Southern Indiana Living SeptOct 2012

The next thing I know I’m
standing down there with a purple
survivor shirt and a balloon and thinking,
‘Thank you, God, that I’m here.’
Story & Photos // Abby Laub
If there ever was a person who was a
“good” candidate to receive a cancer
diagnosis, Helen Smith would be it.
The Angels of Hope Support
Group leader at the Cancer Center of Indiana
in New Albany overcame a 2003
uterine cancer diagnosis and said the
increased level of empathy she now has
for her patients was worth the winning
battle waged against the deadly disease.
“I remember one year at Relay for
Life looking down from the bleachers
and seeing all of the survivors in purple
shirts and thinking, ‘Thank you, God, for
the blessing that I’m not down there’,”
Smith recalled. “The next thing I know
I’m standing down there with a purple
survivor shirt and a balloon and thinking
‘Thank you, God, that I’m here.’ It’s
a whole new ball game when you’re a
survivor.”
Smith, 55, has worked at the cancer
center for 15 years as a receptionist and
in 2003 was rushed to the hospital when
she hemorrhaged at work. Undergoing
an emergency hysterectomy, she thought
she was in the clear.
“And my doctor called me at home
and said, ‘Well, we weren’t looking for
this, but you’ve got cancer’,” she remembered
about the surprise diagnosis.
Already Smith had been running the
Angels of Hope Support Group for several
years and knew she would now
need the support that she had given to
so many people.
At only 46 years old, uterine cancer
was rare for her age and the health
complications she had been experiencing
prior to her diagnosis were usually
brushed o as symptoms of menopause.
The tumor in her uterus, she
said, was the size of a Àve-and-a-halfmonth
pregnancy and fortunately was
only in Stage I.
“Of course when you’re told you have
cancer, you just never associate your
name with the big ‘C’ word,” she said.
A blessing of cAncer
Helen Smith allowed an awful diagnosis to shape her life forever
September/October 2012 • 14