Jeanna Duerscherl | The Roanoke Times

Jean Smith (left) and Ruth Lewis have been friends since childhood. After Jean learned she had cancer in November 2005, Ruth, a nurse, took her to every doctor's appointment and saw her through all manner of treatments, tests and appointments.

Jean Smith slipped her friend Ruth Lewis a note during church.

I have breast cancer, she wrote.

Ruth returned the message after the service.

"I got your back," she said.

With that, the two women embarked upon an odyssey that saw Jean endure chemotherapy, surgery, radiation and all manner of treatments, tests and appointments -- with her friend Ruth at her side the whole way.

"She's just a good friend," Jean said. "She was always there. She took me to every doctor's appointment and stayed with me the whole time. She's always got to be helping somebody."

Helping others has been a way of life for Ruth, a nurse for 40 years. But this was beyond the call of duty.

"It was something I had to do," Ruth said.

A friend in need

Jean, 67, and Ruth, 62, grew up in the Hollins area of rural Botetourt County. Their families and siblings knew one another well.

They didn't see much of each other for nearly 26 years, after Ruth went to college and pulled a lengthy hitch in the Army Nurse Corps. When she returned to the Roanoke Valley in 1991, the women renewed their friendship.

They attend the same church, First Baptist Church Hollins, and their families are close. Ruth's parents considered Jean to be more like a daughter than a friend. When Ruth's mother, Cora Lee Lewis, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1996, Jean visited her nearly every day during the last six years of her life.

"She was devoted to my parents," Ruth said.

So, when Jean received her own breast cancer diagnosis in 2005, Ruth knew she had to help. She accompanied Jean to doctor appointments and sat beside her during every chemotherapy treatment.

She did this despite working the overnight shift at Lewis-Gale Medical Center in Salem. Ruth would get home at 7:30 a.m., catch a quick nap if there was time, then take Jean to her morning appointments.

Ruth occasionally catnapped during the treatments, then got a few hours of sleep before reporting for work at 11 p.m. Jean's nurses even offered Ruth a recliner to sleep in during the chemo treatments. She declined.

"I'd start snoring if I got too comfortable," she said.

The work goes on

Ruth's aid helped relieve the burden on Jean's six children, most of whom worked during the day, and allowed the family the time to provide home care and support. Neither Jean nor Ruth is married.

Jean has been a cancer survivor for three years. Now retired from Double Envelope Corp. in Roanoke, she works part-time for Roanoke Valley Workforce Center. She also volunteers tirelessly nearly every day at her church, just as she did during her cancer treatments.

"If you didn't know I was sick, you'd have never been able to tell," she said.

Ruth retired from Lewis-Gale in May, but she didn't stay idle for long. She works part-time at two nursing homes, "spoiling the patients," as she said.

"I prefer my income come from working rather than Social Security," she said.

But if her friend needs her, she's there.

"If you want a friend, you have to be a friend," Ruth said. "It's better when two can share something."