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By Zach Compton
Contributing Writer

Last Thursday (October 24th) Claiborne Medical Center in Tazewell hosted a cancer survivors luncheon where several cancer survivors from around the area gathered to celebrate life and share their stories. These are those stories from the brave women who gathered there that day.

 

Katrina Boyles
“I’m Katrina Boyles and I am a 10 year survivor. I got married in June of ‘14. 2 months later I found out I had breast cancer, and he was my rock – still is to this day. I had a grandmother that passed from breast cancer when my mom was 16. On my dad’s side I have an aunt who had bone, breast, ovarian, and skin cancer. My dad’s had 3 different types of cancer removed and he’s still here, so I will continue to fight on this journey. I just had a mammogram – 10 years clean now. I didn’t realize sharing this story would hit me this hard, but I got into nursing because of that experience. I never went to school for nursing until I was 48 years old. I work with Patricia so I told her if she had any questions to please hit me up. It helps – it really does. Not even just for her but for me. If I would’ve known this would happen before I got married I probably wouldn’t have because I didn’t want to put him through that, but he’s still there.”

Becky DeBusk
“My name is Becky DeBusk, and I turned 60 in May. My childhood friend found out she had breast cancer and had a mastectomy. I was going through the journey as her supporter, and she kept telling me “make sure you keep up with your mammograms,” so in July I went for my mammogram and was diagnosed with breast cancer. I had a lumpectomy on September the 9th, and I don’t have to do chemo, but I will be starting my radiation in a week or two. My best friend Joanne is here today too and she’s been a big help to me too because she was the first one to deal with this.”

Joanne
“Well my rock is no longer here – he passed away in 2000, but Becky is my rock now. I thought I had the longest ears here but Sylvia’s got me beat. I was diagnosed in ‘98 with breast cancer, and I had chemo, radiation, the whole thing. I used to come out to the hospital for their cancer support group which was a good group, and really – I was telling Becky a while ago – it’s a sisterhood. When you see somebody out and you know or they tell you, you gotta hug them whether you know them or not. They’re your sister.”

Patricia Wilder
“I’m Patricia Wilder and I’m not a survivor, I’m just starting this journey. I had my lumpectomy on September 4th with clear margins and clear lymph nodes. I haven’t started radiation yet but no chemo is needed.”
“Can I say something?” 
“Yes.” 
“Have you ever been told that the first day after you’re diagnosed you’re a survivor?”
“No, I haven’t.”
“Well it’s true, the day you’re diagnosed you’re a survivor and we’re glad you’re still here.” 
“Thank you.”

Melinda Honeycutt
“My name’s Melinda Honeycutt. I’m an RN with the Claiborne County Health Department. I did not have breast cancer but ovarian cancer. I was diagnosed 15 years ago and it was a very unusual type of cancer. My oncologist, Dr. Lee, told me “you’re never really considered cured, you’re in remission,” he cut me loose about 3 years ago and said I don’t need to see him anymore unless I have a recurrence, and I’ve been very lucky so far. I work with the BCS program – the Breast and Cervical Screening program with the Claiborne County Health Department, and we help ladies who are in need of mammograms, sign them up for the breast and cervical program which pays for the mammogram, or if results come back and they have other issues such as an abnormal PAP or they need further treatment or they are actually diagnosed with breast cancer we can get them signed up for Tenncare to help pay for their treatments. If you know anyone who needs a referral to us please ask them to call the Health Department and make an appointment to come in and get the word out because we want to help people.”

Laurie
“My name is Laurie and I was diagnosed in 2015. I had 2 different breast cancers – 1 in each breast, so that was a little unusual. I’m here with my sister Tammy who was also diagnosed with breast cancer.”

Tammy
“I was diagnosed with 3 cancers on my first visit in 2014. I had breast cancer, melanoma of lymph nodes, and thyroid cancer and I’m still on treatment today. When I was diagnosed I went onto COBRA because I was still working a full time job, but then I exceeded my COBRA period and signed up for disability and medicare but was facing a 4 month wait with no insurance. They wanted to hit me hard with upfront costs because of the melanoma, so I went to the Health Department and was bridged in on the breast cancer and cervical policy of Tenncare until my Medicare kicked in which was really a blessing.”

Sylvia Evans
“I’m Sylvia Evans and I had breast cancer in ‘93. I also had bladder cancer and I had melanoma taken off my chin. All in all I’ve done well.”

Betsy Maples
“I’m Betsy Maples, and I work here at the hospital. I haven’t had breast cancer but I am a 12 year uterine cancer survivor. My mother and one of my sisters had breast cancer. My sister would be in Sylvia and Joanne’s group – I think it’s been 20 or 25 years since she had breast cancer, and honestly it’s just really hard. Even years after I got through the cancer I was at a relay for life event one year and was asked to tell my story and I thought ‘well yeah that’s no big deal,’ and as soon as I started talking I just started crying. It’s emotional. Ashley came up with this idea, she’s with the Health Department, and she just wanted us to do something to recognize and support you all, so I’m glad that we did it and we hope to make it an annual thing.”

Vicki Cornelius
“My name is Vicki Cornelius – I’m the Chief Nursing Officer here at the hospital. I’ve met some but not all of you all, so it’s very nice to meet you now. I had worked here for 10 years and decided on a whim to move to Florida because I thought it was the place to be. I got a lot of experience there but something kept telling me to come back home, so I came back here and started my job here on the very last day of November in ‘22. In early May I found out that I had stage 4 breast cancer. It went to my spine, my lymph nodes, several rib bones, my hip – just lots of boney areas. Currently I’m in remission and I’ve been in remission for probably a year now. I’ve had tons of support, but what I wanted to tell you all is that God puts us where we need to be and puts us with the people we need to be with. I just thank the Lord that I came back here to my family and to my hospital family who has been so supportive of me. I’m just thankful that I’m still here and I thank God every single day.”

Darlene Fugate-Myers

“I’m Darlene Fugate-Myers, and I moved away to North Carolina right out of high school. I moved back – it’ll be 2 years in May – just in time to be able to spend the final months with my sister Rebecca who had breast cancer and passed away from it. Like you were saying the timing is just perfect and I knew it was my time to be back home. I had breast cancer in 1998. It was lobular and I had a complete mastectomy on the left side. I took Tamoxifen for 5 years, and I had chemo but didn’t have to have radiation. I had no problems with Tamoxifen and then I started on Femara for 7 years – 2 of those were by choice because I was afraid to get off of anything, but I’ve done well since. It wasn’t in our family genes or anything even though my sister and I both had it. Thank you to everyone who put this together because Dot and myself have been saying that we wish there was a way we could celebrate.”

Sharon Hamblin-Dixon
“My name is Sharon Hamblin-Dixon. After high school I went into the military, and I stayed there for 24 years and 8 days then I retired and moved back home. I was diagnosed April 9th, 2009. I’ll never forget that day because that was the day my son had to go to ETSU to register for fall classes. I was diagnosed then, I had my surgery on May 4th, and after I had my surgery I ended up with Mercer and left 6 weeks later. I was supposed to have chemo but I didn’t get to do chemo or radiation because of the Mercer, but when I came back I met my friends again, and a lot of people I knew before I left and I moved back – it’s been wonderful – it’s been real good and I’ve had a great support system with my family. My mother had breast cancer, she passed away about 5 years ago, and my twin sister Karen also has breast cancer. She was diagnosed in 2006 but she’s doing well. I just thank everybody here. No matter where I go if I run into somebody and I talk to them – sometimes I’ll just ask someone if they’ve had breast cancer. I go to Tennova North for my breast MRIs and I meet a lot of ladies up there. I had my breast MRI earlier this year and the doctor says I’m still good. I have a great doctor at the VA, Dr. Hamati, when she retires I don’t know what I’m going to do. She keeps saying she’s going to retire but she hasn’t gone yet! I’ve been with her since I’ve been diagnosed, and it’s just hard to get used to someone new. I used to go to Susan D. Coleman races to get the scarves and give them out to everybody, but they quit doing those races years ago in Knoxville. I’m just so thankful for everybody, but that’s my story and if I can be of help to anybody just reach out if you need anything. I’m retired, I go to the senior citizens building where we have Bible study on Wednesdays, and I’m in the phone book under Sharon Dixon so if anyone needs something just call me!”

Dorothy Snodgrass
“I’m Dorothy Snodgrass. I’m a two time breast cancer survivor. If you don’t know, I’m Darlene’s sister. When I found out I had it she was there for me, but the biggest thing was – I had family and friends – but I had to grab ahold of God like I never have grabbed ahold of him. It’s different from a cold. When they call you and tell you that you have breast cancer, and then when I had it the second time, I thought “Lord, what am I gonna do,” and I grabbed hold of him tighter again, and he’s still bringing me through. I’ve been cancer free – the first time was 17 years and the last has been 6 and I’m still cancer free. It’s because God has a purpose for me and has a plan for me, and that’s what I want all the women here and anybody to know. Serve the Lord with all you’ve got because when this life is over if we don’t make it to heaven we’ve missed it all. We have problems down here and we will continue to have them, but it’s nothing if we don’t make heaven our home. It’s nothing – even going through breast cancer is difficult, and some things we’ve had to walk through in life and are still walking through – God will help us to get through anything that we have to because he’s a God that cannot lie. He’s right there, you just have to reach out and grab ahold of him. I’ve really enjoyed today and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed everything about breast cancer except for having it, but you get to meet so many people that you would never have met. Everything works together for the good of us because that’s God’s plan. When we see that it’s working out we know that he’s not going to leave us and that he has a plan for each and every one of us. Thank you to everyone who has participated because it’s encouraging. It’s very encouraging and we need each other. You could say something greatly encouraging to me or I could say something greatly encouraging to you and you wouldn’t even know what I need to hear that day, but God does, and he will lead us with what to do or what to say. It’s just wonderful how he puts people in our lives that need to be there. Today has been wonderful and I thank Betsy and everyone that had a hand in putting this together for us.”

Melinda Honeycutt
“I’ve got something I want to say to Ms. Dorothy. I don’t know if she remembers this or not, but the day I was diagnosed I ran into her where I used to work at, and she came up to me and said ‘God told me I needed to hug you,’ and you just grabbed me and hugged me. This was right after I had been diagnosed I went out there to see the doctor and get some antibiotics, but the day I was diagnosed you really helped me. You grabbed me and hugged me and told me your story – which I didn’t know before, and you told me I was going to get through it and I did.”