An all-day event will be held on March 4 to raise money for a Louisville mother's expenses from her fight with breast cancer.
Christal VanLandingham Gregory was diagnosed with cancer just over eight months ago, and has gone through multiple procedures, treatments, and surgeries since her diagnosis.
"I was diagnosed with breast cancer on May 31 of 2016 at the age of 38," Gregory said. "It's not in the family, no history. It was just out of the blue … my first chemo was actually June 13, so it happened really fast."
Gregory began her first round of Chemo Therapy on June 13. Gregory has a husband and is the mother of three girls. To help with her treatment costs, her church, Shiloh Baptist Church, partnered with a few other local churches, Antioch Baptist and Louisville Baptist, to put together the event.
Gregory has had 28 radiation treatments, 11 chemo treatments and two surgeries. She has six more rounds of chemo until she finishes the treatment, and one more surgery.
"I have three kids and we are very involved, so it wasn't a really good time for me to be down," Gregory said. "So I just kept pushing to get through. I started radiation on Dec. 27, which I was able to do in Starkville. I just finished my radiation. My last day was February 3."
Most of the event on March 4 will be held at the Louisville coliseum. The doors open at 10 a.m. Tickets are $3 for adults and $2 for children under 12 years old. Many activities will be available for attendees. There will be T-Shirts for sale that have been designed for the benefit, a silent auction that will be open throughout the day, bouncy houses, games for kids and face painting.
There will also be crafts and baked goods for sale, concessions, and a concert starting at noon. The featured bands will be the Reed Brothers, Sean Greer and the Wells Quartet. A 5K Run will also take place at the benefit. Pre-registration for the run is now open and will close on March 1.
Pre-registration is $25, and to register on the day of the event will be $30. Online forms can be downloaded from Shiloh Baptist Church's Facebook page. A benefit car show will also be held on March 4 at the Louisville High School parking lot. The car show will last from 8 a.m. to noon. For more information about the benefit or car show, call Jay at 601-575-1611 or, for the 5K run, call Dinah at 662-803-9804.