for woman battling brain tumor

Staff Writer

Jamette Smith Nash says she can really empathize with Sen. Ted Kennedy.

Like Kennedy, she is battling a cancerous brain tumor. The same Duke University Medical Center surgeon who operated on Kennedy this week performed one of the three surgeries Mrs. Smith has undergone.

Friends and family empathize with the widow who has two children and want to help her out. They will sponsor a benefit for her Friday from 5 to 8 p.m. at Foster Park. Fish plates with trimmings and hot dogs will be sold.

Now 45, Mrs. Nash lost her husband, Randy, to complications from diabetes in May of 2005. Randy left with her their two sons, James, 23, and Travis, 19. Travis was getting ready to graduate from Union High School in 2007 when Mrs. Nash was diagnosed with cancer in her left frontal lobe.

She is undergoing chemotherapy and is unable to work. She has been in business with her mother, Lizzie Smith, as a stylist for many years at Unique Images.

“So far, it (chemotherapy) has not been bad,” she said.

Mrs. Nash said she is thankful for those who want to help her. She said she appreciates prayers that have been offered up in her behalf and she asks for continued prayers.

“Even if you have millions and millions of dollars, prayer is the only thing that can help,” she said.