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Candles burned in the dusk of Big Spring Park Thursday night, kicking off October, the 27th annual Breast Cancer Awareness month, for Neosho.
Some lit candles in memory of those who passed on, but many attendees at Thursday’s Every Candle Has a Name service were cancer survivors there to light the way for others.
Nine years ago Shirley Shockey was diagnosed with cancer. She still remembers the first time she attended the cancer-survivor event when she was still in treatment and was presented with a basket of pink carnations.
“I consider myself cured,” Shockey said. “It’s just a fight every day of your life.”
Her husband Kenny starts every morning by reading “their” scripture and they pray, something she said gives her courage to fight the cancer battle, but her local support group has also helped her to stand.
You have to have the support, the faith and people who will remember you,” Shockey said.
Without that, she said, fighting cancer is much tougher. She can see it in the eyes of those at the treatment center, a sense of hopelessness and loss. No matter their stage in the cancer treatment process, Shockey said, those who have a support system also stand out.
“There’s a different look on their face,” Shockey said. “If you don’t have the strength and the will you’re going to lose the battle.”
Friends and family members of Amy Wood, cancer free for a year, came together for the service. Events like the one Thursday night are important, said Wood’s daughter Laci Edens, and help people remember how awful cancer is.
“You don’t want to see anyone else go through what my mom went through,” Edens said. “All the sickness and the radiation… You hear people talk about it, but you never really realize how bad it is until it happens.”
Cancer is a battle that doesn’t end, said Wood’s daughter-in-law Hillary Lamb. Even after the chemotherapy there are doctor’s appointments and moments of worry. It is important to stand by cancer patients in remission, Lamb said.
“You realize what everybody else goes through even after they get rid of the cancer. It still has an impact on their lives,” Lamb said.
Shockey has been cancer-free for three years. The circumstances surrounding what she calls “the invader” have made her a stronger person and she lit her candle Thursday in honor of Anthony Clark, recently diagnosed with liver cancer.
Candles burned in the dusk of Big Spring Park Thursday night, kicking off October, the 27th annual Breast Cancer Awareness month, for Neosho.
Some lit candles in memory of those who passed on, but many attendees at Thursday’s Every Candle Has a Name service were cancer survivors there to light the way for others.
Nine years ago Shirley Shockey was diagnosed with cancer. She still remembers the first time she attended the cancer-survivor event when she was still in treatment and was presented with a basket of pink carnations.
“I consider myself cured,” Shockey said. “It’s just a fight every day of your life.”
Her husband Kenny starts every morning by reading “their” scripture and they pray, something she said gives her courage to fight the cancer battle, but her local support group has also helped her to stand.
You have to have the support, the faith and people who will remember you,” Shockey said.
Without that, she said, fighting cancer is much tougher. She can see it in the eyes of those at the treatment center, a sense of hopelessness and loss. No matter their stage in the cancer treatment process, Shockey said, those who have a support system also stand out.
“There’s a different look on their face,” Shockey said. “If you don’t have the strength and the will you’re going to lose the battle.”
Friends and family members of Amy Wood, cancer free for a year, came together for the service. Events like the one Thursday night are important, said Wood’s daughter Laci Edens, and help people remember how awful cancer is.
“You don’t want to see anyone else go through what my mom went through,” Edens said. “All the sickness and the radiation… You hear people talk about it, but you never really realize how bad it is until it happens.”
Cancer is a battle that doesn’t end, said Wood’s daughter-in-law Hillary Lamb. Even after the chemotherapy there are doctor’s appointments and moments of worry. It is important to stand by cancer patients in remission, Lamb said.
“You realize what everybody else goes through even after they get rid of the cancer. It still has an impact on their lives,” Lamb said.
Shockey has been cancer-free for three years. The circumstances surrounding what she calls “the invader” have made her a stronger person and she lit her candle Thursday in honor of Anthony Clark, recently diagnosed with liver cancer.
“I know it has brought our family closer together,” she said.
Co-organizer Donna Hood said she and Helen Hildebrand conduct the annual service and candle lighting in hopes that one new cancer-survivor or caretaker will find hope.
“We just like doing this to honor people in the group and we meet people through this,” said Hood, herself a breast cancer survivor and member of the local Bosom Buddies support group.
Early detection helps, Hood said, but other than skin cancer, breast cancer is still the most common cancer in women with 12 percent of women being diagnosed at some point in their lives.
For more than 10 years the Bosom Buddies group has held an annual candle-lighting ceremony in the park and each year audience members are invited to light a candle in honor of cancer survivors or in memory of those who have passed on. John Storey’s poem “Every Candle has a Name” is read and a prayer is offered.
That atmosphere offers people a chance to remember and a feeling of community. Support, Hood said, is key.
“I know that at anytime I could call any of these ladies,” she said.
The local support group meets monthly. While cancer is not always the subject of discussion, each member has been touched by the disease. When a new member arrives with questions they stand ready to help.
“The doctors have their ‘doctor talk,’ but we have our ‘people talk’ and we know a little bit more of what’s going on,” Hood said.
The Bosom Buddies group meets the second Monday of the month at 6 p.m. in the Neosho Mazzio’s.
For more information call Hood at 451-4880.
