Everyday Hero: Breast-cancer survivor Gayle King

PORTLAND, Ore. - October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and so KATU is focusing this week's Everyday Hero on a survivor who has made it her mission to give back.

Those who nominated her said it's this hero's desire to give hope to so many women facing down the devastating disease.

"I can't believe it," laughs Gayle King, this week's Everyday Hero.

King was in her mid-60s - an age when she thought she was "home free" - when she received the diagnosis of breast cancer. That was in 2003.

"You are blind-sided because you think, 'I'm having mammograms and I'm doing what I should do but....,'" King said.
     
Having been through it, and now being a volunteer for the Breast Cancer Outreach Program, through Providence, she knows that "everyone is different and every breast cancer patient is completely different" when it comes to how they take the diagnosis.

It is that knowledge and experience that draws patients to her.

"She is a survivor herself," said Dani Stern, who is living with breast cancer. "I hope that I'm going to fight it and be as strong as she is."

Stern and Kathy Placentia, who calls Stern a "fire cracker," both attend group sessions with King. Stern battled off breast cancer once, and recently learned that - after three years - her cancer is back.

"I was just re-diagnosed in June of this year," Stern said.

She said King has been her constant in the craziness that is cancer.

"You kind of grasp on to those few things, and Gayle is one of those," Stern said. "You know she is going to be there."

She'll be there not only for emotional support, but also for help wading through the immense amount of information. King said that is the whole point of the outreach program.

"It's a place where you can feel safe, and ask questions," King said. "Or at least route them to the right places to get their answers." 
 
And get support.

"We are all volunteers here," King said. "We've all had breast cancer."

King also likes to make people laugh. And she seems to be able to find the humor even in cancer.

That's why those who know Gayle King would call her a hero.
 

See more "Everyday Heroes" here.

Who's your everyday hero? Tell us about someone who has done something great for the community. Click here to nominate your hero.