A big celebration at a Baltimore cancer center for a patient officially in remission. Beating cancer alone is a feat, but the story here is what patient Lisa Phillips was doing while she was in treatment.
Lisa Phillips spends her days helping others, and when she found out she had a brain tumor, she was worried she would have to stop.
After surgery in February and 30 rounds of radiation, today was her last day of treatment. She celebrated being cancer-free with friends and family after her last round at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins.
"She’s emotional and we are too because it’s like, we got our sister back," Phillips' sister Tanya Barnes said.
It's a day her family says is well-deserved.
"Lisa has helped a lot of people. She's touched a lot of people," brother Deral Falls said.
While fighting cancer, Phillips fought to keep her small business open.
"It was really really challenging because I had to try to hold together my business and so I was not easy," Phillips said.
She runs the CBU workforce training program at the University of Baltimore.
"I teach homeless youth. I teach women receiving government benefits, women in homeless shelters and I train them and find jobs for them," Phillips said.
And it doesn't stop there. She donates baskets to baby showers and throws birthday parties to help families who can't afford them. She even helps kids with their homework.
"She’s just helping kids get off the streets and just aspire to be who they want to be," nurse manager Roberta Anderson said. "We’re very proud of the work at she’s been doing with the children."
"She’s about the community, helping those teenagers, helping them to graduate, and the kids who didn’t have prom dresses, going around getting prom dresses for girls," Barnes said. "We need more people like Lisa."
Phillips wanted to give back to the city she grew up in. Her fear throughout treatment was that she would have to stop.
"I wanna keep doing my work. I wanna keep having an impact," Phillips said.
Now she can put her full attention back to inspiring others as a leader and a cancer-beater.
After her last treatment, she headed right back to the classroom to teach families receiving welfare benefits. They get training, a certification and high school diploma.
