“I don’t want to be the statistic. I want to be the inspiration.”

After six months of chemotherapy for breast cancer, Cheryl Boatman was too weak to wash dishes, let alone drive a car.

“I didn’t know if I had enough strength to go up to Warm Beach Camp for last spring’s women’s retreat. When I drove up, I was so dizzy I couldn’t sit up straight.

A man from her church unloaded the wheelchair from the back of her car and pushed Cheryl to the main meeting area. At Warm Beach, she rode in style over smooth, level paths.
At the retreat, Cheryl met Warm Beach staffer Laurie Fertello, a survivor of ovarian cancer.

“Laurie was the first to greet me and pray with me, and other people followed. Some women who saw my bald head looked scared, and that’s when I would reach out and hug them,” says Cheryl. “That weekend, I felt renewed; I felt God’s Spirit.”

Today, she looks forward to every day of life.

“I don’t want to be the statistic. I want to be the inspiration. I would rather be the person who survives.”