Relay for Life Spotlight: Moody Drugs

By Lora Scripps The Leeds News

MOODY — Moody Drugs, located inside Food Giant in Moody, has been a supporter of Leeds/Moody Relay for Life since the beginning. The Moody Drugs family is a bronze sponsor for the event, but those who work at pharmacy believe the fight against cancer is a yearlong event.

Pharmacist Robby Jennings said one of the things that happens at that location is that they help people go through the process of finding out they have cancer and then help them deal with it on a very personal level.

“Deitra Terry, my technician here is a survivor,” he said. “It is something that is very near and dear to us. I can attest to seeing her help people who have just found out and giving them hope. She lets them know the ‘C’ word isn’t what it used to be and there is a lot more hope now. I have seen her really minister to people.”

Sometimes, Moody Drugs is the second stop for individuals who have just got out of the doctor’s office after finding out they have cancer.

Terry said she knows that feeling and that she is a breast cancer survivor who is now 10 years out. She said back then her doctor was hounding her to get a breast exam, but she kept putting it off. When she finally went through the process, her mammogram came back abnormal.

“Fortunately, for me and what I try to stress to younger women in the 30s or so is – don’t think because you may not have a family history and you think you or doing all the right things and you don’t feel anything, that there might not be a problem. The sooner it is caught the better,” she said.

She added the hugs and the encouragement are what kept her going and that is what she wants to give back to others going through the same thing.

“Here I am after 10 years and it is not as bad,” she said. “Just get over the hump and keep going. Attitude always counts. You just have to encourage others and say, ‘you know you are going to get on the other side of this.’”

Terry said she participated in Relay for Life in Gulf Shores after being diagnosed and now that she is in the pharmacy business, especially one like Moody Drugs who is involved in the event, she feels like she can help people everyday.

“It really is a year-round thing,” Jennings remarked. “The sponsorship allows us to participate in the actual event. Whereas, cancer awareness and dealing with it is definitely an every day event.”

“We have personally saw people come in with grim news and have beat it,” he added. “I know through perpetual research that the treatments they have now are better than they had 10 years ago, are better than they had 10 years prior to that. It really has come a long, long way. It is still a very scary thing, but research has a come a long way.”

The small family at Moody Drugs are firm believers that Relay for Life and the American Cancer Society have played an enormous role in that research.

 

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