Peoria woman creating a new way for cancer patients to celebrate milestones

PEORIA, AZ (3TV/CBS 5) — Traditionally patients who are cancer-free get to ring the Celebration Bell, but those who have cancer indefinitely are not able to. That’s why Kristi Smith created the Courage Bell to help these patients celebrate milestones, big or small. “It’s helping you feel and move and grow and getting that courage whether you made it through your treatments that week,” Smith said.

Smith has been battling an incurable cancer known as metastatic breast cancer for four years. “Typical life expectancy is 12 to 24 months,” Smith said. But while her cancer journey has been challenging, she has found passion in helping others.

Now, in the same chemotherapy room Smith sat in for her treatments, is the Courage Bell. It’s a reminder to those patients to have courage, be strong, and never give up. Right now the Courage Bell is in two of Cancer & Blood Specialists of Arizona locations. Every bell is donated, but the hope is that they can eventually put a bell in every cancer treatment center. For more on the artist and design behind the Courage Bells, click here.

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