BLUE SPRINGS, Mo. — It's easy to smile when you're with Mindy Bishop.
Bishop is a teacher at Brittany Hill Middle School, and in her students' eyes, she's a hero.
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"She's super nice and willing to help anybody that needs help," said Kevin Novel, one of Bishop's students. "She's super funny."
Another student said she appreciates Bishop's efforts to connect with her students.
"She pours her heart into the relationships with all her kids and shows her goofy side without hesitation," Avery Eglich said.
In 2020, their hero began a personal health battle.
"I was diagnosed with breast cancer, and also at the same time, I got hit pretty hard with COVID. I was hospitalized for a long time, and so my recovery from the breast cancer was kind of compromised a little bit," Bishop said. "I was going through my cancer at the same time as two of my friends, and, sadly, they did not win their fight. And I just told God that if he brought me through this, that I would dedicate my life to helping others."
She's doing just that by putting on the fourth annual Her Fight is Our Fight, Pink Power' 5K run on Oct. 12.
The race benefits the Stephanie Vest Foundation.
"I was kind of searching for what my purpose was, and one of my really good friends was helped by Stephanie Vest Foundation," Bishop said. "When she told me that, it was like a light switch. I knew that that was what I was going to do for the rest of my life."
The Stephanie Vest Foundation helps families battling cancer by providing financial assistance.
"We bridge that gap from when their world gets turned upside down to where they may [need] a little bit of financial assistance three or four years down the road [when] they don't have any money coming in because they can't work, and that's where we come in," said Eric Vest, the foundation's president.
The foundation honors the memory of Stephanie Vest, who died in 2008 of breast cancer. She was 34.
"I've experienced what it's like to have cancer just have an immediate impact in your household — financially, emotionally," Vest said. "We have challenged ourselves for over a decade to help people understand what their financial donation means, not just to us, but, more importantly, to these families."
In September, the Lee's Summit-based foundation helped provide more than $40,000 for eight families.
Since 2011, the foundation has helped nearly 300 families and has raised $1.3 million.
Fundraising events like the Pink Power 5K allow families to focus on getting better.
"It's undoubtedly an amazing tribute to somebody who was very giving, and that really is the reason why we started," Vest said.
Bishop said she'll keep contributing to the mission because she wants to be a support for others, like Kerrie Mooneyham, who is a secretary in the Blue Springs School District and is going through chemo for an aggressive form of breast cancer.
"I was carried through a very, very dark time because even though you physically feel so alone, all these people are pouring into you, and I just want to be able to do that for somebody else," Bishop said. "I was so supported, and if I can even be a small part of that for other women, that'd be the greatest thing in the world."
Bishop urges women to schedule a mammogram.
"This is a disease that doesn't discriminate," she said. "It's one in eight women, and we've seen it here in our own building, and it affects so many people in so many ways," Bishop said. "Don't wait until you know something is wrong. Get your mammogram, schedule your mammogram ... take care of yourself."
The Her Fight is Our Fight Pink Power 5K is Saturday, Oct. 12, from 9-11 a.m.
There will be a food truck, vendors, raffle baskets and baked treats. It costs $10, and the money raised will benefit the foundation.
While this is the fourth annual race, this is the fifth year money has been raised for the Stephanie Vest Foundation.
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