By Myra Bean

On September 11, 2001, the United States faced one of the worst attacks on this soil in history: the World Trade Center attack.

The same day while watching the events unfold, Angie Ledbetter was hit with some of the most devastating news a person could hear: the cancer was back.

Though this year marks the 10th “anniversary” of these catastrophic events, they are not really times of celebrations.

Ledbetter has been working with The Panolian as a freelance sports writer and photographer since 2000 and also does photography for many events.

One of the teams she covers chose her to honor this year. The South Panola Lady Tiger fastpitch softball team chose her as the recipient from the Strikeout Cancer series with Grenada on April 14.

This is the third year for the event. The second game will be played in Grenada on April 15 where they will honor someone from their town.

The team will present her with gifts and read her biography before the varsity game, according to Lady Tiger head coach Ashleigh Hicks. Ledbetter will throw out the first pitch at 6 p.m.

Friends and co-workers of Ledbetter’s express admiration for how she has comforted herself during some difficult times.

“We have to take care of ourselves,” said co-worker Emily Williams. “Look at Angie! Prime example of what becomes of people who pray and take care of themselves.

“She’s always uplifting and genuinely cares about others and their well being,” Williams continued. “I really think her outgoing and uplifting personality is what has made her live as long as she has with cancer. She also looks awesome. I would never know she was sick by looking at her.”

Neighbor and friend Holly Poe noticed that Ledbetter has never lost her faith in God.

“Even in her darkest moments, she would contact me for prayer because she knows God will answer. She has never given up hope or let it get her down either. She has worked when most people would have quit. She refuses to let it beat her. Her strength comes from God and her Faith in Him.

“She is loved by so many people,” Poe continued. “She’s my friend and neighbor. She lifts others up as well and doesn’t forget them when they’re down. She’s amazing.”

Another friend Denise Benson  said nearly the same thing.

“She’s told me many times that her faith in God has kept her here nine-and-a-half years since she was first diagnosed!  Knowing He has been with her through this trying, stressful and often painful journey has kept that smile on her face and that ‘won’t give up attitude!’ She keeps going even when the going is rough, and I tell her all the time she’s my hero!” Benson said.

Cancer Fund Raisers

Ledbetter describes the raising of funds for cancer victims and researchers as “awesome.”

“People don’t realize unless you have been in our shoes the medical part of it,” she said.

She did not put a price on her treatments over the last nine-and-a-half years, but she said the cost is “astronomical.”

“Yes, you have insurance, but you have deductible, you have 20 percent and that adds up,” Ledbetter said. “When you have a $66,000 hospital bill 20 percent adds up. Cancer drugs are so expensive. They don’t pay for all of them.  A lot of times they will deny them. They will say here is an alternative. Many times I am allergic to the alternatives.

“People who do the rallies, walks and games and stuff, it is an awesome feeling because like research if all of that money hadn’t been given people wouldn’t be surviving. I think it is awesome and I thank everybody for doing it,” Ledbetter added.

When she was told the Strike Out Cancer benefit was for her, Ledbetter said she cried.

“I have lived a long time but a child is totally different,” she said. “I wanted them to pick a child but she told me that they wanted to pick me. I always think there is someone out there worse than I am.”

My Journey With Cancer

Ledbetter describes her life as a journey with cancer. She said it has been a “very, very tough” journey.

“I never thought I would see nine-and-a-half years,” Ledbetter said. “Each phase I have gone through has been tougher but I have gotten through it. When I got through the end of one road, something else came up. I have never reached the end of the journey.”

Ledbetter’s first brush with cancer was cervical cancer and she had surgery to remove it. Her doctor had told her that it was the most curable type of cancer with little to no chemotherapy necessary.

Five years later the cancer came back and she was diagnosed with stage 3 cervical cancer and she found out while the events of 9/11 played out.

“I relate it to 9/11 because I had a doctor’s appointment that morning. I had no idea he was going to have an oncologist waiting in his office when I got there. I was sitting there watching what was going on.

“I was shocked. I was by myself because I did not expect it. I left there and went to the mall and don’t know what I did,” she said.

She said as the days passed and she watched the aftershocks of the 9/11 attacks she woke up as she saw the devastations of families torn apart.

“I said why am I feeling sorry for myself,” Ledbetter said. “I can beat this while all those people have lost their lives. If you go in thinking you are not going to beat it, you are not going to beat it.”

It has been an emotional, mental and physical roller coaster for Ledbetter. When she thought she had beaten the cervical cancer six months of chemotherapy and radiation later, she found a knot in her neck. She was diagnosed with Stage 3 Indolent Follicular Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. These are slow-growing and sometimes recurring tumors.

People have been known to live with those 12-15 years. They could not operate due to the risk of paralysis.

Why has she not gone into remission?

“Lymphoma gets in your blood stream and goes throughout your body,” Ledbetter said. “Mine has spread so I have never been in remission. It has gone in different phases. I have had it in my hips, my legs, my breast, my kidneys.”

Her main cancer treatment center is the West Clinic in Memphis but at times she has had to make trips to M. D. Anderson in Houston, Texas.

She has also gone to Sloan Kettering Cancer Institute in New York City to see one of the best breast cancer specialist in the country when she was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer in 2004.

In early 2006 the cancer spread to her hip and she had to restart a round of chemotherapy and radiation. Later that year, the cancer spread to her left kidney after which she was sent to a nephrologist at M. D. Anderson. That called for three months of intense treatments to save that kidney.

In 2007 the breast cancer returned. She had surgery and started her treatments again and then took a chemotherapy pill for a long time.

“ Life continued to get worse for me,” she said. “My battle with cancer didn’t get any better. In 2009 the cancer in my kidney returned. I returned to M.D. Anderson in May and stayed until August where I received a special radiation to save my kidney.”

More intense treatments followed plus another battle with breast cancer ensued. Then her kidneys began to fail and she started treatments and began dialysis in October 2010.

Faith during the Journey

“Yes, I have lost faith sometimes,” Ledbetter said she can now admit that.

“My doctors had told me when I had the cervical cancer it was the type you would want to have because it is easy to get rid of but mine had spread,” she said. “Some people do not even have to have chemo.

“That was a shocker because I thought I was just going to have the operation and be over with it,” she continued. “Cervical cancer I thought would be a short journey and I wouldn’t have to take any treatments.”

Years ago, people would relate the word “cancer” with “death,” according to Ledbetter, but with the research that has been done through fund raisers “with a positive attitude and faith you can beat anything.”

Her battle with breast cancer really worried her.

“At the West Clinic, I have seen people who survive lung cancer and breast cancer. You used to not survive breast cancer, especially since I had stage 3 breast cancer. The main thing is you have to focus on your faith. You have to have a strong faith.

“It’s not been easy,” she continued. “I have good days and I have bad days. My thing is I try not to dwell on myself. I get out. I do sports. I am around people which my doctors have advised me against. But for me I explained to them is part of my healing process.”

How people who are not Christians and do not have faith get through the struggle, Ledbetter said she did not know.

“There have been days I didn’t want to get out of bed. I have had rough days that have been like an emotional roller coaster.”

Ledbetter said her doctor in Memphis was the best thing for her. He taught her how to accept she had cancer and overcome the fear to it. He told her that he can only give his medical opinion and that he was not God.

“It comes down to your Christianity, your faith,” her doctor said. “You have got to believe. Your positive attitude goes a long way.”

At the beginning, she said she was mad her doctor.

“I realized down the road each journey I have gone, they can give you their medical opinion. I have gone to M. D. Anderson and saw the best doctors in the world and they tell me all they can give me their medical opinion.

“I have been given six months to live. I have been given three months to live. I have beat all odds because I held on to that. Yeah, it’s been tough. There have been days I have wanted to give up. Each journey I have gone through I accepted it and learned from it,” Ledbetter said.

Sharing her experiences

It took Ledbetter a while but she has spoken at churches about her journey with cancer.

One of the nurses at Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis asked her to speak there but she refused. Then she started speaking at smaller churches. She said her goal is to help at least one person.

“They just wanted to know about my journey, how I felt when I was diagnosed, how I deal with it on a daily basis and how do I keep going,” Ledbetter said.

“A lot of people look at me – this is the tough thing– and say I look like a perfect bill of health. I may look like that but inside I am not,” she added.

“They don’t see me on my bad days, don’t see me when I can’t hold my head up, when I didn’t have my hair and I wore a wig or turban,” she continued. “I just try to keep going. I try to be around people. I am a people person, a sports person. Sports has helped me, my job, going to church.”

Some people have asked her why she wanted to beat cancer.

“I still had a child, an only child and I wasn’t ready to die,” Ledbetter said. “They say, ‘You don’t look like you’re sick.’ I just tell them that it wasn’t my time to go. I had to accept when it is my time to go, God will take me. I had to do my part.”