"You don't have to be politically knowledgeable…you just have to care."

"I tell way too much," confessed Celebration on the Hill Ambassador Cathy Barnard. "I have two living children, a grandchild, I'm married, and I'm an accountant for three companies in Tremont (Illinois). I'm president of the commerce association in our town, and a past elected official."

When asked about her life in politics, she laughed and divulged her true motivation: "I just love to have a good time!"

But Barnard, 56, has seen some bad times. She lost her father at 16.

"That's how I start my survivor story," she said. "And my daughter died from a birth defect when I was 25...and then my husband was killed — he was a policeman and he was shot to death when I was 30. And then my second husband and I lost our only child to a birth defect when I was 34."

Although she admits it was tough, "It makes you who you are," she said. "That's who I am and that's what I have to bring with me into any given situation — those memories. Or what I've learned from those moments. And all we have to do is try to learn from what happens to us."

Christmas Day 1990, Barnard's mother called and said she might have cancer.

"No one in our family had ever had cancer," she said. She credited her mother with helping her through difficult times. "I was devastated at he thought of losing her. Well, 18 days later she did died from her cancer surgery.

"When I wasn’t feeling good about a month later, I thought, well maybe there's a little something more to this." She went to the doctor, and was told she was fine.

"I knew better because I was fat — I weighed 170 pounds, and I'm pretty short," she said. "So I joined a health club."

During a workout, Barnard checked her heart rate — and felt a lump in her neck. When she called the doctor's office, she was told the lump was probably caused by an infection. "Just keep an eye on it," she said she was told. "I kept a hand on it," she said, "because I kept doing my heart rate check. Finally I didn’t call him back, I just went in."

Six weeks after her mother died, Barnard was told she had squamous cell cancer. She was 44 at the time.

One of the first things she did was make a list of everyone she knew that had cancer who was alive. She added her own name.

"That was a positive message," she said. "I wanted to stay on that list."

She had three surgeries. "The first one to verify that I had cancer, the second one to locate the primary tumor, and the third one, which was about eight hours long." In that operation, doctors removed the tumor, which was located where her tongue attached to her throat. "Then they reattached my tongue. It's in my mouth — crooked — and pretty short. And I have a steel plate in my jaw," she said.

"You're getting a good ugly picture of me, that's for sure!" she laughed.

"They do all these things in the surgery to tear you apart, then you go home and get well," she said. "Then they give you treatments. And then it starts all over again. But I thought at a 103 [pounds], I looked pretty good. But now that I look back at those pictures, no one should weigh 103."

"I learned to speak all over again," Barnard said. "I had to go to physical therapy." Because of the muscles that were removed in the surgery, even her ability to move her arms was affected. In September, she returned to work. "I couldn’t talk, couldn’t eat, was very ashamed of how I looked because I couldn’t cover up my scars with clothing," she said.

She said she talked with her hand over her mouth for a long time. During that time, someone suggested she get involved with Relay For Life. Through Relay, she said, "The American Cancer Society (ACS) has given me an avenue to talk about what's happened to me and deal with what's happened to me and perhaps in the process, help others. They've allowed me to take down that hand and share what's gone on in my life, and since then there's always something new going on."

She has chaired Relay For Life in Tazewell County-Pekin, for two years. Barnard is also involved in the ACS' Tell A Friend program.

The first time she went to Relay and walked in the survivor's lap, she said she couldn’t' figure out why people were clapping. "I had done nothing, but then I realized it was the hope that I gave everyone that was there," she said.

"We survivors represent what the ACS stands for — hope, progress, answers. I think that's why it's important that we be involved — because we send that message to the rest of the world. If you hear those words, 'you have cancer,' you too, can be alive.

"As I tell my story, I always tell how lucky I am," she said. She believes she's alive today, she said, because she found the lump and was persistent with her doctor. "You have the power, and you need to utilize that power in your health care."

If she had not, she said, she would have missed too much — seeing her son play high school football, and later graduate from the Chicago Police Academy; and be in her daughter's wedding.

"I have a new grandson!" Barnard said. "There's just things in life I would’ve missed out on, and I'm thankful for every day that I have.

"Unfortunately, there are not a lot of people that have the type of cancer that I do, so its very hard to find people to talk with about it," she said. She said she hoped more people facing cancer — any type of cancer — will talk about it. "It's really a good thing to do, to talk about what's happened to you."

And so Barnard took her story to Washington, DC. "For a political person like me, this is the most fun thing you can do!"

She said Celebration on the Hill was beyond her expectations — "a truly breathtaking sight. The number of survivors present gave way to an awe-inspiring feeling of love and promise.

"Every day a lawmaker makes a decision that affects you," Barnard said. Its important for people to realize they can influence those decisions by calling, emailing, and writing letters to their legislators, she said. "You don't have to be politically knowledgeable to do this; you just have to care."