SMITH COUNTY (KYTX) -- Nearly 70 cancer patients and survivors are spending time together this week at the Pine Cove resort outside Tyler. They're there for the East Texas Medical Center's annual "Great Getaway."
"From the first time you hear the word 'cancer,' you never hear anything else," cancer survivor Cathy Hankins said.
Almost two decades after being diagnosed with malignant cervical cancer, Hankins can name nearly everyone in the room at Pine Cove.
"Each year there's old faces," she said. "And that's the ones we look forward to seeing."
The old faces are the ones who just "get it."
"Your family and everyone don't understand," Hankins said. "They've never had cancer. You're actually communicating with someone who's had cancer, and they understand what you're going through."
Hankins' cancer is gone, but it didn't leave empty-handed.
"My husband left me," she said. "Just basically said 'I know you're dying, but you're not dying fast enough.'"
"When it first happened I was asking God 'Why me?' Then you ask God 'Why not me?' I'm no greater than anyone else," Linda Kennedy said.
Kennedy is one of the new faces. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in November.
"I try to wear everything pink to support breast cancer awareness," she said.
Kennedy and Hankins mentioned how valuable every day can be.
"Because I never know when it might be coming back," Hankins said. "I had a scare in 2005."
For now, they're here. Passing down the secrets of survival and a promise to come back next time.
"Maybe one day I'll be able to help someone else who's going through this same situation that I'm going through," Kennedy said.
