Laura Hippen is Butler Relay for Life’s Honored Survivor

  NOTE: Laura Hippen, from Aplington, has been chosen to be the 2015 Relay for Life of Butler County’s Honored Survivor. She has taken the time to recall her cancer story and is sharing it in an effort to inform others who may face the same challenge.
  My cancer experience is quite a bit different from some of the other stories that have been shared by cancer survivors. I have not had to endure the awful side effects of chemo or radiation therapy or in my case RAI (radioactive iodine treatment). My story begins in 2008.
  Shortly after the EF-5 tornado hit our area I started experiencing fatigue, a hoarse voice and scratchy throat accompanied by coughing up small amounts of blood. I had been helping with the cleanup efforts in Parkersburg and just assumed it was an irritation from all of the particles floating around in the atmosphere. 
  Read more in the June 25 Butler County Tribune-Journal and Clarksville Star.