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Saint Francis Hospital honors breast cancer survivors during annual Courage Walk

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Breast cancer survivor Marion Hoy told a group of Saint Francis Hospital workers in Charleston her battle to beat the disease was a fight she wouldn’t give up.

“Everybody says you’re not a survivor until you are cancer-free for seven years, but, to me, I was a survivor every day that I woke up,” said Hoy, a Saint Francis nurse who was one of the speakers before the hospital’s second annual Courage Walk Thursday.

About a dozen employees held pink balloons while walking around the hospital building in honor of the first day of Breast Cancer Awareness Month this October.

“Our walk is a way of celebrating the lives of those who have survived the fight against breast cancer and to honor all those who have lost the battle of this disease,” said Brian Ulrey, the COO of Thomas Health System at Saint Francis Hospital.

Hoy, who was diagnosed with stage one breast cancer in May 2014, said she embraced the life she had up until her final day of chemotherapy treatment.

“Every day is a blessing. Every day is a gift,” she said. “Every day that I got out of bed and stepped forward, I told myself ‘I have cancer,’ but guess what? It never had me.”

Patty Eagle, a Saint Francis employee who works in the emergency room, is also a survivor of stage one breast cancer.

“I took charge,” said Eagle. “I decided that if I was going to beat this, I was going to be in charge.”

Eagle said she chose her doctors, read up on the type of cancer she had, studied all the side effects of the drugs and studied the nutrition for before and after her chemo treatments.

“I did fantastic. I never got sick and I got to continue working the whole time,” she said. Her main message is “to take charge of your life.”

“Take a few minutes out of the day and get your mammogram done,” said Eagle.

Vendors such as Susan G. Komen, the American Cancer Society and others were on hand at Thursday’s event to provide educational tools and information about breast cancer.





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