At first, Kali Hurd thought the pain in her side and shoulder came from a pulled muscle. As a 24-year-old Roanoke firefighter, it seemed more likely than the diagnosis she received: stage 4 colon cancer.
“We’ve never had cancers in my family. Nobody had cancers. So I was just like, ‘Wow,’ ” Hurd said. “I wasn’t scared. I think that’s been the Lord being with me.”
Hurd said she’s also been amazed by how much the firefighter community has rallied around her. After word of her diagnosis spread through Facebook and other social media sites last week, she’s received encouraging messages from firefighters in the United Kingdom and other countries, she said.
Roanoke Valley firefighter officials also announced the Hurd Strong Charity Ride and Raffle, to be held July 30. The event will include a motorcycle and classic car ride, a hot dog lunch and door prizes. All proceeds will be donated to Hurd, according to a news release.
“I have a huge, huge support,” she said. “I never would have imagined that it would be this big.”
Hurd was hired as a city firefighter in 2014, three years after she became enamored of the profession while working as a volunteer for Mount Pleasant Fire Department in Roanoke County.