she was 18, only a month after marrying her husband, Wendell. She first noticed a lump shortly before her wedding, but her doctor dismissed it as nothing to worry about. However, it turned out to be something much worse.
“ It was called‘ reticulum cell sarcoma.’ And online, the Mayo Clinic website will tell you that people would live after diagnosis and surgery from six to 24 months with that kind of a diagnosis. And I’ ve now lived going on 71 years.”
Her diagnosis came before the advent of chemotherapy, and she was put through cobalt treatment. But she came through the other side stronger. And it may have made her strong enough for her second diagnosis 30 years later— this time with ovarian cancer— calling her chemotherapy treatments the darkest point of her life. But just like before, she made it out the other side alive.
Williams had the opportunity to give back when was invited to speak alongside other ovarian cancer survivors at the University of Arizona, where she was a part of the Survivors Teaching Students program.
“ Because there isn’ t any good screening test for ovarian cancer and the symptoms are very vague,” Williams said.“ I heard some of the other presentations over the years. They had … different symptoms than I did, so the idea is that these future doctors, if they have a patient who has vague symptoms they don’ t at least think about it might be, you know, it might be ovarian cancer.”
Williams was inducted into the Iowa 4-H Hall of Fame in 2002 as a capstone to a job that nothing would stand in the way of.
“ So my thinking is that God had a plan, and I think it was my job,” she said.“ That that was what I was supposed to do.”
2025 Senior Lifestyles • 12