Hopeée B. Hope, wife of Ron Hope, has been diagnosed five times with head and neck cancer, a rare condition that will resist conventional therapy, chemotherapy and radiation.
In a desperate attempt to delay an inevitable diagnosis, she named her husband a hero by livestreaming the battle through her social media account.
“I can’t believe how many people are struggling with cancer, and I really hope the work I have done is helping others to find an answer for them,” she told Reuters in an interview.
Hopeée could hardly contain her excitement, sitting in the living room of their New Mexico home, where she is pastor at First Baptist Church.
She had to recall several times realizing Ron had passed away, and the program made no sense but this time she was happy to share her journey with the world.
Can this she-next veteran – an actor people assume will find success reborn as well? – actually be the one to bring the fight to cancer?
“I don’t know,” said Hopeée, over the phone from her home in Scottsdale, Arizona, whose fans have made comments on his emotional recoveries.
Sometimes the fear that leads to cell-death is sufficient to keep him from living many more years.
Hopeée says she has received mixed messages since leaving the hospital.
Back home in Scottsdale, Arizona, she was told she couldn’t host her youtube show. There, she heard her husband told her to “be me.” She was told she was cutting short her husband’s 47th birthday by spending the summer with her five children.
“I was just like, man, tell me when you can do something like this again,” she said in a voice laced with emotion.
“Sometimes you have to simply say ‘hello’ and hope and pray just to hear you say that’s what I am grateful for.”
After her short stay in Scottsdale with Rivers Hope, Hopee had to give up, but says she remains optimistic the show might be made.
“I have worked in a battleground office complex from my time on Capitol Hill. I have never experienced anything like this,” said Hopee, who also trains as a stuntwoman.
“I have never been so happy to do what I did, the simple act to do for my patients. I can’t even really name that feeling.”