2025 HONOREE Nancy Belair

Nancy is quick to tell any woman she meets to get a 3D mammogram every year.She has good reason since she credits 3D mammography for saving her breast and her life. Nancy grew up in Texas and later moved to Oklahoma, where she met her husband, Gary Belair. They have been married over 44 years. After a visit to the Village, they knew this is where they wanted to retire and made plans to build their dream home on Lake Maria. 

Two weeks before their move from Frisco,TX, Nancy went in for her final 3D mammogram. The news wasn’t what she wanted to hear. Nancy remembers feeling sick, and scared to death to find out she had breast cancer. The Doctor told her after the biopsy a regular mammogram would not have found the tumor for probably another three years and by then it would have been at least a stage three or four. She called her gynecologist who told her to proceed with their plans to move and if they could not find a local doctor to call him right away as he had a good surgeon in mind.

Gary and Nancy made the move and settled into a rental house to wait for their new house to be completed. Nancy was still on edge because she couldn’t find a doctor that would accept new patients late in the year. They called her doctor in Texas and he scheduled the surgery.On October 9th her surgeon, inserted a Margin Probe (used to differentiate normal from cancerous tissue)before performing a lumpectomy.In two days they headed back to HSV for Nancy to heal.She was told that she was Cancer free but needed10 rounds of radiation. Shewould also need mediation for five years, 3D mammograms every six months for 5 years, and blood drawn to check my white blood cell count. They also checked the area for her and found CARTI in Little Rock, AR. CARTI is a wonderful hospital.

Three weeks later, they traveled back to Plano, TX and met with Nancy’s

Oncologist, to discuss radiation options and decided on SAVI Brachy. This isa targeted, accelerated partial breast irradiationprocess which inserted radiation seeds through a catheter into the lumpectomy site twice a day for five days. Her Surgeon inserted the SAVI and Nancy returned to her Oncologist’shospital to begin radiation. She was checked after each treatment with a Geiger Counter to confirm that no radiation seeds remained in the catheter. At night Gary would prop pillows on both sides to avoid Nancy turning to keep the catheter in place so she could sleep. At the end of the week and10 radiation treatments later, the SAVI catheter was pulled out. Nancy was told she was cancer free. Healing process began.

The Belair’s moved into their new home in March 2018 and were enjoying retirement. Gary was getting involved in the Village and Nancy started doing volunteer work. She also continued her routine 3D mammograms at CARTI. At her February 2020 appointment, she was told they found something, and they would watch it. That something doubled in size by August 2020. They did a biopsy and confirmed it was another Cancer but in a different location, same breast. Gary and Nancy headed back to Texas for Nancy’s second lumpectomy in October 2020. A margin probe confirmed the Cancer was in another area of her breast, not a reoccurrence. After healing, she started another course of radiationtwice a day for five days. She was told again she was Cancer free. CARI started her on Anastrozole as a preventative, and  gets 3D mammograms every 6 months for 5 years. Nancy was told “if the cancer comes back again, we will need to remove your breast”. Due to COVID-19, herappointments with her Oncologist every three months were via zoom. Nancy was finally released from his care in March 2021 with these words “go forth and enjoy life”. Nancy encourages all women to get a 3D Mammogram and don’t miss your annual checkups.

Nancy couldn’t have gotten through this without the support and care of her husband, Gary, and her faith in God. She said that “Cancer doesn’t just affect the person. It affects the family”. For the past several years Nancy has been a devoted member of the Cancer Walk Planning Committee, coordinating the silent auction and our sharing month with True Value Hardware. She continues her volunteer work at the Faith Fellowship Food Pantry as well, and supports husband Gary in his roles on the POA Board of Directors. 

If you’ve been to the Cancer Walk in the past 20 years or involved in other HSV clubs or activities, you probably knew Ken MacNeill. He grew up in Rhode Island, where he met his future wife, Claire McKenzie, in 1953. Ken enlisted in the Air Force in 1954 and after completing training in teletype and cryptograph maintenance, he was sent to Japan and then Korea. When he returned in 1957, Ken and Claire were married and were stationed in Florida for the last year of his enlistment. Back in Rhode Island, the family grew to five, two sons and a daughter. Ken worked for General Dynamics Electric Boat Division for 33 years in the Trident nuclear submarine program as a service engineer. Two of their children settled in the Dallas area. Summer vacation trips usually ended in Texas, visiting not only children, but also Ned and Virginia Cole who had been neighbors in Rhode Island and were now residents of Hot Springs Village. They bought their house in 1997, but did not move in until September of 2022, the week before the first Village Cancer Walk. 

Ken was very active in retirement in many ways, bowling with the Golden Seniors, with the Village Woodworkers and with the American Legion where he served on the Honor Guard. However, all of that changed in May 2017, when Ken went in for his annual checkup at the VA Clinic in Hot Springs. His first journey through cancer had begun. Ken was our survivor honoree in 2018. You can read about that first journey on our website, www.walkforcancerresearch.org. 

Ken had two very good years, but then started to complain about back pain. It was so bad he had to quit bowling. Claire encouraged him to tell his doctor, but he continued to work through the pain on his own. When he finally consulted his family physician, blood work and subsequent tests confirmed multiple myeloma, a cancer of the white blood cells where the cancerous plasma cells build up in the bone marrow. After two rounds of chemotherapy, the cancer went into remission. This period of good health lasted until the summer of 2023, when the myeloma flared up again. Although Ken agreed to another round of chemo, by that time the cancer was quite far along. Complications with scheduling meant that Ken never had that round of chemo. 

Things continued to go downhill. He experienced a very bad GI bleed and was rushed to the hospital. The colonoscopy was negative, so the bleed was attributed to a weakening in the small intestine during his previous surgery. He was transferred to the ICU at the VA Hospital in Little Rock, where he remained for about 4 days. After returning home, he suffered a urinary tract infection, and in September of 2024 was taken to CHI St Vincent in Hot Springs. By that time he was so weak he couldn’t walk. He was admitted into rehab at Village Springs, but ended up being rushed to National Park Hospital from there. Unfortunately, National Park did not have the facilities to take care of him. After a series of inquiries to different facilities where there were no available beds, Ken was admitted to Baptist Hospital in North Little Rock. By that time, the urinary tract infection was gone so Ken was sent back to Village Springs. However, he suffered another GI bleed and was taken to National Park. He had developed pneumonia as well. Claire knew the end was near. 

Claire was with Ken during every emergency trip, hospital stay, and rehab. As he lay dying, Claire called his name. She saw that he recognized her, but then he slipped into a coma, and passed away on October 11, 2024, two months short of their 67thanniversary.

Ken was an active supporter of the Cancer Walk for over 20 years, getting involved early on with wife Claire. The MacNeill’s daughter Kerrie was diagnosed with breast cancer on March 13, 2004, her 44th birthday. Having become familiar with the newly formed Village Cancer Walk, Claire participated in September to honor her daughter. Unfortunately, Kerry lost her battle with cancer that December. After Kerrie’s funeral, she volunteered to work on the walk committee but was told that the Walk for 2005 would not be held due to lack of volunteers. This did not stop Claire and Ken. With the help of several others, they were able to hold a “Spirit Walk” in 2005. Since then, the MacNeills have been an integral part in building the Village Cancer Walk into the major force for cancer research it is today. Claire especially wants everyone to know that Ken was Kerrie’s primary care giver during her journey with cancer. Claire was unable to remain in Arlington TX with Kerrie, so Ken stayed with her for nine months, not only as care giver but also as house father, taxi driver and many other supportive ways.

Ken never waivered in his support for the Cancer Walk. He attended fundraising events such as our Doc Talks almost up to the end. He will be missed by everyone, especially our Cancer Walk Team.