Her grandmother died from breast cancer.

Her mother was just 32 years old when she died with breast cancer.

Tracy Smith is 32 years old and scared.

She knew she should be getting yearly mammograms, but Smith, a secretary at Hogansville First United Methodist Church, didn’t have insurance or the money to get the tests. When she heard about free breast exams at a church in Hogansville, she signed up.

The exam led to a mammogram, then another, then an ultrasound and finally a biopsy.

“When they called me back and said I needed to come in for an ultrasound because they found something, I wondered how I would pay for this,” said Smith, who lives in government housing, where she cares for her disabled brother.

Smith didn’t have to worry because the funds were available through a grant from the sale of breast cancer license plates in Georgia, said Wanda Lowe, cancer care navigator at West Georgia Health System.

“I’ve always wondered what they did with that money, and now I know. It’s money well spent,” Lowe said.

Smith ended up having a biopsy at the hospital, but she didn’t have cancer.

“That was the greatest phone call,” Smith said. “I was very scared, but Wanda came to every appointment with me. She was there every step of the way.”

Lowe and Smith will both be wearing pink on Saturday, along with other women during the fourth annual Paint the Town Pink celebration on Lafayette Square. The event celebrates breast cancer survivors, but vendors and information tables will have information on women’s health issues.

The event is sponsored by West Georgia Health System and Breast Friends for Life, an organization that provides care baskets for women diagnosed with breast cancer; raises funds for women in need during breast cancer treatment; and donates to groups doing cancer fund raising walks.

It was Breast Friends for Life that received the grant and organized free breast exams and needed follow-up at six churches across the county.

Saturday’s event will also include guest speaker Randi Passoff, executive director and founder of “It’s the Journey” Atlanta two-day walk. Passoff, a two-time breast cancer survivor, raises funds to provide programs specifically in the Atlanta metro area – including LaGrange – for women with breast cancer.

Paint the Town Pink

Paint the Town Pink will be from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday at Lafayette Square in downtown LaGrange. Entertainment, a raffle, an auction and vendors with women’s health information will be available throughout the morning.

Randi Passoff, executive director and founder of ‘It’s The Journey’ Atlanta two-day walk, will speak at 11 a.m., and a balloon release will be at 11:45 a.m.

If it rains, the event will be moved to First United Methodist Church Family Life Center on Broad Street. Downtown merchants will have ‘pink sales’ throughout the day.

Sherri Brown can be reached at sbrown@lagrangenews.com or at (706) 884-7311.