Retha Brannon wakes up early enough to catch the sun rising over the Blue Ridge Mountains-something she has done since moving to Asheville, North Carolina, in 2006. It's something she plans to do every morning for a long time to come. 

Retha is an endometrial cancer survivor. But she's also much more, including an avid supporter of the arts, a collector of antiques and books, a companion to three dogs and five cats, a writer, and a storyteller.

In 2003, Retha began experiencing abnormal bleeding and other changes in her body. Her gynecologist in Tuscaloosa delivered the news that she had endometrial cancer. For treatment, Retha's physician recommended the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center. "He said, ‘I have referred you to the finest teaching hospital. It's where I would send my mother or wife,'" she recalls.

For Retha, facing treatment was a painful reminder of her late partner, Lemuel Morrison, M.D., and her struggle with cancer. They were together for 12 years when Dr. Morrison was diagnosed with lymphoma. "Lemuel was amazing, kindhearted and brilliant," says Retha, who cared for Dr. Morrison until her death in 2001.

Retha's radiologist in Tuscaloosa, Curtis Tucker, M.D., told her to remain positive. "He said he wanted me to forget everything I knew about cancer, which was difficult since I cared for someone with the disease for six years," Retha says. "But he assured me I had a completely different cancer."

Despite her diagnosis, she decided to take her niece Taylor on a trip to Europe to celebrate her college graduation. The day after she came back, she went into surgery with UAB gynecologic oncologist Michael Straughn, M.D.

"Dr. Straughn was absolutely wonderful, as were all of the physicians in that group," she says. She smiles when she describes how another UAB gynecologic oncologist, Max Austin, M.D., with whom she shares mutual friends, sat by her bedside the entire afternoon of the surgery. "Even though I had just had this major surgery, it was like old-home week!"

After recovering from surgery, Retha underwent six weeks of radiation therapy, coming to UAB five days a week. In 2005, she was diagnosed with a recurrence in her lungs, and she began a grueling chemotherapy regimen under the watch of Dr. Straughn. "There were times I was in so much pain, but I knew where I was heading-I was going to stay alive," she says. "There were too many books I hadn't read!" She received her last treatment in October 2005.

Today, Retha is cancer-free. She and her partner, Stephanie Ellrich, bought their home in North Carolina a year after she finished chemotherapy, and they spend most of their time in the mountains. "Asheville represents a new direction for me, a new phase in life," Retha says. "The community is filled with the arts, and our back view is nothing but mountains. It's marvelous." She is writing her life story and that of her family and building a cabin on the grounds of her Asheville home; now that she has more energy, she hopes to volunteer as a guardian for children in need. And in May 2007 she attended her niece's wedding.

Retha leads a life guided by a key principle of Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl, whose story she read during her radiation treatments. "He said, ‘Those who have a why to live can bear with almost any how,'" Retha says. "Even when I've struggled with staying alive, I have always had my why. I have a burning desire to live."

- Adapted from Crossroads, the magazine of the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center, Erin Street