Hope resides in Krys Freeman’s tears. Perseverance and courage live there as well. When Krys thinks of her brother the tears come. They are mixed with the memory of his death, her fight to save him and the determination to rescue others from the cancer that took his life. Normally a shy person, Krys has decided to do something unique in the world of Relay for Life, the annual American Cancer Society fundraiser.

When she steps onto the track this May, the woman who works as a secretary of engineering at the Natchez Water Works will become a Relay for Life team of one.

In an area known for its enthusiasm for the annual event, Relay for Life teams can grow. It is not unusual for church groups, local businesses and organizations to amass teams of 50 to 100 people.

Each year they line up shoulder to shoulder, waving banners and shouting cheers. Their size alone offers hope and inspiration in the cancer fight.

This year Krys will be battling with them.Yet, she will be standing alone with pride knowing that she is continuing the fight her brother, Mike Weathersby, lost to leukemia last year.

Five years ago, Krys could not have imagined being such a champion for the cause. But a Sunday phone call in July 2005 gave her a personal reason to fight.

“Mike has collapsed at church,” Krys’s mother said over the phone.

News of Mike’s collapse seemed unusual. The Natchez native was known for his athleticism. He had been a Natchez firefighter for years, played sports at South Natchez High School and continued to run as an adult.

Not long after Mike was rushed to the hospital, another phone call came with the news that he had been diagnosed with leukemia.

Chemotherapy followed. During the 30-day round of treatments, Mike also began the search for a bone marrow transplant donor.

“Mike called me in the hospital room and said they wanted me to be tested,” Krys said.

Krys was a likely candidate after all. “We have the same mom and dad. I am his only sibling,” Krys said. “So I asked, ‘What do I need to do?’”

Doctors explained the necessary tests. Krys had experienced epileptic seizures before when giving blood, but she was not going to let that prevent hefrom helping save her brother’s life.

“If you want me to go, I will go with you,” Krys recalls her brother saying.

Wearing a mask, Mike held Krys’ hand through the entire process.

Two weeks later, the results came back. Krys matched three of the six tests — not enough to be a marrow donor.

“When we found out, I cried on the bed with him because I felt like he was asking for help I couldn’t give because I didn’t match,” Krys said. “It hurt so bad, because I couldn’t help him; I couldn’t give him the thing that he needed.”

Thankfully, after the initial round of chemotherapy, Mike’s leukemia went into remission. Krys was relieved, hoping that the cancer would not reappear.

It returned three years later. So too did the chemotherapy treatments and the search for a bone marrow donor.

An anonymous donor match was soon identified, but a transplant could not be done until the cancer went into remission. Unfortunately, the initial chemotherapy treatments were not effective. The cancer remained.

Three months later doctors tried an experimental drug that offered some hope. That hope came to fruition in March 2009 when doctors told Mike in his hospital room at University Medical Center in Jackson that it appeared as if he might be in remission, but that they wouldn’t know for sure until tests were performed.

Less than a day later, the unthinkable happened. Mike’s blood pressure dropped precipitously.

“My brother was sitting up looking fine. His counts were up, and then we get a call four hours later from my sister-in-law saying his blood pressure had dropped,” Krys said.

Doctors put Mike on a respirator and requested that the family come to the hospital.

Krys raced from Natchez to Jackson to be at her brother’s side. In the 55 minutes that it took to get to the hospital, Mike went into cardiac arrest and had to be revived five times.

When she got to the hospital, the family gathered in the hospital’s intensive care unit.

“We all got in a huddle and decided what we were going to to do. Are we going to continue to let them revive him? Or do we just let him go?” Krys said. “It was a hard decision for us to make because we were not planning for this. So we decided if he quit breathing again to just let him go.”

Krys held her brother’s hand as he went into cardiac arrest and died.

“For two weeks I grieved. I then decided I can’t just sit around here and mourn,” Krys said. “I can’t let this happen to other people. I have got to do something.”

One month before the 2009 Relay for Life, Krys decided to contribute to the American Cancer Society fundraiser. Too late to start a team, Krys decided to design and sell a T-shirt in Mike’s memory. All of the proceeds would go to Relay for Life.

The red and blue shirts featuring a baseball player hitting cancer out of the ballpark were popular among family, friends, co-workers and area softball teams. In two weeks, Krys sold 300 T-shirts.

With $550 in her hand, Krys walked up to the Relay for Life booth last year and donated it in her brother’s memory and promised to help out the following year.

When the kickoff for the 2010 Relay for Life neared, Krys thought she would join one of the many teams already organized in the Miss-Lou.

She had approached a few people and asked about joining. But she didn’t want Mike’s death to get lost in another team’s cause.

“I feel like I am doing it for him, Krys said. “I feel like this is what I need to do because I couldn’t give him my bone marrow.

“I want Mike remembered, but I want other people to know that he would want us to fight. He put up a fight,” Krys said.

After a meeting with Relay for Life chairmain Bridgid Martin and co-chairman Janis Holder, Krys decided to start her own team — a team of one.

“She is very brave to go out on her own,” Martin said.

“She is extremely courageous,” Holder said.

Both chairmen pointed out that most teams rely on the efforts of team members to do the work.

“With a force of 10 or more you can accomplish much,” Holder said. “Krys is doing it all by herself. It’s an admirable feat.”

“If you meet Krys you know that she is a shy person,” Bridgid said. “But with this cause there is no shyness for Krys. It is all love.”

For Krys it is love for her brother that she is giving to the cause.

“That is the goal. I am not saying I want to be seen or be heard across Relay for Life, I am just tired of death,” Freeman said. “I know everyone is going to die, I am just tired of innocent people getting this sickness. Mike never drank, never smoked a cigarette, always came home before curfew time. Mike never got in trouble for anything.”

This year Krys is selling T-shirts with the words “Who Dat say we can’t beat dat cancer?” printed in black on a gold fleur de lis. Since the New Orleans Saints Super Bowl victory the shirts have proven to be a popular item. In addition to the shirts, Krys is also selling wristbands with the words “Live, love and hope” stamped on the outside and “In memory of Mike Weathersby” on the inside.

Between now and the beginning of Relay for Life on May 7, Krys will be doing what she can to raise money for the battle she continues to fight for her brother.

When Relay begins, Krys will step out on the field as a team of one. Since the kickoff she has realized that even though she may be a team of one, she is joining a much bigger team in the fight against cancer.

A veteran of the event, Holder emphasized the camaraderie of the teams and team captains.

“We are all in this fight together,”’ Holder said. “Krys may be a team of one, but she is also a team of hundreds.”