TAMPA, Fla. — It's been a hard year for Tonya Lewis. She's closed herself off to the community she loves—but not by choice, out of necessity.
"On Halloween Day, that's when I got the biopsy, and I got the fatal news that I was diagnosed with cancer. I didn't know what to feel. I just heard cancer," said Lewis.
Lewis was diagnosed with large-cell neuroendocrine carcinoma of the cervix.
Now, many of the people she's helped in the community are rushing to help her.
Lewis is the founder of Children with a Vision Inc. The non-profit helps provide scholarships to kids and helps lead a change in working with the necessary leaders, to voice economic issues that affect the community.
"All of our hearts go out to Tonya, and just a statement from City Council telling her we love her a lot and appreciate all that she does for the city. She's a good woman," said Tampa City Councilman Luis Viera.
"One word that best describes who Tonya Lewis is—that word is shero. Throughout her childhood and teens, she experienced abuse. But instead of succumbing to the hardships she faced, she surmounted her strength to become a victor to her circumstances, not a victim," said Hillsborough County Commissioner Gwen Myers during a recent meeting where Lewis was honored. "Ms. Lewis faces her obstacles as a hero to her community and serves as a symbol of courage for all women who are diagnosed with this horrible disease.”
Friends have set up an official online fundraiser hoping to raise $100,000 to help pay for Lewis' medical treatment.
"I have my good days, I have my bad days, sleeping a lot, you get very exhausted. I'm very emotional," said Lewis.
She's documenting her journey on her Facebook page.
"This is an ugly process, and you have to find the good and the bad," Lewis said. "So it's a mental thing every second. I knew I was going to be losing my hair. We end almost in a quarter session of treatment, and I've lost my hair. It's starting to patch out. I'm seeing the loss of the eyebrows, the loss of the body hair, and that's a lot for a woman."
Lewis knows this will be the fight of her life, but she's ready.
"But what gives me my strength is God. I think there's so much in life. And I met some after every situation was worse. But God never seen me fail, and that's what keeps me holding on," she said.
