A 17-year breast cancer survivor said prayer, diligence, exercise, education, humor and support are key to fighting the battle against the dreaded disease during the Women’s Health Program at St Peter’s Catholic Church Thursday in Mineola.

The event was arranged by the Wood County Extension Service with its Friend to Friend program.

Wood County Extension Agent for Family Consumer Science Angie Monk introduced Wanda Stephens of Holly Lake Ranch as a cancer survivor.

Stephens said she is an educator of 31 years and that she was first diagnosed with cancer in 1999. “I am a 17-year cancer survivor,” she said to applause, adding she was 54 years old at the time of the diagnosis.

“As a cancer survivor what do we need to do? We need to pray,” she said, “that God’s will be done, because God’s will is love and mercy.”

According to Stephens, one of the other things that one needs to do is to be diligent. That is not just for someone with cancer, but applies to those who are caregivers. She asked how many people in the audience were survivors, then how many were caregivers and finally, if there was anyone in the group who did not know someone who had cancer. No one spoke up or raised their hand.

“And that’s what we’re fighting.” She said if a person knows someone with cancer, they are a cancer caregiver “because it takes more than just the spouse or the family. It takes everybody.”

The speaker said to be diligent in everything one does. She also said to exercise, to include humor in one’s life and to be educated and thankful to caregivers.

Stephens said she had always wanted to live in East Texas. She had lived here when she was a little girl and she wanted to move back. Finally she was able to talk her husband into retiring from his job with the postal service and she accepted a teaching job in Gilmer.

In the fall of 1998 they moved to Holly Lake. “And we’ve loved every minute that we’ve lived here.” A year later she was diagnosed with cancer.

She noted that when she said to be diligent, that was not just as a cancer patient but to everything going on with one’s body. With her situation, she was the one who discovered that something was wrong. “It wasn’t a lump sticking out of my breast,” she said. “Mine was flat. But it was just different.” And there was no cancer in her family anywhere and as far as she knows, she is still the only one.

But this is where diligence comes in to play. She went to a doctor and he told her that she needed a mammogram and he wrote the order. She waited to schedule her appointment for two weeks but the order did not come through. She called the doctor back and then learned the order had gotten lost under some other papers. So for two weeks longer she waited for her mammogram.

The day she had her biopsies she was told it was likely cancer and two or three days later it was confirmed that she had stage 2 breast cancer. At that time patients had to call and talk to people to learn about what they were facing. “What is breast cancer? What kinds of medications do you use? What kind of treatments are there?”

She and her husband ended up finding people who they knew who had battled the disease and that included a former co-worker from Duncanville who had just finished a year of treatment. “There were things that she told me were going to happen to my body that I had no idea was going to happen. Now, thank heavens, those things are told to people through programs like this, and the American Cancer Society. And women don’t have go and be so afraid. There’s information out there.”

Stephens underwent treatment for five years and five years later was finally informed she was cancer free. She said when she walked out of the doctor’s office that day she called everyone she knew. She and friends started a cancer support group at Holly Lake.

However, 16 years later she began having a pain in her leg that wouldn’t go away. She was diagnosed with pneumonia but the pain persisted and she diligently sought reasons why. She finally insisted on having an MRI and as a result last September learned that she has cancer in one of her legs, and that the tiny cells have spread to her spine.

“I’m okay,” she said and smiled as members of the audience reacted with “Ohs.” She is continuing to stay upbeat and exercises as she is able, noting she is looking for an indoor swimming pool, and shared one of her other talents as she sang, a capella, “Blessed are the Merciful.”

More valuable information was provided by Sarah Allen with the American Cancer Society. She said the organization provides a variety or resources to support those with cancer, their caregivers and cancer survivors. They are always looking for volunteers.

She also invited those present to the Relay for Life for Franklin and Wood counties on Aug. 27 from noon to 10 p.m. at the civic center in Winnsboro. It will be a family-friendly event with “lots of food,” bounce houses and a disc jockey. At 9 p.m. they will light luminaries in honor or in memory of those who have battled cancer.

The flow of information continued as Pamela Lincoln, extension program specialist with Friend to Friend, spoke of that program. She said that the Friend to Friend program was about “staying healthy together” much as Stephens had spoken of her support group. She discussed the American Cancer Society screenings which have just been revamped and said that Friend to Friend helps with those who need mammograms and pap smears. She noted that men can get breast cancer too and that the program can help financially for those who are uninsured, underinsured or for those with more income but who have high deductibles.

Monk thanked the Texas Education Extension Agency members for providing lunch for the group and the members of the church for use of the facility. She invited those interested in taking part in the group to their meetings on the second Thursday of the month at the extension service building Quitman. For those unfamiliar with the club, “Remember the old Home Demonstration Club,” she asked. They are planning a fall program in November.