After enduring his first rounds of chemotherapy at North Memorial Medical Center's Humphrey Cancer Center in February 2013, Albert Zatkoff decided to step it up a notch by launching a personalized counterattack on the tumor inside his lung.
He flew to his beloved Palm Springs and gave an affirming valentine to himself: He entered a half-marathon race and gutted it out, finishing with a commemorative medal around his neck.
Weeks later, in the kind of giving gesture that endeared him to so many, "Alby" Zatkoff returned to the cancer center, reached into his pocket and placed the medal around the neck of a stunned oncology nurse, an avid runner.
"Alby will never be forgotten," said Allie Anderson, the nurse who was the beneficiary of Zatkoff's kindness. "I will never forget Mardi Gras Monday or Hawaiian Monday when Alby passed out beads and leis to other patients in the clinic. I was, and am, so proud of his courage and strength."
Zatkoff, 59, died Aug. 16.
Known fondly around the Minneapolis lakes as a man who could easily walk off 26 miles in a day — while taking photographs for his blog, photoeachday.com — Zatkoff let his website evolve from a documentary point of view to a more inspirational tone as he moved through his cancer treatment.
"He believed in a Japanese-Buddhist term called hendoku iyaku, meaning 'turning poison into medicine,' " said Chris White, his husband and partner of 22 years. "It means you should transform suffering or a negative experience into something positive as an opportunity for personal growth. His Buddhist practice included daily chanting where he also added chanting for 'the best doctors and the best medicine.' "
Zatkoff was a 1976 graduate of Albion College in Michigan, where he majored in visual arts. He was a skilled copywriter who launched his 35-year career in Chicago, working for Montgomery Ward.
