By Elaine Marze
here are survivors in this world who live through adversity and illness but then there are people who survive calamity and disease with an amazing grace that inspires observers. Marie McDaniel Green, born in 1926, is a three-time cancer survivor who has encouraged and motivated her family and friends by the way she has moved forward with elegance and love of life, uncomplaining through the hardships and effects of debilitating treatments
This 96-year-old mother of three, grandmother to six, great-grandma to 15, and
great-great-grandma to one, was married to the late Rayburn Dee Green for 68 years. Losing her husband was a very difficult trial, but to this cancer survivor, becoming a widow was just another ordeal she overcame with prayer and the support and love of her family.
Green’s first bout with cancer was when she was in her late 20s with three small children. She had just lost her mother to colorectal cancer when she was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, so she depended on her mother-in-law to keep the kids while she was hospitalized. “I was pretty much out of it during that time, so I really didn’t know who all was taking care of my kids, but my mother-in-law stepped up,” she said. “My husband had to work.”
She thinks she inherited cancer from her mother’s side of the family. “Several of them died from cancer,” Green explained. “All you can do is follow the doctor’s orders the best you can and depend on the Lord to help you make it through.” After radical thyroid surgery, she took oral medication for several years and returned to working at Queensboro Baptist Church. She raised her children and became a grandmother over the next 38 years, cancer free.
This intrepid lady worked as a bookkeeper for Lakeshore Drug Store before being diagnosed with breast cancer in 1998. She underwent more surgery followed by mega doses of chemo and radiation. After her second chemo treatment, Green suffered a chemo induced heart attack. There was a pause in chemo for several weeks before she resumed treatments, suffered the effects, and continued with her job, while also volunteering at First Baptist in Benton as the church librarian.
Green has had other challenging physical issues, including cancer of the uterus, but she has continued to enjoy her life, her family, and friends. “There were times when I didn’t think I’d make it,” she said, “but I knew complaining wouldn’t help. My mother was a good Christian woman who raised me up right, and I just stayed with it.”
She moved to The Oaks in Shreveport three years ago where she serves as the recording secretary for The Oaks Healthcare Center’s residential board. It’s not the same as being home, she said, but “I’ve made new friends, and they have Bingo. A lot of the older people don’t have family like I do so Bingo is a real good thing for them, and we recently had an ice cream party. That was a real treat that all the older people enjoyed. We even had sprinkles.”