Home Branch resident Jeannie Geddings is known to most in Clarendon County as a mail carrier in the Summerton area.
But she will also tell anyone who will listen that "God spared (her) life" after she was diagnosed with lymphoma several years ago.
"I believe there was a reason that I was spared, and it was to raise four more children," she said Friday night at Clarendon County Relay for Life, which was held at Manning High School's Ramsey Stadium. "Two have grown and gone. One is here with me tonight and the youngest one lives with his mom after I helped keep him for a while."
Geddings proudly introduced Daniela Cervantes, one of the children she has welcomed into her home since undergoing treatments nearly a decade ago for lymphoma, one of the types of blood cancers. About half of the blood cancers for which Americans are diagnosed each year are lymphomas, cancers of the lymphatic system.
This system, composed of lymph nodes in the human neck, armpits, groin, chest and abdomen, removes excess fluids from the human body and also produces immune cells.
Abnormal lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell that fights infection, become lymphoma cells, which multiply and collect in the lymph nodes. Over time, these cancerous cells impair the immune system.
These days, Geddings said she is enjoying remission.
"I'm doing good. I went to the doctor about a month ago," she said of her quarterly appointments.
Asked what Relay for Life means to her, Geddings said "community."
"It's a chance for us to all get together and celebrate that we've survived," she said. "And we also get to celebrate the memory of those who weren't as fortunate. But I still like to think they won their battles. They are healed, just in a different way."
