There are a whole host of things people give up for Lent.

For some, it may be fasting from meat on Fridays.

Others may choose to get more hours of sleep.

Or, in Helen Gruver’s case, refrain from cursing.

Which, for the battle Gruver has been through, ought to be a walk in the park.

Gruver, of Tamaqua, has been fighting kidney disease for over seven years.

A patient at DaVita St. Luke’s Tamaqua Dialysis for a little more than a year, Gruver has three sessions a week where she is on a machine three hours a day.

“It makes you very tired; I go home and I sleep,” Gruver said.

On days when she doesn’t have dialysis she feels great.

Gruver said it was because of Lent that she got an idea to help others.

“Sometimes with my dialysis, (cussing) gets bad,” she said. “I cramp up really bad, and words fly.”

As a result, Gruver decided that for Lent, she wanted to give up cussing.

“That’s where it originated,” she said. “Me and my mouth.”

Gruver explained her idea to DaVita.

“I told the nurses and the technicians I was going to bring a jar in and every time somebody cussed or thought about cussing, because they have their days too, you have to put a quarter in the jar, or a dollar a day,” she said. “As soon as I walked in, I gave a dollar.”

Gruver said she asked Stacey Stasko, administrator, DaVita St. Luke’s Tamaqua Dialysis, to put a label on the jar for her “and she made a label for it and it said the ‘The Nasty Jar’ and had a picture of an animal included in it.”

“I’m one of the louder ones at dialysis; I just want to brighten things up,” she said. “This is your life, so live with it.”

Gruver said that she wanted to donate the money to the Carbon County Animal Shelter.

“(Carbon County Animal Shelter manager) Tom (Connors) is so great with the rescuing, and just puts so much into it that I just thought every little bit helps,” she said. “Even if you could buy a bag of dog food it helps.”

Connors said the animal shelter is extremely appreciative to Gruver for her kind gesture.

“She wanted to raise funds for our shelter; she wanted to help our pups out,” Connors said. “It was very nice of her; she’s a sweetheart.”

Connors said the jar that was donated by Gruver collected $76.

“It goes to show that every amount matters, and we certainly appreciate all the money and the donations that we get,” he said. “(For Gruver) to still think of us, we find it pretty special.”

Connors said the animal shelter plans to use the funds to help buy dog food and supplies.

“I just think it was a sweet woman who came up with this cute idea, put out this swear jar, and everybody that went to the dialysis center and helped out in their (own) little way,” he said. “We’re very happy that we have so many supporters.”

Gruver said she’s plotting her next endeavor.

“I’m kind of thinking what my next project will be to put a jar somewhere, or a fundraiser for an animal shelter,” she said. “It keeps me going, these kinds of things.”

Gruver said she was previously told by a doctor to either go to dialysis, or she could be dead.

“I gave in; as much I swore I would never get dialysis,” she said. “My disease is genetic, and in my family and I watched my mother, my aunt, and my grandmother die (kidney disease).”

Gruver said she’s glad she gave in.

“I was told it’s changed in so many years, and it has,” she said. “Medicine keeps on evolving.”

Gruver said she has three daughters, one of whom (Jennifer), she has moved in with who lives in Tamaqua. They have three dogs, including two golden retrievers, along with a giant Yorki that was a rescue, along with two rescue cats.

“I told Tom if I ever hit the lottery, I would have the biggest place and rescue that you would see,” she said.

Gruver said she doesn’t let the fact that she has kidney disease stop her from living her life.

“I don’t consider myself sick; I still want to go on a zip line, I’m definitely going on another cruise,” she said. “I have a bucket list yet, and we still want to fill it.”