Six months ago, Sheri Raley, a 28-year mammography technician, found out she had breast cancer, but what has been overwhelming, she said, is the support and love she’s gotten from her church family and coworkers. This Saturday, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. will be the Sheri Raley Healing Ride, put together by Tiawania Zajac of Milton First Assembly of God’s Assembled by Faith motorcycle ministry, starting at the church, 6163 Dogwood Drive. The cost is $15 per rider and $5 per passenger. All the money will go to Raley for medical expenses and lost wages.
Raley has received a great deal of support from her church family where she and her husband, John, are the music ministers. Raley said church members brought several meals to them. “I eventually had to say we were blessed enough,” she said. A group of church ladies, Raley said also took her out to dinner and gave her scarves, hats, and purses.
Zajac said she knew the Raleys would need help financially with medical bills and lost time at work. “She used up her leave for chemo,” Zajac said, “and will be on COBRA (insurance).”
Raley said she’s also more than happy with the support from her coworkers. “On a scale of 1 to 10, they’re a 15. I could not have a better group of coworkers from administration to staff to the doctors,” Raley said. As a mammography technician with breast cancer, Raley said she’s answered a lot of questions from patients. “They wonder what’s going on. I don’t mind the questions, anything I can do to help,” she said. Raley found the lump during a self examination, she said, a year out from her last mammogram. She said she encourages all women to do the same at least once a month.
Raley said she just finished her second round of chemotherapy, necessary due to the size of the tumors. The chemo, she said, affected every part of her body, from head to toe and all five senses. She said she couldn’t even walk from the chemo-induced neuropathy. Today is her last day of work, she said, before going into surgery. The prognosis, she said, is good. The doctors feel good about it, she said, and are talking cure. Through talking about it all, Raley remains cheerful. She said, “I’m going through it either way, so I may as well have a good attitude.”
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Motorcycle ride to support breast cancer victim