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DIXON- It's a situation no couple is prepared for: when their partner ends up in the hospital. But it happens all the time and it happened twice to one Sanders County couple.

Ross and Terri Middlemist said their vows nearly 35 years ago, but they've never meant more than they do today.

"I guess it's part of being married," Ross Middlemist said. "You take vows, you say, "In sickness and in health," and it sounds pretty simple at the time. It's not so simple when things actually happen that you have to deal with that you hadn't planned on."

Ross was in an accident 10 years ago. "He was driving the tractor down the highway and he was hit by a semi-truck," Terri Middlemist said.

"Ross got rear-ended, pushed him into the ditch, rolled the tractor," Dixon resident Chris Sullivan remembered. "Just came up with some major head injuries and then it was a long struggle for him to get better."

But he had Terri by his side through it all, to keep things together until he recovered. "I guess it's my turn to give back to Terri," Ross said. "She was with me through all my ordeal."

Terri found a lump in her breast in August. Doctors diagnosed her with breast cancer and started treatment right away. Just as quickly, the community of Dixon stepped up to help. Terri received cards in the mail, phone calls and homemade dinners.

"Terri and her husband Ross are people in our community that have been willing to help others, whenever they need it, whether it's plowing your snowy driveway or bringing you a meal or something, those are the kind of things they do," Dixon resident Delene Tufly said. "It's just our turn to help them a little bit."

"That's the kind of community we live in," Terri said. "I'm just not the only one that they do this for. It's just my turn to be helped."
Terri just completed her fifth chemotherapy treatment. She has three more before she begins radiation. She and Ross have three kids and three grandkids.

The Dixon community planned a benefit for Terri this Saturday, Feb. 4 at 5 p.m. at the Dixon Senior Center. They will serve Irish stew made with Dixon-grown beef and vegetables. A local band will play music beginning at 6 p.m. There will be a silent auction. The dinner is free to children ages three and younger. Children ages 4-12 cost $5. Everyone else gets in for $7 - or families of four can pay $20.

For more information or to donate contact Chris Sullivan at (406) 246.7777 or Delene Tufly at (406) 246.3271. You can mail donations to Delene Tufly at P.O. Box 144, Dixon, MT 59831.

An additional raffle is underway for a rifle and homemade quilts with the winners to be drawn in April.