From cancer survivors to ‘Overcomers’

La Vernia woman reaches out to share hope after breast cancer


JENNIFER LEE PHOTOGRAPHY Paul and Genny Small live near La Vernia with their eight children — Anastasia, Alexander, Addington, Andersonn, Alizabeth, Andrew, Aaron, and Aiden. Anastasia, 16, is considering becoming an oncologist, since her mother’s battle with breast cancer.

You have cancer.

An air of unreality surrounded Genny Small, 39 at the time, and a busy mother of seven with another baby on the way, after being diagnosed with breast cancer.

She was in her last trimester, and found a lump above her right breast. Genny mentioned it to her doctor, who suggested monitoring it for a few weeks. The lump — quite firm — didn’t go away.

The diagnosis in 2014 came as a shock to the La Vernia woman.

“This is not what we had planned,” she remembers thinking.

“I was — am — pretty healthy,” Genny said. “I eat right and try to take care of myself. I’m active with my kids.”

Chasing after seven children at the time, with the oldest only 12, she got plenty of exercise, so her diagnosis was a bolt from the blue.

The home-schooling mom delivered her eighth child, baby Aiden, and began treatment.

Chemotherapy was rough, she recalled. But the double mastectomy and reconstruction were even worse. Following her reconstructive surgery, she contracted an infection.

JENNIFER LEE PHOTOGRAPHY
Genny Small, undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer, cradles her young son, Aiden. She was in her final trimester with him when she was diagnosed in 2014.

“2015 was my valley,” Genny recalled.

It took seven surgeries to clear the infection.

“It was a monster.”

The enforced inactivity and energy depletion were foreign to this busy wife and mother, whose own mother died of ovarian cancer when she was 19.

“I was never sick and always so healthy,” her voice grew quiet. “Chemo just takes you.”

Despite her lengthy battle, Genny’s longest hospital stay was only eight days. Most of her fight was on familiar turf, at home, with the support and help of her husband, Paul, and their children.

As she recovered, she dug deep into her faith, and she reached out — seeking help, a support network — while continuing to homeschool and care for her family, and simply trying to function on a daily basis. Nothing she found offered the support and encouragement with a faith basis that Genny knew would help her. She needed something more structured than a support group, with steps leading out of the darkness of the battle and into the light of recovery, rooted in her Christian faith.

And as she worked with her children on their homeschool curriculum, an idea blossomed.

She and Paul have facilitated parenting classes and were familiar with the structure of that environment. Maybe a class, rather than a support group, was the answer.

Their family’s homeschooling curriculum helped Genny identify and form the questions that had been swirling in her head, questions she knew other breast cancer survivors shared.

During treatment and recovery, this active woman of faith had encountered other survivors. Genny met with a few, and shared her questions and the idea of a new kind of support.

And Overcomers: Daughters of the King of Kings was born.

Genny ran a pilot program at the Methodist Hospital in San Antonio, and 10 women attended.

That led to the formation of a nine-week workshop for female breast cancer survivors, and the founding of a nonprofit organization. The purpose, Genny said, is to give breast cancer survivors hope. Women who have participated in the workshops return to assist with workshops for others.

“God uses everything that we go through for a greater purpose,” she said. “We want to show other women going through this that there’s hope.”

According to the Overcomers website, “These classes focus weekly on different topics and address many of the concerns that face breast cancer survivors following active treatment. Our purpose in scheduled workshops is to draw each survivor towards wholeness with God as the center of their healing.”

“Cancer was a bad time,” Genny reminds participants. “But take a look at your life. Look where God was walking with you. God is using you to be a vessel for somebody else.”

Another workshop, led by Genny’s husband, Paul — an operations specialist on Air Force One — is for spouses and caregivers.
“They usually don’t have anyone to talk to; they just take it,” Genny said, adding that spouses don’t want to express their fears or concerns to the cancer sufferer. “The class gives them a safe place to talk.”

The next spouse/caregiver workshop takes place Saturday, March 24. (See “Workshops” for more.)

Overcomers: Daughters of the King of Kings continues to grow and provide hope for breast cancer survivors. As the program and nonprofit have expanded, so have the costs of meeting the needs of survivors, their families, and caregivers.

In addition to the workshops, currently held in facilities at Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, the organization has undertaken other projects, including adopting the families of 10 cancer survivors for Christmas, providing gifts and support. Some families need monetary support, as cancer treatment takes its toll on finances, too.

They’ve held a variety of fundraisers. Their biggest is coming in April, the “Overcomers Men in Pink Gala.”

The sold-out event will include a “style show” — Men in Pink — featuring 18 doctors, nutritionists, and other men who aid breast cancer sufferers and survivors — honorees named by breast cancer survivors. Each will sport a pink tie, specially designed for the occasion by students at the Art Institute of San Antonio with the theme, “What does hope look like?” Among the honorees is Dr. Wade Krause, an orthopedic surgeon in Floresville. Some of the proceeds will help fund a survivors’ retreat Sept. 14-16 in Port Aransas; applications will open in April.

“Everyone needs to get away and heal, to step away and be quiet. … Something to help them in the tough moments, equip them with ways to cope,” Genny shared.

“We want to show women they can rebuild their lives — just as Port Aransas is rebuilding since Hurricane Harvey.”

Hope in the Word

Genny Small found herself digging even deeper into her faith than before, as she battled to overcome breast cancer.

Favorite Bible verses continue to inspire and strengthen her, such as Psalm 1, and:
•Zephaniah 3:17: “The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.”
•Romans 8:28: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”