Salem woman authors a book on breast cancer
When longtime Salem residents Sandra Beard and her husband, Harry Beard, sold their house on Riverside Drive and moved to Florida in 2000, things didn’t go exactly as planned. Their planned business flopped, they were without health insurance, and Sandra learned she had breast cancer after she’d put off a visit to the doctor for almost a year.Her struggle with cancer was nothing new, but she hopes that her bright outlook and funny take on life might be able to help other women with breast cancer. She wrote a book about her experience called “Laugh When I Cry.”
“Maybe that by me having cancer, my purpose was supposed to be going around and making people laugh instead of crying because of cancer,” Sandra said. Her humor is really down to earth and details her whole experience with breast cancer.
Even when she talks about her old basement on Riverside Drive (they now live travel and live in their RV, staying on Catawba Mountain when in Salem), she remembers how she used to invite her friends over to swim when it really started raining hard, especially in the floods of 1985 and 1992.
Her tone, both in writing and speaking, when she talks about having cancer is just about the same. From a mother deemed a “chatty Kathy” by her children, and from a woman that’s been ”been through everything, you name it,” she’s experienced her fair share of troubles. A few include: a tornado, five hurricanes, being inside a bank during a robbery, and many, many more. Beard wants to share some of her blunt and boisterous humor in the hopes that it might reach out to someone struggling with their fight against cancer.
“If I didn’t laugh at life – not at cancer, because cancer is a cruel, it’s wicked and it’s horrible … I’d crawl in a corner and cry and die,” she said. “I want other women to realize that there is life after cancer.”
Here’s an excerpt from the book:
“Even though I had completed a few college courses, I had not taken ‘Hospital Signs 101.’ … It would have been better if they had labeled the floors. ‘Follow the Yellow Brick Road’ as they did for Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. I stopped for a moment and began to imagine all the hall ways painted in this manner. Yellow bricks for all patients needing urine lab work, red bricks for patients with blood lab work, and blue bricks for mammograms, the coldest place in the hospital … The nurse gave me one of those gowns that caused ‘butt pneumonia’ – the one with the opening in the back, to put on.”
For more information, email barefoot39@att.net or go to www.lulu.com and search the book’s title “Laugh When I Cry.”
Beard is also a frequent visitor to the site www.blogforacure.com. It’s pretty much what it says: a blogging site for cancer patients and cancer survivors to share their experiences.
October 22, 2009 - 2:12 PM
I am so proud of Sandi and I hope she can get positive out look to womem that may need it. My husband’s previous wife died of cancer because she did not believe in going to doctors and it was very hard for him to deal with.
Thank you Sandi for trying to help.
DEAR SANDY,
YOU ARE A TRUE LIGHT IN EVERYONE YOU TOUCH. EVEN THOUGH OUR FAMILY HAS JUST KNOWN YOU SINCE THE POOL OPENED THIS YEAR AT THE MOOSE LODGE WE FEEL YOU WILL ALWAYS BE A FRIEND. YOUR HEART IS ONE OF THE WARMEST I HAVE EVER HAD THE PLEASURE TO MEET. EVERYTIME I SEE YOU I TELL ROGER THAT I WANT TO BE JUST LIKE YOU ONE DAY. I ADMIRE YOU DEEPLY AND ENJOY THE SPIRIT OF LIFE YOU HAVE. I WILL TRULY BE HONORED TO HAVE YOU AS A FRIEND FOREVER.
YOUR FRIEND FOR LIFE,
TAMMIE JO WOOLWINE
I have know Sandy from Salem Bank & Trust where we both worked in the ’80′s & 90′s. I cried with her when her home on Riverside flooded and she was so brave. She has put up with a lot in her life but she always had a smile and was great at customer service. Her customers loved her. Her husband Harry and my husband (Lonnie Sturgill-died in ’83) went to school together to learn to drive the BIG RIGS..and were CB buddies. Lonnie liked him a lot-the feeling was mutual. I also moved to Florida..remarried…after 11 years left the guy and moved back to Salem, my home town, where I ran into Sandy & Harry one night at the Roke Moose Lodge..She had not changed..still beautiful inside and out. She is one of the bravest women I have the privilege of calling a friend. May God continue to bless her for the rest of her life..& we will meet in Heaven some day. We never know what heartache lies before us..me in the death of my daughter Kim from heart failure at the age of 45. Always give praise to the Lord for he is our Heavenly Doctor and can heal and dry our tears when we turn in trust, belief and prayer to him. I love u Sandy..you are the best!!! Keep all those funny & great e-mails coming to me. Call me anytime you need me. LOL xoxox Ruth
Sandy’s humor and love for life is infectious, I am truly lucky and honored to have become friends with Sandy and Harry at the campground this year. I will always remember our night of singing “I Am Woman Hear Me Roar” although we would like to forget that singing, we had FUN!
I met Sandy a few months ago at the Moose Lodge. Even though we were strangers she automatically made me feel like we have been friends for years. “Laugh when I cry” was a heart warming book. After I had finished reading it I lent it to my grandmother. She is 90 yrs old and lost both of her breasts to cancer. My grandmother was very touched by this book. I would like to thank sandy for writing this book and sharing her experience. It makes me realize in times of sorrow and struggle that life goes on.
Thank you Sandy!
Emily
I am so proud and honored to know Sandy Beard, She is an awesome friend. I love being around her, she has a warm heart and always smiling. Sandy you are the best and I know God will continue to bless you for the rest of your life.
Your friend Mary Henninger
Great job Sandy… We are very proud of you.
Blessings!