‘Thank God for cancer,’ is how Hudson titles her story

Thank God for cancer’ is the title to my testimony.’”

That’s the first that Patty Hudson will tell you.

Hudson is now four years cancer free. “Healed” is inscribed on the pink license plate on the back of her car. “Healed by God,” she said as she told of her journey that began October 2012.

Her husband, Zollie E. Hudson, had already started working in the Wiregrass where the couple had purchased a home. Patty Hudson was still working and living in Florida when she went in for a routine mammogram.

The routine procedure took a turn with the news that she needed to return for further testing. “You know how you plan out your life, we all do it,” Patty Hudson said.

The further testing revealed that Patty Hudson had Stage 2 breast cancer. “And it was like I just walked into a dark tunnel.

“They just started talking to me, sending me here, there and everywhere,” Patty Hudson remembered. “And all I wanted to do was get out of the office where I was and call (her husband).”

Patty called her husband at work. “And after I talked to him I just stopped and said ‘God I don’t know why I’m walking through this valley, but I’m giving you control over it and it’s not my will but your will.’”

His wife’s cancer diagnosis was difficult for Zollie Hudson, particularly since she was still living about four hours away. Also, his mother had died in March 2011 from breast cancer. “She had gotten it four or five years prior to that and she had it whipped that time,” Zollie Hudson said. “But it had come back.”

Patty Hudson underwent six chemotherapy treatments. “The first three chemo treatments I got the sickness, lost the hair, got nauseated but my biggest problem was just weakness,” Patty Hudson said. “I had no energy.

“After the first (chemo) treatment I told them, ‘I’m great. God’s got this. God healed me, he’s just waiting for y’all to get through,’” Patty Hudson said. “I have a shirt that says, ‘Treated by oncologists, healed by God.’

“People would ask me how I was feeling and I’d say ‘Vertical and ventilating, today is a good day,’” Patty Hudson said. “My advice would be love one another, treat each other right and look at the positive.

“You know some people say the glass is half full and some people say the glass is half empty?” Patty Hudson said. “I say, ‘Just thank God you have a glass.’”

“I have to say that if I had a title for my testimony it would be ‘Thank God for cancer,’’ Patty Hudson said. “I know a lot of people think that’s a really strange way to put it but we get complacent in this world. We plan three and four years down the road without taking time to smell the roses, to see the wildflowers on the side of the road, to play with grandkids, to tell them you love them.

“I have walked by faith through it all and the only thing I can tell people is trust God,” Patty Hudson said, adding that her next doctor’s visit will be her five year cancer-free anniversary. “God’s got this.”

Zollie Hudson can’t say exactly how long the couple has been married. “Too long,” he said laughing before quickly amending his statement to “Not long enough.”

He shakes his head remembering a Thanksgiving when he returned to Florida to pick his wife up after she had undergone a round of chemotherapy. “I didn’t say anything to her that night, I didn’t say anything to her until after she got moved up here,” Zollie Hudson said. “The best I could describe it is she looked like death warmed over.”

The outpouring of prayers and support from great friends is what gives him strength, he said. “One day at a time, that’s all He ever promises us,” Zollie Hudson said. “Take it in stride, set your sight on the other end and keep on going.”

His wife nods in agreement. “Through it all I think, ‘Thank God for cancer’ because it taught me to look at the little things in life and not worry about materialistic things,” Patty Hudson said. “Cancer taught me to slow down and to smell the roses, to watch the wildflowers bloom, watch the seasons change and to love those that are near and dear to me because none of us have the promise of tomorrow.”