Shirley Campbell greets each new day as a survivor, remembering exactly when her life changed.

She was at her brother’s church in September of 2000, and opened her mouth to sing with the rest of the congregation — and couldn’t get her breath.

When the symptoms continued for a few days, Campbell, who lives in Spout Spring, went to the doctor. Lung cancer was the furthest thing from her mind. She had quit smoking five years before after a lifetime of the addiction.

The doctor gave her the news, and she went numb. At the time, she didn’t think about what she was up against. She didn’t think about herself. She just thought about her family and how hard it would be on them.

Three days after her diagnosis, she woke early and sat quietly on her recliner sofa to pray.

“I just remember sitting there, praying for help,” she said. “And then all of a sudden, it was just like He touched me, like He laid a hand on my shoulder and said everything was going to be OK.”

The experience filled Campbell with a soothing sense of calmness that would last her entire ordeal.

“I just knew then. I just knew that everything was going to be OK.”

That faith, and the love and support of her family and doctors, got Campbell through the toughest time of her life. She started chemotherapy and radiation treatments for the cancer in October of that year and continued until January 2001. Throughout it all, she continued to exercise, walking 12 miles a week — when she wasn’t sick from the chemo.

Every time she had a treatment, Campbell had to drive from Appomattox to her doctor’s office in Lynchburg for the chemotherapy treatment. Then she’d have to wait for her radiation therapy at Virginia Baptist Hospital.

Centra Health is hoping to make life easier for patients like Campbell with plans for a new comprehensive cancer center offering both chemotherapy and radiation therapy services. The facility is expected to be finished by the second half of 2007.

“Centra's goal is to provide the best possible cancer care services for our community," said Curt Baker, director of cancer care services. “Comprehensive cancer treatment will be provided in a single location at the Alan B. Pearson Regional Cancer Center now under construction.  State of the art radiation oncology and chemotherapy will be available, along with a wide range of physical, emotional, and spiritual support services."

About 40 percent of Centra Health’s patients receive chemotherapy and radiation treatment at the same time, and like Campbell, they must often drive to several locations during one day to receive care. That will change with the new combined facility.

Centra Health also has begun a new program for thoracic patients, which is modeled after the breast cancer program already in place. A full-time nurse works with lung cancer patients to help them navigate the system and receive the best possible care.

Campbell thanks her faith for her survival, but she also knows how important it is to receive top-notch medical care.

“The attitude people have at the doctor’s office is so important,” she said. “They helped me believe in myself.”

In March 2001, the doctor told Campbell her latest scan came back clean.

“I just looked at him,” she said. “It was all gone. I was elated.”

Today, five years after her first diagnosis, Shirley Campbell says she’s a better person, and a stronger person. At 70, she values every moment with her husband Norman and her family.

“Life is so precious,” she said. “You have to treasure every minute of it. You don’t have time to be angry and mad about the little things in life that don’t amount to anything. Worrying isn’t going to get us anywhere or solve anything. You have to be happy and meet things head on.”

Her daughter, Lisa Everhart, has a hard time finding Mother’s Day cards without crying.

“My mom is one of the strongest people I’ve ever known, spiritually and physically. The first thing she said to me after she was diagnosed was that she was going to be OK, and here I was falling to pieces,” she said. “She’s always been a strong woman, but this proved it even more.”

When Shirley pops out of bed each morning, grateful for the chance to see another day, she looks in the mirror at a different woman — not a woman who had cancer, but a woman who beat cancer. A survivor.

Staring back at her is a woman who loves life. A woman who uses the push mower to cut her grass, not because she has to, but because she can. A woman who treasures her friends and loved ones. A woman who embraces new acquaintances. A woman whose strength has inspired her family, her doctors and herself.

“The doctor told me I was a walking miracle,” she said. “If that doesn’t make you wake up and be thankful, I don’t know what will.”