APRIL 2015 $4.95O

CT 2015 $4.95

Elaine Kerr, Marybeth Hays, Amy BatesJeana Floyd

Four inspiring Northwest Arkansas breast cancer survivors share their encouraging stories of perseverance and survival.

34 OCTOBER 2015 CELEBRATEARKANSAS.COM

CELEBRATE COVER STORY

Many close friends, including Johnelle Hunt, describe Jeana Floyd as “grace under fire.” Hunt, who wrote the foreword in Floyd’s book, An Uninvited Guest, and who also played a major role in some of the most difficult times in Floyd’s life, describes this grace as “incredible, unflappable valor.” As the wife of Ronnie Floyd, senior pastor at Cross Church Northwest Arkansas and president of the Southern Baptist Convention, it’s safe to say that Jeana Floyd knows a little about grace and God’s love. Those two things, along with a lot of help from family, friends and her church congregation, were key to Floyd persevering through her journey with breast cancer in 1990.

“When this [cancer] came into my life, not fully knowing what to expect but knowing that I was in for a brand new journey, I knew I wanted to walk through it gracefully,” Floyd says. “I wanted to do everything gracefully. I wanted to lose my hair with grace and I wanted to walk through my battle with cancer gracefully in front of my children, my husband and my church.”

Grace in the face of a scary diagnosis can be hard to come by, especially as a young, healthy mother with no history of breast cancer in her family. Floyd took that fear and instead of letting it define her, decided to allow God to work through her and her family during the journey. Floyd’s husband, Ronnie, became her rock during this process and helped find the best treatment possible once doctors determined what stage of cancer they were dealing with.

“Men in particular want to fix it [whatever the problem may be],” says Floyd. “He couldn’t fix this, but he made sure that we saw the very best treatment throughout the entire process.”

Floyd and her husband also decided from the very beginning, only a few days after the initial diagnosis, that rather than have their congregation speculate about her sickness, Ronnie would get up before them that Sunday and give them the news himself. In doing so, Floyd says she felt incredibly exposed in that moment, but both husband and wife agreed they would like to control the flow of information with those most important to them, and this was the best way to do so. With both of their immediate families living in Texas at the time, both Ronnie and Jeana already thought of their congregation as their Arkansas family and they wanted to ensure that not only did they have their prayers at such an integral part of the process, but also their support in the year that followed.

“That announcement took the relationship from husband, wife and church to a whole new depth,”she says. “They [the congregation] did become like our family that day. But the shock of having to announce such a thing in front of a thousand people was hard. We chose to do that, though, because we wanted our congregation, our family, to hear it from Ronnie’s mouth so that there wouldn’t be a

Jeana Floyd, proud wife, mother and grandmother, recounts her journey from cancer to hope

by Ashley Hayre

lot of rumors floating around.”This church family only grew closer to the Floyd family each day that

year. While Floyd was undergoing chemotherapy treatments, going to doctor appointments and recovering from all the treatments she was enduring, she was also raising two young sons in the midst of it all. The church family didn’t miss a beat and banded together to provide meals for the Floyds, take their boys, Josh and Nick, to and from school and even accompanied her to chemotherapy each week.

For Floyd personally, the fear of the unknown was far scarier than her reality as a breast cancer patient. One of the most challenging times for her was losing her hair during chemotherapy — not because of vanity, but because of how exposed and public it made her battle feel. Floyd’s good friend, Johnelle Hunt, helped her through this difficult process by finding a wig shop specifically catered to chemotherapy patients in Dallas, Texas. Shortly thereafter, Hunt flew Floyd and a few friends down to Dallas on a private plane for the day, and sure enough, Floyd came back home that night with a wig.

“People using their gifts, whatever they might have been — a meal, a prayer or small encouragement — was a testament to the body of Christ functioning as it should be,” says Floyd. “As a pastor and his wife, we are used to serving others, but not so much receiving that service back. In that time, we learned what it was like to receive those gifts from others, and we were so thankful for that.”

Floyd found that one of the best ways to use her experience for the good of others after her battle with cancer was leading a support group through her church’s ministry for a few years. Not limited to just her church congregation, this group was open to the public and supported those going through cancer personally, but also those who had family members affected by cancer, as well. Floyd recognizes how hard it can be, especially for couples, to walk through a cancer diagnosis

together. With both parties trying to be strong for the other, it can be hard for them to communicate effectively about the disease and the harsh realities it can sometimes bring. In most cases, Floyd recommends that couples seek out an unbiased third party who can be a listening ear for those hard conversations that might otherwise be difficult to have with a partner.

“When you can have someone else to confide in with complete honesty on both good days and bad, it can be so valuable,” Floyd says. “A cancer patient should have a right to say anything they want one day and then completely change their mind the next. It is an extreme roller coaster for so many reasons — I even said after every chemotherapy treatment that I was never going back, but I always did. And each time, Ronnie was there saying ‘Yes, you will go back because I love you and I want you to be around to raise our children. I want you to be here to grow old with me.’”

Floyd knows that nothing in this life happens by chance and while that year more than 25 years ago might have been her hardest to date, she knows that it all happened for a reason. Looking back on that time, Floyd vividly remembers asking God to help her reprioritize her life and take a few things off her plate so she could refocus on those things most important to her. While cancer was not what she imagined, it did the trick and Floyd remains a believer in God’s divine power to teach us lessons we didn’t realize we needed.

“I accepted this [cancer] as it was from God’s hand. For whatever reason, I knew that this was His plan for my life,” Floyd says. “I prayed and asked the Lord to never let me forget the fear of the unknown, how bad it hurt and how hard the journey was for me. I never wanted to forget it and move on because I believe God taught me some critical lessons in life by going through that.”

“I wanted to walk through my battle with cancer gracefully in front of my children, my husband and my

church.” -Jeana Floyd

Jeana Floyd and Ida Freeman at NARTI, March 1990

Floyd family with all the grandkids, 2015

Jeana

35CELEBRATEARKANSAS.COM OCTOBER 2015