PEARL CITY — Neither surgery nor cancer treatments can keep Jean Yamamoto from doing what she loves: volunteering.

The 75-year-old Pearl City resident gives so much of her time, some would consider her hours of volunteering a full-time job.

At least three times a week, Yamamoto shows up for her volunteer stint at the Kapi'olani Medical Center's Pali Momi clinic and spends more than 12 hours processing files for microfilming.

If that wasn't enough, Yamamoto volunteers for the American Cancer Society's drives and collects donations from her neighbors.

And every Christmas Day, Yamamoto delivers homemade fruitcakes to all 25 of her neighbors as a thank-you for their generosity during the year.

"I love to volunteer," Yamamoto said. "It makes me feel good."

Yamamoto started at Pali Momi 14 years ago, said Lisa Chung, Pali Momi volunteer services director. Each year Yamamoto averages about 250 hours of work.

"Jean is such a motivated and dedicated volunteer," Chung said. "She's become a mainstay of our Pali Momi family, getting involved with fundraisers and community events. Volunteers like Jean help enhance our services and are crucial because they provide extra hands and smiles that help free up valuable staff time."

Yamamoto, a grandmother and mother of two grown sons, retired in 1989 from her job at Camp H.M. Smith. After a five-year rest, she said, she began her volunteer work. Throughout all of this, she's dealt with the trauma of discovering she had breast cancer, colon cancer and liver cancer — for the last, she is currently six weeks into chemotherapy.

Still, she perseveres and spends seven hours or more at the medical center three or four times a week.

"I go anytime I feel like working," Yamamoto said.

Today, she begins her sixth round of chemotherapy. She said she'll feel bad for a few days, but plans to be back at work by Wednesday.

"My outlook is good. I'm 75 already and I don't want to live too, too long because it becomes a quality-of-life issue."

Her work with the American Cancer Society started years before she had cancer, she said. She joined a neighbor-to-neighbor program that asked volunteers to seek donations in their community.

As a thank-you to her generous neighbors, Yamamoto bakes fruitcakes from the day after Thanksgiving through December to give away as gifts. She bakes a batch every day and then on Christmas Day fills a wagon and takes them around to her neighbors.

Yamamoto's Pearl City neighbors wait to make their donations through Yamamoto. This February she collected $2,000, but she was late because she had surgery to remove a portion of her liver that had cancer.

"She's very good at collecting donations for us," said Mary Tanaka, American Cancer Society Leeward District program director. "Every little bit counts, no matter how small the contribution is or the time given. And Jean feels rewarded with her work because of her own cancer. She is making a difference."

Reach Suzanne Roig at sroig@honoluluadvertiser.com.