It’s been almost a year since Cathy O’Hagan rang the bell.

In fact, she has a little reminder and token of that day of her last treatment for cancer. “Ringing the bell was a lot of relief,” she said. “It was a lot of excitement that you made it through. But you’re nervous, I think, at that point.”

The anxiety is brought on by waiting on the results of the next test, and the notion that her mission was not yet complete without knowing if the all-clear was coming.

“It was very exciting. It was life-changing,” she said of ringing the bell.

A biopsy revealed she had stage 2 of a rare and aggressive cancer. But the mammogram allowed doctors to catch it early and begin treatment.

O’Hagan went through six weeks of radiation. She didn’t have to do chemotherapy but she has to take medication for another four years.

“The worst part,” she said, “of the whole process is that you have this foreign substance in your body. To know you have a cancer in your body and you don’t know what’s going to happen. Through my experience, you just have to enjoy today and give it to God. That’s just what you have to do.”

On her office door is a T-shirt proclaiming “Let your faith be bigger than your fear.” For O’Hagan, it’s more than just a comforting bromide. It also gave her the attitude to carry her through her diagnosis and treatment.

“You can control it, or it can control you,” she said. “And that’s how it is about everything in life.”

When the lump was first discovered, the doctors didn’t think it was serious. It was in a hidden area, where such occurrences aren’t easy to detect.

But further tests showed it was dangerous, and luckily for O’Hagan it was caught early. And it was all because she had a mammogram.

She also clearly recalls getting the call from the doctor that she had breast cancer.

“You kind of go into shock and you don’t process what the doctor said, so I came back to work,” O’Hagan said. “You make it through the day, and the next one and the next one.”

As part of her commemoration of her oneyear anniversary of meeting and defeating cancer, O’Hagan has composed a social media post, detailing her journey and recovery.

“Sometimes God walks with you, and sometimes He carries you,” she said, “but He is always there.”

O’Hagan cared for her mother, who had dementia, and didn’t take care of herself. After her mother’s passing, O’Hagan started thinking about her own health. It was her second mammogram that caught the lump.

While doctors debated for months whether she should have a biopsy, her primary care physician recommended she visit a surgeon.

When she went in for the biopsy the first time, O’Hagan fell very ill at the doctor’s office. They found out she had a torn portal vein, which runs from the gastrointestinal tracts through the pancreas and spleen and to the liver.

“I went in with a backache, a severe backache,” she said.

She also an aneurysm that burst in her stomach, and laid in the emergency room for six hours by herself and by her choice. Meanwhile, her blood pressure dropped to 75/43. She was taken for a CT scan and she was told she was going to have surgery within the hour as they also found an 8 inch by 5 inch hematoma in her stomach.

“I had minutes,” she said. “I was bleeding to death.”

Her second biopsy was for the lump in her chest. That set her on the path for radiation treatments.

She maintained a positive outlook throughout — noting she’s been accused of always having a positive outlook. Her friend the late Maryann Smith asked if she always saw the positive.

“I try to, I guess,” O’Hagan replied.

The cancer diagnosis and treatment only served to reaffirm her positive outlook.

“I was a pretty positive person before,” O’Hagan said. “But now, you treasure the little things. You find the positive in every day. I love reaching out and helping people. I just want to do that even more. I want to make a difference. I have a purpose and I want to use that purpose every day.”

O’Hagan said it was easy for her to maintain that outlook throughout her treatment.

“I can wallow in my circumstances, or I can go out and make a difference in someone else’s life,” she said. “I like telling my story to people, that it can influence in a positive manner. They need to see that everything that is challenging is not bad.”

Throughout her radiation treatments, O’Hagan never missed a day of work. She’s been at VIP Office Furniture and Supply for nearly 20 years, and she’d leave work in the afternoon for her 4 p.m. treatments in Savannah.

The support she got from VIP, O’Hagan said, was “110 percent.”

“I could have stayed out of work every day, for sure,” she said. “They have been wonderfully supportive. We’re family here. We’re not co-workers — we’re family.”

Her office has touches of breast cancer awareness, right down to a pink computer keyboard. There’s even a vase of pink flowers in her office.

There are pink notepads and she makes gift bags to promote breast cancer awareness. There are notepads with Bible verses, and even some VIP products where the O in Office has been replaced by the breast cancer awareness symbol. There are pink pens to use to remind its users of breast cancer awareness and other items with continued uplifting statements, such as “She believed she could, so she did.”

O’Hagan also is ordering cookies with pink sprinkles as part of her efforts.

Her own family gave her backing and assistance, from her husband to her children and her grandchildren.

“For some it hit a little harder, but they were very supportive in all their actions. I think even they learned that life can be short O’Hagan also is reminded of Angie Dixon, who also was diagnosed with cancer but did not survive. Dixon, who died six years ago, fought her cancer for nearly six years.

“Especially this year, I think about her,” O’Hagan said. “I think about her every single day. And she fought. She fought hard.”

It’s also inspired her to continue her positive perspective and to accept the support of those around her.

“That is so important,” O’Hagan said. “Let your family do for you. I’m not an ‘about me’ person, but this month is about me.”

O’Hagan also is quick to point out that breast cancer isn’t a disease that hits only women. While it is rare, men also can develop breast cancer.

Through her travails with the diagnosis and treatment, O’Hagan discovered some elements along the way that have helped her.

“I learned that you don’t always have to be strong,” she said. “Maybe I learned you don’t have to be strong alone. I learned it’s OK to not be strong. It’s OK to need others. I’m pretty much a private person but it’s important to tell your story.”

O’Hagan has told her story in testimony to her church, Trinity Baptist Church in Jesup. She also had to learn how to receive and accept help.

“I’m a giver,” she said. For women, and men, O’Hagan’s advice is simple and straightforward.

“Be tested. No excuses,” she said. “There are no excuses that you can’t afford it. You have to be tested.”

O’Hagan also thanks God for guiding her through her bout with cancer and bringing her out on the other side.

“Without God, there is nothing,” she said. “I thank God for every challenge He gives me because I feel He trusts me with the challenges. I try not to dwell on the negative. I just thank Him for trusting me to go through the things He lets me go through.”