CARE POWER HOUR: Kathy Shirley says to ‘keep fighting, never give up’

By JENNIFER MOONSONG
Glasgow News 1

Kathy Shirley celebrated her 72nd birthday this summer, and, adorned in a red lace blouse — because she says red is her “power color” — with her inch-long salt and pepper hair, she has a distinct sparkle in her eye. Where does the sparkle come from? Her mind-over-matter approach to life.

“Life gave me lemons, and I turned it into lemonade… with a little shot of vodka,” she laughed.  The life-long Metcalfe County resident and widow of 18 years has become a true believer when it comes to a positive mindset.  

“I’ve got through this, I can get through anything.  If you can conquer something in your mind, you can conquer it,” Shirley said.  “This” meaning an unexpected cancer diagnosis, seven rounds of chemo, 30 rounds of radiation and a year of immunotherapy. If Shirley sounds like she knows no negative, it is doubly true when she considers that even finding out about the cancer was a streak of good luck.

“It was one of those fortuitous things. I went to my great nephew’s sixth birthday party at Ben and Jessica Wells, carrying a heavy package in one hand and a heavy purse in another, and going up the brick steps I fell.  It hurt my hands and my arms. But going home, I realized my side hurt, too.  It was a Sunday, so I waited it out and went to the doctor the next day.

“They did an X-ray, sent me to a pulmonologist, and the next thing you know, I learned that yes there were spots on my lungs, and yes, they were malignant,” she said.

Dr. Omar Mahmoud made the initial diagnosis and soon she was being treated by Dr. William Tyree and Dr. Yashpal Modi.

“The three of them saved my life,” she said.  The initial diagnosis came in November of 2022, and she has just finished the last of her immunotherapy treatment.  It has been a difficult year and a half, but nothing she could not handle. 

At first, Shirley admits she didn’t get all the hype when it came to chemotherapy treatments, but soon changed her mind. “It was little rough, the chemo,” Shirley said.  

“I had my second treatment on a Thursday, and by Saturday I could barely walk.  I thought I was going to have to crawl to the bathroom,” she said. However, that didn’t keep her from staying on the sunny side.  At first, she didn’t think her hair was going to fall out, but it eventually did, and at her brother’s home she used his clippers to shave her head. Since then she has kept her hair short because of the compliments she’s received.  

Prior to the diagnosis and retirement, Shirley worked at Edmonton Elementary as a teaching assistant for many years.  Prior to her husband Tommy Lane Shirley’s (aka Boerwinkle) death, they enjoyed music and riding the Harley. “We spent a lot of time at Backstage Music, he played in a band called The Lowdown Pesky Buzzards,” Shirley reminisced.  So, she had many lifelong friends.

More than the complication of chemo and radiation, the thing she struggled with the most was the sympathy of those she knew.  “People who meant very well kept telling me my color was good. I wondered, what did they expect my color to be?” She laughed.  

“The sympathy was the hardest part.  I knew I was okay. I knew I would make it. To me everything in life is about attitude.  I joked my way through all of this.  You can’t take anything too seriously,” she said.

That is not to say life has been a bed of roses. Aside from cancer, life in recent years has had other challenges.  Shirley’s oldest brother died of heart disease, and her other brother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer near the time of her diagnosis and died in October of 2023.  Now, her last remaining sibling, her sister Betsy, has been diagnosed with lung cancer.

“She is going to beat it, we will beat it together.  She has just finished her five rounds of radiation,” she said.

During treatment Shirley kept her troubles mostly to herself. 

“I didn’t share it, I didn’t put anything about it on Facebook, but I am going to be talking more about it.  We need to talk about it, because talking changes things… maybe they will find a cure,” Shirley said.  

“My plan is just to enjoy life.  Don’t stress so much over things I can’t change.  Wake up and have a good day every day.  If I want to stay up all night, I stay up all night. If I want to lay in bed with my cat Cocoa and read all day, we do it. My sister Betsy and I are spending a lot more time together now, and she lives in Glasgow,” Shirley said.  “I’ll go over for lunch, and sometimes I just go on and stay all night. We’ve talked about more things, we have told each other more secrets and we love being sisters.  Sometimes we just sit up and talk about life ’til 1 in the morning.”

Shirley also has another distinct, stand-out new part of her look. On her right wrist, three words have been tattooed in bold, black ink: Brave, strong, badass.  “It is my cancer tattoo. It says who I am,” Shirley said.  

Another positive transformation resulting from the cancer is a change in tastes, in more than one way. “It has taught me to love fruit.  For three months it was all I could stand to eat, and I ate apples, oranges and apple sauce.  I still eat it every day.  And I use to only wear yoga pants and UK T-shirts, but now my sister insists I get dressed up and we go out,” Shirley said.

She feels she has a new lease on life. “I might be 72, but I feel about 50 physically and I have the sense of humor of a 12-year-old boy,” she said.

She  wears a very meaningful bracelet around her wrist’ A gift from Betsy. “It is Morse Code,” Shirley said.  It says to fudge cancer, only… it doesn’t say  fudge.  It is a reminder to Shirley and those who love her that she is a fighter.

“Keep fighting, never give up,” Shirley said.  

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CARE Power Hour is an event to celebrate cancer survivors, their families, caregivers, providers, and friends. The lavender ribbon is a general symbol of awareness for all cancers. It serves as a unifying symbol, promoting empathy and support for anyone affected by cancer regardless of the specific type. Proceeds from CARE Power Hour directly benefit Community Medical Care’s Breaking Barriers to Care Program, which provides assistance to cancer patients for the most common barriers to care such as transportation and supplemental nutrition.