HOLLYWOOD, Fla. \u2014 There are more than 18 million cancer survivors living in the United States, a number that continues to grow thanks to earlier diagnosis and an expanding range of treatments.<\/p>\n
This Sunday is Cancer Survivors Day, and a South Florida educator is sharing her story of survival, resilience and hope \u2014 one she says shows how attitude can be just as important as medicine.<\/p>\n
Mary Suppe has spent more than two decades educating children in South Florida classrooms. <\/p>\n
The 58-year-old says she loves teaching her second graders, but now she is offering a different kind of lesson.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou cannot go cry in the corner,\u201d she said. \u201cYou may want to do that, but you can\u2019t give up and you can\u2019t go cry in the corner.\u201d <\/p>\n
Suppe was first diagnosed with melanoma and later learned the cancer had spread to her brain.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t until five years later that I woke up with a headache and my vision was not right,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Suppe calls herself a survivor and says her outlook played a major role alongside cutting-edge treatment in her recovery.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to believe that you\u2019re going to get better,\u201d she said. \u201cYou can do this!\u201d <\/p>\n
Dr. Atif Hussein of the Memorial Cancer Institute said science is only one part of the treatment process.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a long journey. There are ups and downs. Positive attitude matters a lot,\u201d Hussein said.<\/p>\n
Suppe also credits her family, faith and community support during her treatment.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have a strong faith background,\u201d she said. \u201cAll the prayers, I know, made a difference. I had everyone in the community praying for me.\u201d <\/p>\n
Hussein said he often sees differences in outcomes tied to mindset and support systems.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can see two patients \u2014 the same stage, the same cancer in two rooms and I leave one room saying \u2018my God, this person isn\u2019t going to do great,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cAnd then I go to the other room and say, \u2018oh my God, this person is going to do great!\u2019 Positive attitude, support system, having someone with them, faith helps, praying helps.\u201d<\/p>\n
Today, Suppe is a grandmother enjoying time with four generations of her family.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am very, very, very blessed,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Suppe was diagnosed with brain cancer 20 years ago. <\/p>\n
She participated in one of the early clinical trials for immunotherapy, in which medications are used to supercharge the immune system to attack cancer cells. <\/p>\n
Today, she shows no signs of cancer.<\/p>\n
\ud83c\udfe0 News From Your Neighborhood<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by WPLG Local10.com – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOLLYWOOD, Fla. \u2014 There are more than 18 million cancer survivors living in the United States, a number…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":296445,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-296444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296444\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}