Libby Norvell 'Lights the Night' to help others battle leukemia

When Libby Norvell retired as a teacher from the Burke County Public Schools back in June of 2020, she was looking forward to enjoying a whole new chapter of her life.

And she was indeed about to enter into a new chapter — but certainly not the one she had hoped to write.

Instead, as the summer progressed, Norvell grew increasingly tired and easily fatigued. The kicker was an afternoon in mid-July when she decided to walk — across the street — to the Morganton Public Library.

When she made it back home and collapsed on the sofa, “I felt like I had just run a marathon.” A quick flurry of testing and blood work followed and then a diagnosis with the weight of stone: Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.

Norvell recounts her story while sitting in the comfortable living area of her King Street home, a room that feels light and airy even on a slate gray late September morning with a hurricane drawing a bead on Burke County.

Norvell’s tone with a visiting reporter from The Paper matches that of the room — positive, optimistic, and committed to helping eradicate the plague of leukemia and other blood cancers from the very face of the Earth.

A BIT OF HISTORY

A graduate of Guilford College in Greensboro, Norvell came to Burke County in 1994 as a teacher in the Exceptional Children’s program. Her interest in working with children with special needs arose when she was a volunteer at a Special Olympics event while in college.

During her time in Burke Public Schools, she taught at Glen Alpine Elementary, Oak Hill Elementary, Liberty Middle, Patton High, Mull Elementary, Forest Hill Elementary, and she finished her career at the new Mountain View Elementary campus in Morganton.

“I was in good health when I retired,” Norvell recalled. “At least I thought I was. I was ready to spend my time doing the things that I enjoy.”

One of those enjoyments was — and is — piloting her pontoon boat on the waters of Lake James at all hours of the day and night and during all seasons of the year.

With her leukemia diagnosis, cruises on the lake and nearly every other aspect of her life had to be put on hold as she fought the potentially fatal blood cancer.

“A one-night trip to Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte for further testing turned into a 23-day stay full of chemo, tests, and other unimaginable experiences,” she remembered.

But even as the full import of the struggle she was facing settled in, Norvell said she always had faith she could beat the disease.

THE ONLY GOAL: CURE

“A doctor walked into my room in Charlotte to talk about my treatment and my goals,” Norvell said. “And I saw that on one of the charts she had written, in all capital letters one word: CURE.”

That cure could only be attained, doctors decided, if Norvell underwent a stem cell transplant, in which healthy stem cells from a matching donor were pumped into her bloodstream.

Fortunately for Norvell, that perfect donor was not hard to find: her daughter Elizabeth.

After the transplant in late 2020 — at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic — Norvell remained hospitalized for more than a month and then had to spend 90 days in a small apartment close to the hospital in Charlotte. Doctors wanted her close in case anything went wrong.

Finally, in March of 2021, Norvell was allowed to return to her home in Morganton. Soon after, she received good news.

“The celebratory call came not long after I got home,” she said. “My doctor shared the news that my bone marrow biopsy had come back showing my leukemia in full remission.”

RECOVERY AND HELPING OTHERS

The road to recovery was not an easy one. “It took a long time to build back even a portion of my stamina,” Norvell said. “I had to get all my baby vaccinations again because my immune system was shot. I don’t think I’ll ever be fully back to where I was before.”

But Norvell was soon back out on Lake James and she and Elizabeth were later able to travel to the Caribbean to “celebrate her graduation from college, (two years late) my retirement (three years late) and my 60th birthday.”

Norvell also has the energy to enthusiastically raise funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and to participate each year in the society’s largest event, Light the Night — Bring Light to the Darkness of Cancer.

According to its website, the society is at the forefront of the fight to cure cancer. Compared to other blood cancer nonprofits, LLS is the largest funder of cutting-edge research to advance cures. The society has invested nearly $1.7 billion in research and is a leader in advancing breakthroughs in immunotherapy, genomics, and personalized medicine. This research saves lives. These revolutionary new treatments originally discovered through blood cancer research are now being tested in clinical trials for other cancers.

“The Society contacted me that first year after my transplant and explained their mission and told me about the Light the Night event,” Norvell said. “I was able to raise $17,000 that first year.”

This year, Norvell aims to raise $20,000 before the Light the Night event is held on Saturday, Oct. 12, in downtown Greensboro at First National Bank Field, home of the Greensboro Grasshoppers.

This year’s Light the Night will be especially meaningful for Norvell because daughter Elizabeth now works for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society as a development specialist.

And the event truly will “Light the Night,” Norvell said, as cancer survivors carry white lanterns, family members carry red lanterns, and those who have lost a loved one to cancer carry yellow lanterns.

“It is a very inspiring, very moving ceremony,” Norvell said, and one that she will be proud to be a part of.

Anyone wanting to contribute to the society may make checks out to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and mail them to Libby Norvell at 201-C King St., Morganton, N.C. 28655.

Credit card donations may be made by going to the society’s website: lls.org.