Major Takeaways
Early detection and self-checks save lives Ollie’s intuition led to her diagnosis before it was too late.
Faith and community are powerful tools in the healing journey.
Survival isn’t just about living through cancer it’s about rediscovering joy, love, and purpose after it.
Ollie Mae Kimbrough: Faith, Healing, and the Power of Refusing to Give Up
At 71 years old, Ollie Mae Kimbrough of Mississippi radiates the calm strength of a woman who has stared death in the face and declared, “Not today, and tomorrow and all next week I’m too busy to be bothered then too.”
The mother of two and proud grandmother has walked a road filled with pain, healing, and spiritual awakening. Her story is one of faith tested by fire and restored by grace. “I’m totally healed by the grace of God,” she says, her voice steady and full of gratitude.
Engaged to be married after years of walking life’s rough roads on her own, Ollie speaks about her experience with breast cancer not with fear or bitterness, but with a sense of victory. Her peace flows easily, her voice carries warmth, and her faith remains the heartbeat of her story.
Ollie’s journey began not in a doctor’s office, but in her own quiet morning routine. “I missed a month of checking my own breast,” she recalled. “Then one morning I woke up, I was like, ‘Oh, let me do my check. I didn’t do it last month.’ And I felt something like the size of a pea.”
It was a small lump, so small it could have been overlooked. But something told her not to ignore it. “I called my doctor up right away,” she said. That decision changed her life.
When she arrived, her physician initially brushed off her concern, saying she was “just a worrywart.” But Ollie insisted. “She felt it. It was hard for her to feel, but she felt it. Then she called the University Medical Mall so I could get a mammogram done.”
The mammogram led to a sonogram, and then a referral to a surgeon. “When they came back, that’s when they told me that I had breast cancer,” Ollie remembered. The year was 2013, and she was in her late fifties.
For many people, hearing the words “you have cancer” can stop time. But for Ollie, it was a call to action and to prayer. “Thank you, Lord,” she said quietly, still grateful for how far she has come.
Her surgery came in 2014. “They were going to remove both of my breasts,” she explained. “Then I had to have the reconstruction done.” But the healing process was not easy. “My right breast, they had to go in and take the tissue expander out. I had to still go in every week to get the medicine. They had to treat me with antibiotics. And then they had to put gauze down in my breast, and a nurse had to come out every day to pull it out and put fresh gauze back in.”
That process lasted over a month, followed by a three month waiting period before reconstruction could continue. Through all the pain and the waiting, her faith became her medicine. “You’ve got to believe in God,” she said firmly. “I would go to church, get prayed over, and my pastor would constantly watch over me.”
Her church family became her support system, her prayer warriors, and her source of encouragement. “Don’t give up,” she advises others who are fighting cancer. “Believe in positive things. Believe that God can heal, and He does heal. All you got to do is stay positive. Never give up. Never! Find whatever it is in your life that you want to achieve, and go for it.”
After years of recovery and regular checkups, Ollie’s doctor finally gave her the all clear. “It was like a couple of years, about three years, before he gave me the clearance,” she said. “I first started out going to check in with the doctor once a month, then every six months, and then once a year.” Each visit became a moment of both nervousness and thanksgiving.
“After he gave me the cleared card, it’s been just once a year since,” she said, smiling as she recalled the relief. Every October, she returns for her annual check up, a ritual that reminds her not of fear, but of victory. “I go every October. I think it’s on the 30th.”
Ollie still lives in Jackson, Mississippi, surrounded by her family’s love and the unshakable strength of her faith. Her children and grandchildren bring her joy, and her upcoming marriage is the icing on the cake. “I’m not married, but I am engaged,” she said with a smile you can hear through the phone. “We’ve been together for more than a couple of years now.”
Though she hasn’t set a wedding date, the engagement represents something bigger than ceremony, it’s a symbol of renewal, of hope, and of living life after fear.
Her advice to others is rooted in faith and perseverance. “It’s not going to be easy,” she said honestly. “But you just gotta keep fighting for the ones that are here. Because we gotta realize that at death, we have no more life to help. But our loved ones are the ones that we’re leaving here to grieve. So don’t give up. Fight for them as well as for yourself.”
Her words reflect a woman who found purpose in pain and peace in persistence. For Ollie Mae Kimbrough, healing wasn’t just medical, it was spiritual, emotional, and deeply personal.
Every October, she celebrates not just surviving cancer, but conquering it. “I’m totally healed by the grace of God,” she says, her voice soft but certain. And then she adds, as if leaving a blessing behind, “Don’t give up. Don’t give in. Just keep moving forward.”
