Editor's Note: October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Keep reading the Crestview News Bulletin throughout the month for news and feature stories about this issue.
CRESTVIEW — Angela Quertermous, owner of Angel’s Speakeasy in Crestview, continues to inspire her employees and others after overcoming stage-four breast cancer.
Before becoming Quertermous’s assistant at the restaurant, Sedrie Ashley met Angela while taking her children to the school bus stop.
“She is just an open and honest person. When I first met her, I did not know she had cancer,” Ashley said. “Honestly, without her telling me, I would not have known…because she is ready to embrace life.”
Quertermous said the 2009 diagnosis came on a bittersweet day.
“I found out in the morning that I got this really great job, and two hours later I found out that I had Stage Four breast cancer,” she said. “It’s amazing how life just completely stopped at that moment.”
Quertermous feared she would not be able to see her daughter, Mikaela Hughes, now 10 years old, grow up.
With the diagnosis and the treatments, Quertermous was unable to work. To help with finances, a close friend offered Quertermous a rental home in Crestview to stay at while undergoing treatments.
“I basically moved up here to die,” she said. “With stage Four (breast cancer) not too many come back.”
According the National Cancer Institute’s database, only 22 percent of patients live five years after being diagnosed with Stage Four breast cancer –in which the cancer has progressed to other parts of the body.
After undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatments including a partial mastectomy, Quertermous remained active in her daughter’s school activities.
However Angela was still convinced that she would not survive, until she had a spiritual experience.
“I started pacing through my kitchen and I finally just sunk down on the floor and starting sobbing…and I said, ‘Please let me raise my daughter.’ I was talking to God,” she said. “(Then) this extreme peace just came over me and I just felt like I was going to live.”
After being cancer-free for five years, Quertermous said beating breast cancer gave her second chance.
“(I) want to leave this world knowing that I made a difference to somebody or something,” she said.
Through her recently opened restaurant, Querteremous plans to remain active in community cancer awareness, including the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life events.
She also wants to support other charitable causes on a monthly basis as well through her restaurant.
“This woman has a huge heart,” said Darryl Wiley, a waiter at the Speakeasy. Wiley said Quertermous continues to be a source of inspiration.
“When I look at my own personal challenges, if she can beat (cancer) then I can beat the everyday challenges that we all may face,” Wiley said.
Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Matthew Brown, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Restaurant owner shares experience in dealing with breast cancer