Susan G. Komen for the Cure Roanoke event

By Karen McNew
WSLS10 Anchor
Published: October 1, 2008

When Sharon Rapoport contacted me several weeks ago about a big event planned by the Greater Roanoke Valley Affiliate of Susan G. komen for the Cure I was immediately drawn in to the conversation.  Sharon is so passionate about making sure women take care of themselves when it comes to breast cancer I wanted to hear more. 

She explained how different cancer survivors and their supporters would be shouting from the top of Mill Mountain about why breast cancer doesn’t have to win.  It wasn’t until the end of our conversation that Sharon shared her story with me about finding breast cancer and eventually beating it.  Every cancer survivor I have ever talked to has an amazing will and appreciation for life.  I am a better person for meeting Sharon and I hope the story below will at least make you think about getting that mammogram or making that appointment with your doctor.

I met Joann Menefee through Sharon.  Joann is from Franklin County.  One night when she was changing clothes after work she found something out of the ordinary.  She tells me that at 39 years old she didn’t think the lump she found could possibly be breast cancer.  It was.

Joann first found that lump in November of 2006.  She recalls the date exactly as the 10th.  She waited 7 months before having anything done.  When she finally went to the doctor she ended up going through surgery and then radiation and chemotherapy treatments. 

Joann says doesn’t want other women to wait, “If it is going to save your life you might want to re-think it and revisit.  With the modern technology today the chemotherapy is not as bad as it was 20 years ago.“

Along with many prayers Joann reads a daily devotional.  Her faith gave her a new perspective as she endured.

She says, “I consider myself favored of god that he would pick me to go through this, so that I could go back and reach out to all my other sisters and tell them… look it’s not as scary as you think it is.“

She wears a pink “promise ring” from the Susan G Komen for the Cure Foundation and it is much more than a trinket.

Joann explains, “The rings came from a promise from one sister to another, so it does not matter the color or the creed my promise to my sister… meaning you take care of yourself and I promise to take care of myself.“

That is her commitment, now that she has been cancer free for the past nine months.

Link to the Greater Roanoke Valley Affiliate of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation

Link to the Susan G. Komen Foundation