Staff photo by Fritz Busch Rural Comfrey resident Bryan Helget is pictured with his wife Sherry. Bryan Helget is receiving chemo therapy treatment for leukemia. The Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s Knights of Columbus are hosting a pancake benefit for the Helget family 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Sunday, April 26 in the church social room.

COMFREY — A pancake benefit for a rural Comfrey man with leukemia and his family is set for Sunday, April 26 in the Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s Catholic Church Social Room.

The free will donation breakfast for Bryan Helget and his family is set for 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. or until all are served with pancakes, sausage, eggs, KC donuts, coffee, juice and milk.

Last Christmas Eve, Bryan Helget woke up and quickly realized he didn’t feel well.

“I got out of bed at 4 a.m. to go to work, lost my balance, tripped and learned I had a 103 degree fever,” he said.

“He fell on a couple stairs at the bottom of the staircase,” said Helget’s wife Sherry.

Helget said be began feeling weak in March 2025.

“All kinds of tests were done including a CT scan. I had no energy and lost 40 pounds in a couple months,” he said. “Then it leveled off. I kept milking cows at Schumacher Dairy, Inc. of Comfrey, until Christmas Eve when I saw Dr. John Pelzel in Sleepy Eye. He said right away I was in serious condition. A white blood cell test showed I had leukemia.”

Last December, Helget, 61, went to Mayo Clinic Health System in Mankato for a week before Mayo Clinic Hospital Methodist Campus for a month.

Helget had his own dairy farm before he went to work for other dairy farms.

Doctors told him he will be out of work for a long time, but Helget said he’s been feeling better with his cancer in remission.

“I’ve got 10 doctors in Rochester. I really like them. We go there for chemotherapy. I found the doctors at Methodist Hospital very good, very nice and kind. They told me I can beat this (leukemia). I’ve gained my 40 pounds back and feel a lot better since January. I’m eating more now. ”

Helget said he got many shots of chemotherapy earlier this year, but said he didn’t get sick from it.

“One doctor told me someone must be praying for me if I didn’t get sick from the chemotherapy,” he said. “I’ve got good support from my wife too.”

“God’s been taking care of us,” she said.

Helget has worked on dairy farms most of his life.

“I like doing mechanical work, although I never went to school for it. I enjoy working. I’m not sure what I will do for work now,” he said.

“God will find him a job,” said Sherry Helget.

Brown County Commissioner and Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s Knights of Columbus member Brian Braun talked about the Helgets.

“It’s been a long, hard battle, but Bryan is a fighter. He can use all the help and prayers we can give him,” said Braun. “Bryan and Sherry have four children, Shane, Tyler, Heather, and Alysia. We can’t wait for Bryan to get back to being himself again.”