a professional can require hours of practice and even then the results aren't always good. At tournaments there's only one winner. It's easy to get down. Kueny has a different perspective.

 

"When I hit a bad shot, it's not the end of the world," she said. "Just hit it, go find it, and go hit it again."

 

"That's something that Laura has," said Madeleine Sheils, one of Kueny's closest friends on tour and a frequent roommate. "She know that golf's not the be-all, end-all of our lives. I enjoy rooming with her. She gets over rounds of golf by the time that it's dinner. That's harder to do than what you would think."

 

Sheils sometimes takes a glance at that "survivor" tattoo on Kueny's foot.

 

"Every time I see that, I'm reminded what an amazing story it is that she beat cancer and went on to become a professional athlete," Sheils said.

 

This week is more special for Kueny, whose dad will be caddying for her this week, because Stand Up 2 Cancer is the tournament charity. So while Kueny enjoys playing golf and wants to take that next step to the LPGA Tour, she roots herself on the reason part of it.

 

"I may not be in the position I'm in if I didn't have cancer," she said. "That's kind of how I like to look at it. Try to create positives form it and not dwell on negatives. Attitude is everything in golf."

 

And for Kueny, in life as well.

 

This article was written by Greg Hardwig from Naples Daily News, Fla. and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.