Home Background Testimonials Student Programs Adult Programs Video Clips Recent Clients In The News On The Farm Contact Information	Bout With Cancer A "Second Chance" Delegate Lohr's Wife 4-H Banquet Speaker January 15, 2008 - Daily News Record HARRISONBURG - Andrea Lohr's message to Rockingham County 4-H members came straight from experience. "Challenges help us become who we are," Lohr said. Lohr, speaking during Sunday night's annual Rockingham County 4-H awards banquet at James Madison University's Festival Center, was frank about the challenge of her life: a war with breast cancer. The wife of state Del. Matt Lohr, R-Broadway, she was diagnosed with breast cancer in August 2006. She told her audience how learning that she had the dreaded disease helped her gain a new focus on life. "For a long time, I took life for granted," said Lohr, 33. "Now, I look at my diagnosis as a second chance." What Lohr calls a reprieve originated as a lump in her breast. Medical care took a toll as chemotherapy and radiation treatments caused her to lose her hair. Then, last November, she learned that the cancer had returned. That led doctors at Augusta Medical Center to perform a bilateral mastectomy, a procedure that requires the removal of both breasts. In the months that followed her surgery, Lohr strove to turn despair into tenacity. Encouragement came from, of all people, her 6-year-old daughter, Caroline. "She (Caroline) said to me, ‘you're still my mommy,'" Lohr said. Faith And 4-H Lohr, who grew up on a small farm in Fulton, Ky., said her faith, along with her involvement in 4-H and FFA, helped forge a strength that allowed her to handle the crisis. "I know God is going to take care of me," said Lohr, who also has a son, Carson, 2. "[The] 4-H and FFA instilled in me a sense of who I am, and gave me a chance to gain self-confidence. I feel very optimistic." Lohr also credits her husband with boosting her morale. She and Matt, 36, met at a national FFA conference in Washington, D.C., when Andrea was still in high school. Andrea graduated from the University of Kentucky in 1996, a year after Matt finished up at Virginia Tech. "When you go through something like breast cancer, [it's] so nice to have a husband so loving and supportive," she said. "That is so important." The couple has experienced peaks as well as valleys. In 2003, the Lohrs earned the American Farm Bureau Federation's first Young Farmer and Rancher Excellence in Agriculture Award. The couple also have a business that takes them throughout the U.S. as motivational speakers. Pass It On Down Lohr hopes that young people will gain wisdom from stories like hers, and reach out to others who need them. "As a society, we place a lot of emphasis on what people look like," she said. "What you look like is not what people will remember about you. What kind of person you are inside, that is what they will remember." Lohr's talk connected with area 4-H members Derek Miller, Megan Liskey and Austin Payne. "It was a really inspiring speech," said Miller, 16, a sophomore at Turner Ashby High School from Mount Clinton. Miller, a member of the county's Creative Chefs 4-H Club, said that Lohr's account of her struggle reminded him of life's complexities and that people should make "every moment all it can be." Liskey, 16, a junior at Spotswood High School from Harrisonburg, applauded Lohr's grit. "Most people would think [what happened to Lohr] is the end of the world," said Liskey, a member of Keezletown 4-H. "But she took it as a good thing." Payne, 16, a former Rockingham County resident who now lives in Woodstock, said Lohr's address lifted him emotionally in a personal way. "It gave me a lot of hope and inspiration," said Payne, a sophomore at Central High School and a member of Creative Chefs. Lohr stressed that she doesn't wish to be seen as a flawless figure. "I don't want anyone to think I'm perfect - I have my bad days," she said. "I'm just trying to take this experience and learn from it." Contact Tom Mitchell at 574-6275 or mitchell@dnronline.com