Fighting Cancer
Upshur County Relay for Life hosts 23rd annual event
The Inter-Mountain photos by Amanda Hayes In order to practice social distancing guidelines, the 23rd Upshur County Relay for Life consisted of a survivor’s car parade instead of the traditional survivor walking lap. Cars like this one were decorated and drove around the loop at Buckhannon-Upshur High School.
Donna Foster sings ‘Sometimes it Takes a Storm’ during the 23rd Upshur County Relay for Life held at Buckhannon-Upshur High School.
The Inter-Mountain photos by Amanda Hayes In order to practice social distancing guidelines, the 23rd Upshur County Relay for Life consisted of a survivor’s car parade instead of the traditional survivor walking lap. Cars like this one were decorated and drove around the loop at Buckhannon-Upshur High School.
Donna Foster sings ‘Sometimes it Takes a Storm’ during the 23rd Upshur County Relay for Life held at Buckhannon-Upshur High School.
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The Inter-Mountain photos by Amanda Hayes
In order to practice social distancing guidelines, the 23rd Upshur County Relay for Life consisted of a survivor's car parade instead of the traditional survivor walking lap. Cars like this one were decorated and drove around the loop at Buckhannon-Upshur High School.
Donna Foster sings 'Sometimes it Takes a Storm' during the 23rd Upshur County Relay for Life held at Buckhannon-Upshur High School.
TENNERTON -- "Life doesn't always turn out how we imagine it to be," cancer survivor Shanda Hoover said at the 23rd annual Upshur County Relay for Life.
"If you are like me, sometimes you think you are invincible and your health will be fine until you reach the age of 80 or 90 something. I had it planned out in my head that my husband and I would raise our children and one day watch our grandchildren grow. We would live happily ever after."
But Sept. 24, 2015, changed Hoover's life when she received a call from her doctor following up from a biopsy two days earlier.
The tests revealed Hoover had Stage II invasive ductal carcinoma breast cancer.
"At only 33 years old, I did not expect to hear those words," she said. "Never did I imagine I would be faced head on with cancer. That perfectly planned out life would be something completely different. I felt like I was at the end of my life. Honestly, I looked at it as if I were Mario in a video game and when my diagnosis came I thought to myself, game over."
Hoover said her family, friends and community provided tremendous support during the most difficult time of her life.
The cancer moved from Stage II to Stage III in a few weeks time and the tumor had nearly doubled in size.
Hoover began 16 rounds of chemotherapy and three surgeries.
"It was the longest 10 months of my life," she said. "One morning in particular, I arrived for chemo and told my oncologist I didn't think I could make it through any more treatments. I was beyond exhausted. My body wasn't liking all the steroids and the thought of going through eight more weeks seemed impossible."
But Hoover said on the really hard days when she couldn't move off of the couch, she would rely on her faith and imagine she was lying in Jesus' arms.
"Cancer is a hard journey but it opened my arms to a better life," she said. "I have learned to fill my life with positivity, happiness and live my life to the fullest, because in an instant this day could be your last."
Hoover has written about her cancer journey in a book, "The Mountains We Climb."
She said one of the most important things to do is to recognize caregivers who are there for their cancer survivors during the difficult times.
This year's Upshur County Relay for Life was turned into a social distancing version with the community asked to stay in their vehicles and participate in a car parade versus walking laps.
"Although Relay is different this year thanks to COVID, I think it is a beautiful thing that we can all come together in the fight against cancer," she said.
Brad Lincicome has saw the cancer journey from that of a caregiver as his wife, Kim, is now in her second battle with cancer.
This time it is stage 4 lung cancer, but three years ago Kim received a diagnosis of cervical cancer after a routine Pap smear.
Lincicome stressed the importance of regular exams. The cancer was traced to HPV.
"Now there is a vaccine for HVP," he said. "We asked the doctor -- if that had been around when Kim and I were kids if that would have made a difference. He said it absolutely would have. That leads me to my second point: please get the vaccine."
Kim underwent surgery and chemo.
"We defeated the cervical cancer and thought we were finished with it," he said. "We came, we saw, we kicked its butt, right? No, that wasn't the end of the story. Last November, just before Thanksgiving, Kim started having some serious problems breathing. More exams revealed the cancer had not gone away completely, but just lay dormant and reemerged in her lungs. At this point, our oncologist said she will probably fight this for the rest of her life."
That brought more chemotherapy, this time with stronger doses.
"It was very rough on her," he said. "As a caregiver I can honestly say that after working all day and coming home to take care of Kim, it was kind of hard on me too. We suffer also as a caregiver. I can deal with the extra household chores, the constant trips to the doctor, the pharmacy, the chemo lab, the emergency room when something arises, what I have a hard time dealing with is watching her suffer, watching her struggle to do things she used to do without a thought, watching her go through the sickness, the pain or the aches.
"So, you do what you can. You fluff a pillow, you make a snack, you do what they would normally do, you hold them when all they can do is cry, pray for them in their suffering, give them your hand to squeeze every time a needle goes in."
Lincicome said he shaved his head when Kim lost her hair and kept it that way until Kim's started growing back.
Although they weren't able to walk in the lap, cancer survivors were invited to drive around the loop in front of Buckhannon-Upshur High School with their cars decorated, honk their horns and flash their lights to celebrate marking another year as a cancer survivor.
A second lap invited the participants to drive around and view the luminarias in honor or memory of cancer survivors as Donna Foster sang, "Sometimes it Takes a Storm."
Rev. Ralph Miller gave the opening and closing prayer.
Event lead Daisy Hunt said, "I think tonight went really well. We didn't have a lot of cars here, but the ones we did have were very appreciative. They are here year after year and they are our faithful few. It's important to them that we did do something. I feel good about it."
Hunt recognized Upshur County Schools for allowing the survivor parade and luminaria parade to take place at the high school, Buckhannon Volunteer in Police Service and Banks District Volunteer Fire Department for traffic management and DJ Brad Allen for their help in making the Relay a success.
She also acknowledged the difficulties COVID-19 had brought to Upshur County Relay for Life, a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society.
Since March, team meetings have been on hold and fundraisers have been limited.
"As soon as we can, we will be back out there doing fundraisers," she said. "We still have our Bowl-a-thon that we would really like to do. We had planned a big yard sale this year and that didn't pan out. Hopefully within the next couple of years we will get back on track and be able to do our fundraisers. They not only make money but they get us out in the community and get the word out. That is important too. People know there is a way they can get help if they need it and there is a way they can contribute and pay it back."
"I want a big thank you to go out to our committee," she said. "We have an awesome committee. They stepped up, put in more hours and came up with some awesome ideas. This wouldn't have happened without the committee we have."
To learn more about how to get involved in the 24th Upshur County Relay for Life, watch the Upshur County Relay for Life Facebook page and visit www.relayforlife.org/upshurwv.