Information and schedule
Cancer is a word all too familiar for many families, and the fear and uncertainty that comes with the diagnosis often brings about a feeling of hopelessness.
“When I hear ‘cancer’ it petrifies me,” said Norma Dunn. As a three-time breast cancer survivor, she will lead the Survivors Lap as Honorary Survivor during the 2017 Garland County Relay for Life today at 6 p.m.
“They’re going to have me up at the front leading the walk,” she said. “I thought it was an honor that they asked me. People don’t realize how emotional Relay is. A lot of people don’t even know I ever had cancer. I say as long as they were praying for me when I had it, that’s all I need.”
Dunn was first diagnosed at age 39, and was the first in the area to undergo a lumpectomy, she said.
“And I thought everything was going to be OK, but then 15 years later I went in for a check up and it had come back,” she said. “They put me on tamoxifen for five years, and within the next few years I developed what they called infiltrating carcinoma.
“I told me husband that it’s been seven years today since then,” she said Thursday.
Dunn was the first in her family known to have cancer, and since her diagnosis, she said her sister has also had breast cancer.
“Cancer is scary word, no matter who says it,” she said. “When I was first diagnosed, I was 39 and still had young children. I thought ‘This is not good.’ But I live each day at a time. That’s all you can do is live on a prayer each day and keep going.”
The prayers and her faith are the reason she is here today, Dunn said.
“I have a brother who is a photographer here locally, and he told me once he had every church in town praying for me,” she said.
“But my preacher told me once that he never understood why I never asked the Lord to heal me. I told him I thought if this was going to happen to anyone, it might be me. I’m strong and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone else.”
She and husband, Richard Dunn, have been married 54 years. They have two sons and two granddaughters, making her “blessed by God both ways.”
Dunn said her sister’s diagnosis came three years ago and all went well with it. However, her brother-in-law Russell Dunn recently passed away from cancer.
“This will be the first Relay without him,” she said.
For her, as with many, Relay for Life is a very emotional experience.
“Cancer is a lonely thing,” she said. “No one can do it with you. When I took radiation, I was in a small room where they pulled the door to. All I could focus on was that Jesus hung on the cross for me.
“I see all of the people fighting cancer, and I just want to hug them and tell them to keep on keeping on. People don’t understand that it is such a personal thing. But you’ve got to keep the faith or it is lonely.”