Debbie Powell: ‘We lift each other up’

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Debbie Powell (left), of Rocky Mount, attended Friday's Pink Power Luncheon at the East Carolina Agriculture and Education Center with her friend and supporter, Anthony Hopkins. Powell was diagnosed with breast cancer in July and is currently undergoing chemotherapy.

October 22, 2012

Debbie Powell: ‘We lift each other up’

Staff Writer MIRANDA BAINES The Daily Southerner Mon Oct 22, 2012, 03:12 PM EDT

TARBORO — Debbie Powell of Rocky Mount felt a kinship with the women in the room at the Pink Power Breast Cancer Luncheon Friday at the East Carolina Agriculture and Education Center on Kingsboro Road, just west of Tarboro. The luncheon was sponsored by Vidant Edgecombe Hospital as part of its month-long observance of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

“We’re sisters now and anyway we can help each other out, we lift each other up,” she said. Powell recognized that she had the power to change her breast cancer journey through a positive attitude even before hearing speaker Tina Pruitt’s empowering message.

“I’m a fighter. I’m going to show people that even though I have cancer, you can still have fun,” she said. “I’m a joker. The laughter part is always there for me.”

Powell was diagnosed with Stage III breast cancer on July 17, at the age of 51. When she heard the frightening words, “You have cancer,” she said didn’t ask, “Why me?” Her first thought was, “I’m going to beat it.” Still, finding out she had cancer came as a shock to Powell.

“It was a numbing feeling. You kinda zone out,” she said. “You don’t expect it to happen to you.”

Powell found the lump in her breast while doing a self breast exam. She was one who “did what I was supposed to do” by always getting an annual mammogram.

“Actually look at yourself. Look at your body,” Powell urges women.

Powell considers her journey with cancer her “ministry” and believes there’s a reason why she is going through this experience.

“I know that I’m going to be a testimony for others who are going through it,” she said. She keeps a positive attitude when going into chemotherapy treatments at the Vidant Edgecombe cancer center and hopes her sunny outlook is contagious.

“Just a little smile goes a long way,” she said. The atmosphere at the cancer center has made going in for treatments much more comfortable. At most doctors’ offices, you feel like “a number,” but at the cancer center you feel like “a person” and are treated as such, she said.

“When you walk in there, truly they treat you as if you’re their family,” she said. “The second day I walked in there, they remembered my name.”

Another person Powell considers family is Anthony Hopkins, friend and fellow member of Crosspoint Church in Nashville. Hopkins donned a pink tie-dye shirt and attended Friday’s luncheon with Powell.

“He’s kind of like a caregiver. If I have a need, he’s there 24/7,” she said. She called Hopkins in the middle of the night when she was “high-strung and talkative” as a side effect of the steroids she was taking in conjunction with chemotherapy.

“I’d call him and we’d shoot the breeze.” Another person who has been there through it all is Hopkins’ 20-year-old son, Steven.

“We’re comical. He cuts up with me,” she said. She called her friends and family who have seen her through her cancer journey “my earthly angels.”

More than anything else, Powell’s faith in God has helped her stay strong since her cancer diagnosis.

“I put my faith in God in everything,” she said. “I’ve had the peace through it all, which has been awesome.”

“Peace Like a River” is the song that describes Powell’s faith; it’s also the song that she asked the children at the First Baptist Church daycare in Rocky Mount to sing to her after her first chemotherapy treatment. Powell will return to her job at the daycare after she finishes her treatments, with her last chemotherapy session scheduled Nov. 8. After that, she will begin radiation.

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