Rachel Harbolt Pitts is originally from the Southern state of Kentucky. Her fighting spirit led her to make the brave decision to join the military. While serving her country, Rachel met the love of her life, Tony Pitts, from Jones County, Mississippi. The couple now has been living in this community for nine years.
Throughout her life, Rachel has known people that have been diagnosed with cancer and has felt compelled to serve as an advocate for cancer awareness. Since living in Jones County, Rachel has become actively involved in Relay for Life.
The 2018 Relay for Life Event is a day that Rachel will never forget. She was surrounded by a community of brave men and women who had won their battle with cancer. The feeling of victory, courage and freedom was in the air. The Survivor Walk had just taken place . . . cancer survivors gathered together and declared themselves healed from cancer. It was an incredible moment to witness. Then Rachel received a text message that turned her world upside down.
The text was from back home in Kentucky; it was from her father, Jimmie Harbolt. Rachel sensed the text message was important and read it with an open understanding. The words were simple, yet to the point: "It is cancer. I can't talk. I love you. Talk Soon."
Rachel felt as if she was frozen in time, almost at a loss for words at the reality that her father had just been diagnosed with cancer. She felt shock, shook and then froze. "It felt as it the rug was ripped out from under me," she remembered. In all honesty, in that moment, Rachel's mind went to the worst case scenario. A world without her father.
However, she instantly felt a sense of hope, of positivism, of connection, all of which she believes is all due to where she was at the moment she discovered the words that changed her entire world. Rachel then asked for God's guidance. She prayed for comfort, peace and understanding through her father's journey with cancer. Meanwhile, days went by, which felt more like years to Rachel. About a week and a half later she received more information about her father's health condition. Jimmie Harbolt was scheduled for exploratory surgery to see if by chance the surgeon could remove the entire tumor, which happened successfully. Then the diagnosis came: Stage 2/3 squamous cell carcinoma. In other words, tonsil cancer.
More days passed and a treatment plan was set in motion. On June 7, 2018, Harbolt began chemotherapy and radiation therapy. This process of battling cancer took seven weeks: Harbolt took chemotherapy once every 21 days; radiation was five days per week. Today Jimmie Harbolt is happy, healthy and thriving -- he is a cancer survivor!
Rachel believes her father's battle with cancer was a mountain God gave to her to draw near him. God was with her, her father, and the family during the mist of the storm. God is alive and working.
Rachel refers to Jones County as a "Big County, yet Small Town." She describes the people of Jones County as uplifting, supportive, friendly, replete with Southern hospitality and prayer warriors.