Photo Provided by LaDonna Burt
Benefit concert scheduled for 8-11 p.m. will feature music by The Bouffants.
Leah Morris McCormick was diagnosed with breast cancer in October of 2012. Only two weeks before, her lifelong friend, Kerry Heinz, was also diagnosed with breast cancer.
Leah had known for almost a year that there was something wrong with her left breast. Leah was afraid to go to the doctor; her part time job as a tutor/mentor for student athletes at Ole Miss did not provide insurance. She was turned down repeatedly by Blue Cross and Humana, until an independent agent finally told her that she was uninsurable. Leah had worked for years in the medical field and knew how dangerous it was to wait when it came to cancer.
It became harder and harder for Leah to keep quiet. Once she confided in a one co-worker, a group of the kindest colleagues made phone calls, unbeknownst to her, and an appointment was scheduled. The Komen Foundation, a Dallas institution dedicated to researching breast cancer, paid for her mammogram and indeed, it was cancer.
She then began a series of expensive tests, PET scan, biopsy, CT scans and numerous doctor visits. Leah was introduced to a new program — insurance for people with pre-existing conditions, or PCIP. Leah now pays about $350 dollars a month for coverage, but while she is incredibly grateful for the coverage, she had incurred almost $70,000 dollars in medical bills before her first surgery. Since then, even with insurance, her medical bills, medicine, copays and deductibles are at almost $100,000 dollars.
Even after going through chemotherapy and losing her hair, she founded an organization to help others who cannot afford hats called The Fabric Of Hope (FOH) in August 2012. Leah knew firsthand how hard it is to find reasonable and cute hats for cancer patients.
Since August 2012, Leah has been on television, in numerous newspapers, and has spoken to churches, libraries and schools, educating them about breast cancer and the concept of the FOH. With a little bit of help and donations of thread and material, FOH delivered thousands of hats to local doctor’s offices and area hospitals, including The West Clinic, Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital and St. Jude.
Today she is still not completely well. As much as it pains her to be away from her Rebels, she has taken the summer off to get well and healthy. She is a wife and mother to a 20-year-old son, Austin, and a 10-year-old daughter, Rivers. They are her greatest motivators to fight for a longer life. She says that her husband Perry is the greatest nurse in the world, but he has no fashion sense and cannot be trusted to dress Rivers, ever. Ha!
Leah is not one to ever ask for help, but the need to help her with the mounting medical bills is something her family and friends are passionate about. Helping her enjoy her life with her family and friends is possible through the kindness of others.
Leah is also a lover of literature and of Southern authors. She was lucky enough to take the late Larry Brown’s one and only class he taught at Ole Miss, and it changed her life. She has a novel in her back pocket that family and friends want to see published.
“We want to read it, especially to see if we’re in it,” they say.
She loves dogs, as much as people. She says they love unconditionally and are almost always easier to deal with. She and her reluctant husband rescued a white lab on New Year’s Day; she’d been thrown out on the side of the road. Leah brought her home and named her Hope.
Join in celebrating her life.
“We want her well, and not worried. We need her warped sense of humor, the love she has for everyone,” says friend LaDonna Burt.
Join the party by purchasing tickets from: www.thelyricoxford.com
