First, it was her mother.

Then, it was her husband.

A sister followed, along with a niece.

Even as so many of her siblings have succumbed to cancer, Mary Storm of Palmerton, has continued to endure.

All this, despite being diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer, a long and winding journey that has led her to present day.

But, if not for a decision she and her sister made back in 2014, the outcome could have been much different.

In 2014, Storm and her sister, Natalie Lubold, went to Hershey Medical Center to do genetic testing, which she said was all new at the time.

“My sister’s gynecologist asked her to do it,” said Storm, 81. “And mine was positive for BRCA1.”

Storm said she routinely had her mammograms until 2023.

“My doctor did an exam of my breast, he felt I really should have it done, they scheduled me the next day, and that same day they sent me for an ultrasound,” she said. “A week later I was down at St. Luke’s Breast Center in Saucon Valley.”

Unfortunately, Storm said it came back positive, and her doctor suggested that she would be seeing Dr. Kelly, a breast cancer specialist with St. Luke’s.

“I asked him what the procedure would be: surgery, chemo and radiation. That was the order he told me at that point,” she said.

Storm said the entire course of treatment started at the beginning of December of 2023 and lasted through December of 2024.

“I had my breast surgery, they had to remove the auxiliary lymph nodes, they were positive,” she said. “I had a partial mastectomy of my right breast, they removed the lymph nodes under my arm, then I had a port put in, I was a month in recovery from the surgeries, and had a round of chemotherapy (several months).”

After she returned from a vacation in Florida with her family, Storm started radiation when she came back, and had a total of 30 radiation treatments. A month after radiation, she continued chemotherapy.

A hairdresser for over 50 years, Storm initially had a business in her home, and after her husband, Lester, died of cancer in 1996, she kept her salon in her home.

She continued to work for Holiday Hair in Allentown for 13 years. After that, Storm, along with three of her friends started Running With Scissors until 2020.

“After COVID was over, it was a strange time, too costly,” Storm said. “We were getting a little aged.”

Storm eventually took a part-time job working at Watch Me Grow Day Care Center in Palmerton as an aide, where she helps out by walking babies in strollers and feeding them.

A quilter, she also belongs to Sew What Quilt Club, and made a quilt for the Airing of the Quilts in Palmerton, which is covered with children’s’ handprints with their name on it, so that Watch Me Grow would have their own quilt.

However, Storm said she came down with cancer before she started to work on the quilt.

“That year that I was sick, I was home, I wouldn’t be able to go out and do anything,” she said. “But I did a lot of sewing.”

Also a member of the Ruby Bell Red Hats, Storm said “they kept me smiling.

“They’re a happy, fun-loving group,” she said. “They kept my spirits up.”

Storm also teaches faith formation nursery class at Good Shepherd United Church of Christ in Slatedale, where she also serves as a deacon. Up until she got cancer, she sang in the choir.

After being made aware she would receive a Courage Award, she said she was “very humbled.”

“My family has been touched by cancer,” said Storm, who noted her cousin, Sylvia Storm, is a breast cancer survivor for 12 years. “That’s why I was so humbled by it; just being nominated, it just touches my heart.”

Mary Storm is scheduled to receive her Courage Award during the 8 p.m. slot Sunday night during the Cancer Society Telethon, which is broadcast live from Penn’s Peak on area cable stations and on YouTube.

Other honorees are Pete Smulligan of Tamaqua, Marianne Garfield of Summit Hill and Bari Pollock of the Lehigh Valley area.

A special presentation will be made in the 2 p.m. time slot for David Wargo, Summit Hill councilman. The Panther Valley Community Blueprint Team is answering phones and taking pledges in his honor. They will accept a Courage award on his behalf.