EATONTON, Ga. — Pam Alford is a dog lover, a Dawgs fan, and a cancer survivor.
In September 2017, she found a shadow on her breast.
"It went from nothing to boom. Now you have stage 3 cancer and it's aggressive and we have to act quickly," said Alford.
Her doctor hadn't treated many patients with inflammatory breast cancer. She took to Google to get more information.
"When I was doing my research that's when I found the CTCA (Cancer Treatment Centers of America) and they had a doctor that specialized in this and I thought well, that's definitely where I want to go," said Alford.
But she received bad news over the phone.
"They said we're sorry you're from Georgia. We can't take you," said Alford.
She was unaware of a requirement that at least 65 percent of the hospitals' patients had to be from out of state, and they we're not accepting any more Georgia residents.
"I absolutely was devastated. That was the first time I knew such a law was out there. I was in such a shock. It was truly like the same day I found out I had cancer," said Alford.
Alford's received treatments under another doctor's care but when the year reset, she was accepted as a patient in January 2018.
Her first step? Beat cancer.
"I call my group the delta force because it's truly we're going into battle," said Alford.
About a year later, Pam went into remission, but she wasn't done fighting.
"I will tell my story and share my story with whoever I have to and I will fight as long as I'm alive to get this law changed," said Alford.
Pam was successful. She was there on the day in April when Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed House Bill 186 into law. The law removes those limits so more Georgia patients can receive care.
"Georgia and Governor Kemp -- they did the right thing," said Alford. "My favorite saying is it's a great day to be alive. I have no promises of tomorrow, but neither do you. The biggest difference is I opened the door and looked at death," said Alford.
Alford says it's changed the way she looks at life. She's learned to appreciate time spent with family, and cancer brought out a fight in her she never expected.
Alford says she will have to get tests done every two or three months for the rest of her life to make sure the cancer doesn't come back. She speaks at events, telling her story to encourage others to get mammograms.
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