what to say. “Sometimes we don’t let them,” Roxy says. “ ‘Just-


don’t-talk-about-it!’ ” she said through clenched teeth, then laughed. Once you’ve been diagnosed with cancer, it’s some- thing that remains on your mind. “You never get away from it,” Roxy says. “The fear, ev-


ery time you go to the doctor. It never goes away.” Roxy received more news in early July — this time,


she was diagnosed with lung cancer. So far, she has had two video-assisted thoracic sur-


geries. She smoked for more than 20 years in the past, and as the nicotine cessation facilitator, she under- stands where people are coming from and the impor- tance of giving up nicotine. Baxter County’s nicotine usage, at 22 percent, is high- er than the national average of 19 percent, she says. Teenage use of nicotine is expected to increase national- ly by 700 percent due to electronic devices such as vapes, in which users inhale a vapor containing nicotine, she says. Still, after her breast cancer diagnosis, Roxy has


found the bright moments in life. “On the upside, you do appreciate everything more


Betty Pollard crochets during a meeting of the Threads of Hope. All the items club members make are donated.


T.J. Hill, a volunteer at the Peitz Cancer Support House, talks about the house. Hill, 82, began voluteering at the PCSH in 2000.


when you’re a survivor,” Roxy says. “You can’t let it dar- ken your life all the time. You’ve got to find a way to get over it and appreciate what you have.”


24  SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019  LIVING WELL


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