When Butler native Sandra “Cookie” Cunningham arrived in San Diego in 1995 after bouncing all over the country for three decades, she fell in love with the city.

“I said to my husband, ‘This is where I want to die.' A month later, I was diagnosed with breast cancer,” Cunningham said.

“I don't remember driving home. My first thing I thought was, ‘I'm going to die.'”

But she didn't. Following a successful mastectomy, Cunningham began the recovery process and today is as active as ever, keeping books at Butler's Elks Lodge 170 each morning, calling bingo for the lodge on Wednesday nights and tending bar occasionally, as well as hitting the links at Oakview Golf Club about three times a week.

She and her husband of 52 years, Don Cunningham, have three children, eight grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

In the weeks after her surgery, Cunningham became a powerful voice for the American Cancer Society in San Diego and, since returning to Butler in 2006, she has become a fighter here for breast cancer awareness and research.

“The secret, the ticket to getting through this, is to be positive. Negativity breeds negativity,” Cunningham said.

“Fifteen years ago, people died from this. I'm passionate about this because I know people are going to live (through breast cancer) now.”

Cunningham was born and raised in Butler and married after graduating from Butler High School in 1959.

She carved out a 44-year career in communications, starting in 1965 when her husband was laid off from his job at Armco. The couple decided to chase their fortunes in California.

That move began a journey all over the nation. When Don Cunningham would find work in another place, Cookie would follow and find work there.

The pair has lived in Washington, Minnesota, Ohio, Illinois, Arizona, several places in California, and her favorite, Montana.

“They call it ‘Big Sky Country' and, honest to God, that's all you see. It's the most gorgeous state,” she said.

By 1995, the Cunninghams were back in California, and it was in San Diego that, after her diagnosis, Cunningham's doctor recommended a mastectomy.

“I was one of the lucky ones. My cancer was encapsulated, meaning it did not spread into the lymph nodes,” she said.

Her lymph nodes were removed as a precaution, but Cunningham was not subjected to chemotherapy or radiation treatments.

Before the surgery, though, she remembers being terrified.

“I needed to talk to somebody, so I talked to a woman who had a double mastectomy,” Cunningham said.

“When you go through this, you need to talk to someone who already has experienced it. It feels like no one else understands.

“I called the lady and she said, ‘Come and see me.' I was scared to death.”

Cunningham said her new acquaintance was open about the surgery and the experience, at one point even lifting her shirt to show Cunningham what to expect.

Cunningham said she had a “great surgeon” and the mastectomy went smoothly, but her breast implant surgery had problems and the implant had to be removed.

“I couldn't bring myself to look at myself after the surgery,” she said.

Cunningham said she used the shoulder pads from old jackets to pad her chest while she healed, but eventually abandoned them and opted against getting a prosthesis.

“I figured, at my age, who cares?” she said.

However, Cunningham still sought advice on what to do next from the San Diego chapter of the American Cancer Society, which asked her to be a spokeswoman due to her positive attitude.

“They were so great for me and helped me out, I felt I needed to give something back,” she said.

She balanced those support meetings with her work until 2006, when she retired.

“I never wanted to retire, ever. I said ‘OK' in a moment of weakness,” Cunningham said.

“I thought that I would die at my desk.”

However, her husband suffered a heart attack and one of her grandchildren, just eight years old, was diagnosed with cancer, so she returned to Butler.

And it was at Butler Memorial Hospital where she found a new calling.

“Those people are absolutely marvelous. They make you feel like you're somebody,” Cunningham said.

“You leave with a warm, fuzzy feeling inside.”

So, since 2007, Cunningham has been involved with the Oakview Ladies Golf League Thursday morning group to organize the annual golf tournament to benefit breast cancer research and treatment at Butler Memorial.

Held the first Thursday in August each year, the event raised more than $16,000 in 2011, and has grown so popular that organizers are considering making it a two-day event next year, Cunningham said.

“I am so passionate about this because of where the money goes,” she said.

Cunningham initially returned to her doctor for a checkup every four months, and now goes annually. Sixteen years later, she remains cancer-free.

She said not many people, besides close friends and family, know her story, but she is comfortable changing that.

“I don't need to go to a meeting to talk about this,” Cunningham said.

“The more information that's out there, the more help there is for people going though this.”