Every morning, the Hulen\/Clement Hall office fills with laughter. Behind the front desk, Laurie Beeson greets residents by name, cracks jokes and offers life advice as students ask for packages and lock-out keys.<\/p>\n
In 2008, Beeson was diagnosed with breast cancer before undergoing removal surgery that same year. Not long after, she\u2019d find herself working the hall\u2019s front desk as a senior specialist at Texas Tech.<\/p>\n
Beeson said the diagnosis was life-changing, but she couldn’t let it break her, especially after watching her mother fight the same disease.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think when somebody says your name and says cancer next to it, that’s life changing,\u201d Beeson said. \u201cWe all thought I was gonna die, because our mom did. So it was very important to me that I walked through that with some grace and some dignity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Beeson says everything she’s faced has led her to this moment and place at Tech, not just to manage the office, but to create a space where students can talk, heal and feel safe. She describes herself as a relationship builder whose job is to know the students.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou are all your experiences in your life,\u201d Beeson said. \u201cThat’s part of your character, that’s what makes you who you are. I want to use mine to offer hope.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coming from a very faith-based family, she said she couldn’t unravel with her sisters and daughter relying on her to stay strong and make it through.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople needed to know I was not falling apart because I’m a believer. I really had to set that example for my daughter, for my sister and for my family,\u201d Beeson said. \u201cI did have to go through this. I couldn’t fall apart.\u201d<\/p>\n
Beeson said her family encouraged her, reminding her that maybe she had been chosen for this challenge with a broader purpose ahead.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had an aunt that told me, \u2018You were chosen. God knew what you would do with this. That’s why you have breast cancer and not your sisters, because you were chosen,\u2019\u201d Beeson said. \u201cSo I thought that was what always helped me a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her cozy office, intentionally decorated pink and filled with notes, stickers and trinkets representing breast cancer, has become a quiet beacon for students navigating their own health concerns. Beeson said it’s important that people can come to her so her health experience can be put to use.<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/68ed75d31e01c.image.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Clement Hall senior specialist Laurie Beeson\u2019s nails are painted with a breast cancer awareness emblem while working in her office at Clement Hall Oct. 13, 2025.<\/p>\n
Robert Looper<\/p>\n
\u201cA couple of girls found lumps, and one student’s mom was diagnosed with breast cancer,\u201d Beeson said. \u201cWe talked a lot about what her mom was going through compared to what I went through, and how everything was going to be okay.\u201d<\/p>\n
Xena Shirke, a third-year mechanical engineering major from Mumbai, India, said Beeson\u2019s strength shows in everything she does.<\/p>\n
\u201cMrs. Laurie inspires me not just with her smiles and her jokes, but in the way she powered through breast cancer and holds it proud,\u201d Shirke said. \u201cEvery time you pass by the desk, it\u2019s a smile to see. You can go to Laurie for anything you need.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rushil Patel, a third-year computer science major from Mexia, remembers how Beeson trained him on his first day of work in the office.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had no training, no nothing. She welcomed me and gave me all the instructions for the desk,\u201d Patel said. \u201cI remember her fight against breast cancer inspired me because even after all that, she still comes here with a smile on her face, always happy and ready to work at 7:30 in the morning.\u201d<\/p>\n
After a decade of check-ups, Beeson said she decided to pursue dismissal from cancer follow-ups to reclaim her peace of mind and let go of constant medical anxiety.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you make it to five years, that’s the survivor point. Some of that is true, and some of it’s not, because there’s still some stuff you can’t do at five years,\u201d Beeson said. \u201cSo at 10 years is when I said, \u2018I think I’m ready to be done. 10 years of this is enough.\u2019 They (her doctors) all said they thought I’d be fine.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite being officially dismissed and declared cancer-free in 2018, she said the anxiety that comes with experiencing breast cancer never fully goes away.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re always worried that everything that pops up with you is going to be cancer,\u201d Beeson said. \u201cEven though I know it\u2019s probably not, that fear still tugs in the back of my mind.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yet, even though she is still sometimes worried about the cancer returning, Beeson said the overall experience has made her more proactive to take care of those around her.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have no fear now,\u201d Beeson said. \u201cI\u2019m gonna say what I\u2019m gonna say. I want you to know there\u2019s somebody in this office who cares about you. There\u2019s always someone you can come talk to about anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Beeson said she doesn\u2019t share her story for sympathy, but because she knows what saved her life might save someone else\u2019s.<\/p>\n
\u201cCheck yourself,\u201d Beeson said. \u201cPray a lot. Keep a smile on your face because that\u2019s what I did, and I\u2019m still here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Every morning, the Hulen\/Clement Hall office fills with laughter. Behind the front desk, Laurie Beeson greets residents by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24665,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[1837,168,170,169],"class_list":["post-24664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lubbock","tag-lavida","tag-lubbock","tag-lubbock-headlines","tag-lubbock-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24664\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}