ORANGE PARK — You can almost always find 80-year-old Cara Hamill at the Orange Park Senior Center.
As the dedicated supervisor, you can catch her roaming the halls, checking rooms, welcoming seniors, planning the day’s activities and even getting involved in some of the fun herself.
Two years ago, she added chemotherapy to that long list of to-dos. Diagnosed with uterine cancer back in 2023, it hasn’t slowed her down yet. And she’s determined not to let it.
“Chemo, it’s been a blessing to me. I’m here. And I’m well,” she said.
It was a day of moving tables and chairs when Hamill felt an ache in her side. She thought it was trivial. A pulled muscle that just needed some rest.
“I went to primary care, and they just did an X-ray. When I went to see him, instead of talking to him on the phone, he looked troubled.”
Her doctor told her something worrisome had shown up on the X-ray — a few nodules on her lungs. Hamill went to the oncologist, where, two biopsies and a positron emission tomography (PET) scan later, she learned that her diagnosis had stemmed from a cancerous fibroid.
“My gynecologist told me that there’s only a 2% chance of that ever happening. It’s very low,” she said.
During infusion treatments, Hamill said she always wears a smile, decked out and looking her best. Because, despite the circumstances, she is.
Hamill said having cancer has never interfered with her need to do her job. She comes to work the morning of chemo, opens up, gets her seniors ready, and drives herself to her appointments.
She’s back at work the next day.
“I had just made up my mind that I’m not going to let cancer stop me from doing what I normally do. And I’ve been able to do it.
“People keep telling me that it’s pretty amazing. I guess it is when you think back.”
Although the expensive copays of her treatment have gone through the roof, and in need of a new hearing aid for her only good ear, Hamill said she is doing her best to find her way through. Her son set up a GoFundMe to help cover the costs.
Unlike other types of cancers, Hamill said there haven’t been any financial grants available for uterine cancer in three years.
“The oncologist’s office keeps checking the grants and everything to help. And there hasn’t really been any money.”
Hamill said she credits Aging True for being flexible, compassionate and caring with her treatment schedule.
“They couldn’t have been any better, and I thank them so much for that,” she said.
The center has always had a special place in Hamill’s heart.
Hamill, who joined the center in 2005, said she initially worked as a BINGO caller. Hamill became the manager, and eventually the supervisor when Aging True took the reins 13 years ago.
It’s a second home for her. A place of refuge that keeps her going. She said her found family is there almost every day.
“It gets them out of bed. It gets them away from watching ‘Gunsmoke,'” she said.
With extravagant events planned for the future, Hamill said she has no plans of retiring anytime soon.
Her hysterectomy procedure was the only time she missed a week at the center. Her first instinct was to ask when she could go back.
“The senior center is a lifesaver for me. I have this wonderful job. It’s not really even a job to me. It gives me purpose.”