Breast cancer survivor Donna Creel: ‘I was reminded God was with me’
Editor's note:
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and to bring focus on this disease that affects both women and men, Meridian Community College will host the Queen City Race for Life and Street Strut Saturday, Oct. 21, beginning at 8 a.m. on the MCC Track. The event pays tribute to breast cancer survivors, increases breast cancer awareness, and raises funds for the Anderson Cancer Patient Benevolence Fund.
Four ambassadors for the race are to be honored this year: Barbara Burnett, Donna Creel, Mary Eades, and Mack Phillips. Burnett, Creel, and Eades are breast cancer survivors; Phillips was his wife's caregiver. All expressed their faith as instrumental in their journeys.
When Donna Creel was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2017, a good friend (and a breast cancer survivor herself) told her to find something to look forward to and hold to as a reward or a gift at the end of her treatment.
That was six years ago, and now with her Stage 2B breast cancer cured, Creel continues to lean on her faith. "There are so many things God showed me and taught me through my journey. I learned to fully trust God because I could not control any of this. I had to let go and let God, and when I did, He gave me a peace like I cannot explain," she said.
"I knew I was going to be okay," she added.
Creel was 53 when she was diagnosed and admitted she had not gotten mammograms for some years. "I knew something was not right for some time, and I finally made an appointment for a mammogram," she remembered.
Hearing the words "you have cancer” brought forth so many thoughts, not just for Creel but for her family, business, and friends. "But I was surrounded by love and encouragement and amazing support. God gave me (the scripture) Joshua 1:9 to hold on to. Immediately, it was everywhere I turned, in texts, on cards, flower notes, and I held on tight to it and was reminded that God is with me always."
Creel's cancer journey included two surgeries followed by chemotherapy and radiation. After completing the treatments, Creel had started to regain her strength and was on the path to her new normal – until she encountered an unexpected halt that, as she said, "rocked my world again."
“I could not raise my left arm! I had a staph infection in my implanted port one week before it was supposed to be removed,” she said and she was diagnosed with septic arthritis shoulder. "Short version of a very long story, a year and a half later, after 15 surgeries, many miracles, and more blessings, God allowed me to raise my arm again and be healed.”
Creel counts many people in her support network – her husband Greg, her children and family, her church family and friends, employees, doctors, and medical teams. "Greg is my rock. He told me I was beautiful, even with a bald head and many scars. He did so many things during my cancer treatments and the many surgeries I had afterward due to following complications," she said.
"So many people from all over were praying for me and letting me know that they were praying through this three-and-a-half-year journey," Creel said. She added, “I do not know the ‘why’ in either of these journeys, but I know God was with me and I can trust in Him for everything.”
Her advice to others? "You must trust and have faith in God, have hope and a good attitude. And don’t neglect your annual mammogram."
Remembering the early days of her journey, Creel recalled when she and her husband were deciding how to tell their children about Creel's cancer, "my son and daughter-in-law were planning to tell us the news that we were going to be grandparents,"
She said she thought, "Wow! Just God! That was my gift from God!"
And three days after her last radiation treatment, Creel's granddaughter was born. She said, “I am so thankful to God and so very blessed.”
To learn more about Queen City Race for Life and Street Strut, visit meridiancc.edu/streetstrut.