Every day, Sheila Gruber sees people fighting their battles against cancer.

Gruber is the administrative manager at Trident Medical Imaging in Savannah, where each day cancer patients undergo PET/CT scans.

"Some of the patients only get one study. After that, we see their names in the paper — they lost their battle," Gruber said.

Gruber, who has lived in Effingham County since 1969, is thankful her own battle with cancer did not have such tragic results.

"I am thankful for every day I wake up and plant my feet on the floor," she said. "Attitude is everything. When you think you have it bad, just look around."

During a routine yearly mammogram in December 2006, Gruber was diagnosed with breast cancer. A month later, she underwent a right breast lumpectomy at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Savannah.

Following the surgery, Gruber began her grueling radiation therapy — treatment five days a week for six weeks. She then started taking an oral chemotherapy pill to help prevent the cancer from returning – a regimen she looks forward to discontinuing when she reaches its five-year anniversaryin June.

"(The chemo pill) has side effects that make you feel like an old person – bone pain, muscle pain, weight gain and hot flashes are just some," she said. "However, I have been able to tolerate it."

She has been able to do that, she said, thanks to the never-ending support of her family. She said her daughters, grandchildren, brother and "very loving" mother have been with her every step of the way.

Most of all she credits her husband of 39 years, Walter, who has been nothing but supportive even though he is fighting a battle of his own — with multiple sclerosis.

"He has been my rock," Gruber said. "Above all else, I have a Heavenly Father who knows my every need. He has completely healed me of the breast cancer."

Not surprisingly, when Gruber participates Friday in Effingham County’s Relay For Life, it will be a family affair. Both of her daughters are members of Relay teams — Becky with Guyton Elementary School and Jennifer with Marlow Elementary — and her grandchildren will take part in the kids’ walk.

Just as they do each year, those family members will all cheer on Sheila when she joins other cancer survivors to walk the first lap of Relay For Life.

"No one is exempt from cancer. The best thought-out plans can change in a heartbeat," Gruber said. "I believe that together, someday, there will be a cure for all people and that my daughters, granddaughters and grandsons will not have to face the awful words, ‘You have cancer.’"