School resource officer has cancer

By LAURA ROADY

Staff writer

BONNERS FERRY — For her fifth year, School Resource Officer Tiffany Murray is teaching students to stand against drugs and alcohol in her DARE class.

Now Murray is standing against her own battle — cancer.

A pain in her shoulder while pregnant pushed Murray to see a doctor but no tests could be done until after Madison was born on July 15.

What she thought to be a tight muscle mass turned worse on Oct. 18 when she found out she had cancer.

By Oct. 25 Murray was diagnosed with extra-abdominal desmoid fibromatosis in her right shoulder and neck. The cancer is rare — found in two to four people per million people in the United States. Little is known about it.

Murray was relieved to find out that Maddy was safe from the cancer.

She is undergoing a series of tests in Spokane to determine exactly what needs to be done. Because of the rarity, Murray will undergo treatment from surgeons at the University of California San Francisco.

Along with the initial surgery, Murray may require radiation therapy, chemotherapy and future surgeries to beat the cancer. The cost of these treatments will far exceed what their insurance covers.

Murray’s family and friends have united to raise money to help with medical costs through www.giveforward.com

More than $2,000 has been raised so far, including a child donating his birthday money which truly touched Murray’s heart.

“I’ll beat it,” said Murray. “No worries that I won’t survive this.”

Officer Murray’s DARE students wrote her get well cards when she returned from her first trip to San Francisco last week.

Murray has been a fixture in the schools as the school resource officer since the 2009/2010 school year. She also graduated from BFHS in 1996. She has been with the Bonners Ferry Police Department for more than five years and has been married to Kevin Murray for 10 years.

To donate, visit www.giveforward.com and enter “Tiffany Murray” in the search box.