By Rich Winter

605 Sports

STURGIS — When Philip cross-country mom Heidi Burns saw her seventh-grade niece Mila Heisinger run past her at a meet in Sturgis with her spikes tied with pink laces and pink ribbons flowing from her hair, tears instantly flowed. 

In 2020, Burns was diagnosed with breast cancer, and the gesture from her niece instantly brought tears of happiness but also memories of the cancer that rocked her world just a few years ago. 

“It instantly brought tears to my eyes,” Burns said. “I forget I had cancer a lot of the time and I feel like others do too, but knowing that people care and knowing she planned that little piece of recognition for me, well jeez, I’m crying now thinking about it again.” 

The Burns family has been a staple of distance running success for the past six years. Heidi’s son, Wakely Burns, a 2024 Philip graduate, finished second at the Class B state cross-country meet in 2024 and was instrumental in helping the Scotties win back-to-back team titles. Another son, Baylor, ran on each of the state championship teams and is a junior on the 2024 teams and Baylor’s twin Creston is a member of the varsity team this year. 

While the boys are well adjusted now, when the breast cancer diagnosis was delivered everyone in the family was completely unnerved. 

“That was a very scary time,” Heidi Burns said. “My boys were in junior high and they really stepped up as did my entire community.” 

Burns said she had cancer in a couple spots on one side. Eventually she had a double mastectomy and got rid of the cancer before it spread. 

Burns said her oncotype score and traditional chemotherapy wouldn’t do her any good so she was on some crazy medication for a while but now life is good.

If you live in a small town like Philip and someone is diagnosed with something like cancer, the town shows up because that’s what South Dakotans do. When Burns was diagnosed with cancer, just before Christmas 2020, her family and her community showed their love in multiple ways. 

At the Philip cross-country invitational that year the Philip boys all wore pink jerseys. Her sister-in-law designed T-shirts that were sold to raise money to offset the hospital costs. The high school FCCLA also has a Dig Pink Night during the volleyball season and they honor cancer survivors and raise money for their cancer support group. 

“Not only my own community but the surrounding communities did things for me,” Burns said. “I received random gifts and notes from strangers. It was amazing. How can you not have a good outcome when so much love is coming your way?” 

Burns doesn’t think about her cancer all that much anymore but when October rolls around she is re-energized by the efforts of kids participating in athletics that wear pink to show support. 

“When October rolls around and you see so many sports teams and kids wearing pink and showing their support for such a scary diagnosis, you feel so grateful,” she said. “It’s awareness and funding that advanced our medical technology. That created better testing and treatment and it saved my life. How can I not be so thankful? I’m so fortunate.” 

Heidi’s sister Holly Heisinger lives in the Black Hills and her children attend school at Lead-Deadwood. Her younger son, Jonas, wears pink shoelaces in youth football and her daughter, Mila, always wears pink shoelaces in her cross-country shoes. 

“We always do something in October for breast cancer,” Holly Heisinger said. “When aunt Heidi is going to be at a sporting event where we will be, we always do something special.” 

On the morning of Oct. 3, Mila made her varsity debut and Heidi Burns had to be there. The pink ribbons were purchased the morning of the race and Holly Heisinger said Mila wanted to surprise her aunt by putting the ribbon in her hair. 

“It felt really nice because I know it must have been hard for her to have cancer,” Mila Heisinger said. “She lived through cancer and I wanted to show her that I care and support her.” 

Heidi Burns saw her niece run past during the race and the tears flowed. They flowed again at the finish line where she greeted her niece with a hug and kiss. 

“She came right past me with the pink ribbons flowing in her hair and the pink shoelaces in her spikes,” she said. “Her mom is pretty sneaky and got them in right before the races started. That was a pretty special and emotional moment for me.”