Longtime Pine Bluff resident Ginny Clement recounted a time when she envisioned living a wonderful life – being healthy and happily married with three children, all born during healthy pregnancies.
Then she discovered a lump in her breast. Talking with her doctor at the time, Clement was assured lumps take time to disappear.
She sought another doctor for a second opinion, but the opinion was the same. Turns out, the lump stayed with her for two years.
“Don’t fault these people,” Clement said, keynoting the annual Pretty in Pink! luncheon at the White Hall Community Center on Wednesday.
The event, sponsored by the Jefferson Regional Foundation and Relyance Bank, raises awareness of breast cancer each October.
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Pine Bluff did not have an oncologist at the time, so Clement, then 28, went to visit one in Little Rock on a Friday. She was told to return to the office Monday morning for a biopsy.
“A biopsy was sent to the laboratory and (the lump) proved to be malignant, after all,” Clement said. Her lymph nodes around the breast were “75% involved,” she said.
“One doctor simply said, ‘The tiger is out,'” Clement said. “I didn’t believe for one second this was anyone’s fault because I wasn’t concerned about that. I believe everyone involved followed protocol, but we still had huge problems.”
Decades before Pine Bluff would be home to a cancer center, let alone an oncologist, Clement drew the support of family, friends and fellow church members and relied strongly on her faith to help her in the breast cancer fight to come. Even those whom she didn’t know but had her on their prayer lists came to her house and circled around her bed in prayer.
“It was a very sweet time, and inside I felt as if my body had been turned inside out,” Clement said. “My spirits began to grow into excitement, and I wasn’t expecting so much uplifting.”
Met with enthusiasm the following morning, Clement reached for her Bible when a page fell from it. On that page was Psalm 91. The first verse reads, in the New Living Translation: “Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.”
Clement folded the page down to a 1-inch square and took it with her, not wanting to let go of it even before undergoing another scan. The oncologist told Clement she had a 4% chance of survival, a pure miracle needed, it was explained.
A kindergarten teacher-turned-degreed health educator, Clement has now been a breast cancer survivor for 42 years. Pine Bluff is also home to a CARTI Cancer Center, opened in 2020, and Jefferson Regional’s Jones-Dunklin Cancer Center, opened in 2022.
Wayne Harris, Jefferson Regional’s director of imaging services, updated the attendees on cancer screening and other technological advances at the hospital. Jefferson Regional recently was awarded a grant to pay for uninsured and underinsured patients to receive mammograms.
“There is really no excuse for barriers that exist that should prevent you or your loved ones from receiving care they need,” Harris said.
The luncheon was just one of many activities in Pine Bluff raising awareness of breast cancer this week. On Saturday a Pretty in Pink! 5K walk and run event will begin and end at Jefferson Regional, with the start time set for 8 a.m. Later that day a 2K Legacy Walk honoring Billie Jean “BJ” Jackson will take off from the Saracen Landing pavilion at 9 a.m. Vendors, entertainment, health screenings and education on the disease will be offered at the 2K Legacy Walk.
To honor all who survived and are fighting, Clement rang a bell – a glass dinner bell – and encouraged the breast cancer “warriors” to utilize services locally and find prayer warriors of their own.
“You have the best. Please use them. Don’t wait,” Clement said. “Things have changed. You can be saved so much quicker, I feel.”
Mary Ann Kizer, foreground, is recognized as a breast cancer survivor of 32 years. In the background is Jennifer Hartsfield, a breast cancer survivor of 2.5 years. (Pine Bluff Commercial/I.C. Murrell)
From left: Trina Jackson, Shari Raymick and Brandy Mullikin attend the Pretty in Pink! luncheon. (Pine Bluff Commercial/I.C. Murrell)
From left: Jennifer Hartsfield, Julie Shorts, Laura Nixson, Brandy Baugh and Courtney Stanton attend the Pretty in Pink! luncheon. (Pine Bluff Commercial/I.C. Murrell)
Sissy’s Log Cabin founder Sissy Jones holds a placard noting her 11 years of breast cancer survival. (Pine Bluff Commercial/I.C. Murrell)
A bouquet of pink flowers hangs over the dining area at the Pretty in Pink! luncheon. (Pine Bluff Commercial/I.C. Murrell)