Nine years ago Eugenia Powell received news that would change her life. She had never spent a day in the hospital, yet before it was all over she would end up seeing her doctor 65 times in one year.

She had started getting mammograms when she turned 40. A routine visit one year yielded an unforgettable outcome: There was a tiny lump in her breast.

"They knew right away, I guess, that it was malignant," said Powell, a Warner Robins resident who works in Byron as a State Farm insurance agent. The lump doctors had found was the size of a small English pea.

She couldn't help but think the worst at the time. Several members of her family had died of cancer. Her grandmother died after she was diagnosed in the late 1940s. Her father became ill with throat cancer during the 1970s and lived for only six months afterward. And her aunt and uncle lived for less than a year after they became sick.

She realized she was fortunate to benefit from the American Cancer Society's advanced research and treatment options as opposed to many of her relatives who passed on.

"If you look at what the American Cancer Society has done through research É I think that's why I'm still here, because my cancer was found very, very early," she said.

"When I went to the doctor he knew exactly what he was going to do (in order) to do surgery. Those techniques now are used so much and their success rate is so good, especially in breast cancer," Powell emphasized.

She would receive radiation treatments - a total of 30 - but more than physical exhaustion, it was the mental aspect that she struggled with most.

It wasn't until about a year after first being diagnosed that she felt that things would turn out OK, that maybe she was going to make it after all.

"Just getting through the mental part of it was the hard part, I think," she said. "It's been nine years, but you don't know that at the time. My story was a good story."

"Every female should do a self-breast exam every month I think," she said. And if something unusual is recognized, Powell encourages women to go to the doctor and have it checked out.

In Peach County, Powell organizes the survivor's reception held each year during Relay for Life. This she became involved with a year after her own battle with cancer. She described the annual get-together as a time for survivors and their families to reunite and to offer comfort and support to one another.

There will be many opportunities for the public to donate to this worthy cause during this year's race for the cure. Luminaries will be sold for $5 in honor of or in memory of a loved one and individual camp sites will have ongoing fund-raisers.

But the highlight of the evening will be the walk around the track to raise money for the fight against cancer. For Powell and many others, this will be an emotional time to remember and to look to the future in the hopes that a cure will be found.

"Everybody's there having a good time, but there's a reason to relay. I never ever get started on that track without tears in my face," she said.

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