(calming music)
- [Marie Sutton] The moment that I heard I had cancer,
it was like a wave washing over me.
It was overwhelming.
- [Betty Shivers] They said "Just a moment,
"the doctor would like to talk to you."
and I thought, this is not good.
- So the day we decided to tell our kids,
all that day my daughter and my son
would come up to me, they would say
"Mommy, I love you, I love you."
and they would be staring at me,
and I was like, I know you love me
but every moment, they didn't want
a moment to get quiet without them
filling it with I love you.
- My husband was a great supporter,
and really after a few hours
we both realized that I can get through this,
I can become a fighter, I can become a survivor.
I've just gotta go through the steps
and my life will look a little different,
but we're gonna do it.
- You know, vanity just melted away.
Eyebrows, hair, like luster everywhere,
I mean, I was just an ash color.
And I was, you know, my personality kind of
went away for a bit because I was just in a lot of pain.
- I was never without hope.
I had a tremendous support group with my husband,
with my family, with my friends.
I did receive cards from you know,
numbers and numbers, over and over,
of people that I knew.
It became a fabulous time during the day
to wait for the mailman and think,
maybe I'll get a new card today,
and I mean, I just cherish them.
- I felt like I had a army surrounding me,
protecting me through this while I was
not functioning in my full 100% self,
I had an army to lift me up.
And it was so amazing.
(bell ringing and cheering)
- Did you see it? - Thank you doctor, okay.
- The day I found out I was cancer free,
when my kids got home from school,
I was like, "I have something to tell you."
and they were looking like,
I can't take anymore, what is it?
And I told them I was cancer free
and they just wept, they fell in my arms and they wept.
- When she said "You are cancer free."
I just started shouting joy, I mean,
I was so excited and so happy,
and that we knew that we had beat it.
We were gonna get to the other side of this.
I did survive, but I am thriving.
I'm better for it and I could not feel
more alive through being able to tell my story.
And so I'm a thriver.
- And now, they saw me walk through this process.
They saw me get sick, they saw the ambulance
come to the house, but, they saw me bounce back.
And so now they see that if mommy can get through this,
than I can do the same thing,
no matter what life brings to me,
if my mommy can beat cancer, I can beat bullies
saying things about me, I can beat, you know, math,
or I can beat this because I come from the stock
of Marie Sutton who was able to beat breast cancer.