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Laura Noonan, of Bay Village, Ohio, is a 23-year survivor of breast and ovarian cancer. Her strong will and determination has helped her prevail against three reoccurrences. In 1984 and 1985, the mother of two defeated bilateral breast cancer, and then overcame ovarian cancer in ’91 and again in ’02.
Throughout these bouts, the 58-year-old has found solace on the golf course.
“It has always been about survival and in the early years so much of that had to do with staying alive to raise the girls since they were 2- and 3-years-old with the initial diagnosis,” said husband Ralph Noonan.
Laura’s most heart-wrenching battle with breast cancer, however, was not her own, but her then 25-year-old daughter’s.
Kelly Noonan, a former division-one collegiate golfer, was diagnosed and treated for the disease in 2005.
Genetic testing, which revealed that Laura had passed on the breast cancer gene, likely saved Kelly’s life, said Ralph, who nominated the two for the Hero award through Golf for Women magazine.
Now, 27, Kelly and husband Michael Murphy are expecting their first child in October.