6/19/17 – Each year the American Cancer Society Relay for Life of the Beaver Dam area honors a cancer survivor and those who helped care for them. This years’ survivor was Beaver Dam native Lori Smith while the Honorary Caregivers were Lori’s husband Scott and seven-year-old son Nate. Lori was diagnosed with Stage Two Breast Cancer in 2013. She says she cried when telling her doctor that she had a three-year-old son at home. Her doctor told her that you have cancer but it does not have you, which has stuck with her. Lori underwent a mastectomy, chemotherapy, radiation, and reconstructive surgeries during her battle. She says she received tremendous support from family and friends. Scott would take her to multiple doctor’s appointments, her son Nate gave her a reason to get up every day and the energy she needed, and her mother would call multiple times a day to check up on her. Scott says as a caregiver he had a feeling of helplessness during his wife’s cancer. He says all he wanted to do was fix the problem. As of this past May, Lori had a normal breast MRI clearing her of all cancer. Her son Nate was thankful for his mother’s survival of cancer, the doctors that helped her, and also the muffins they ate at UW-Hospital. For the past nine years, Team Smith has organized Noel’s Angel Walk in conjunction with the WBEV-WXRO Children’s Radiothon and for the first time this year, Nate’s Lemonade Stand. The Radiothon is this Thursday.
