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One of Komen Knoxville's 'Covergirls' loses battle with breast cancer month before race

"She told us when she was first diagnosed if she could help one person then it was all worth it."

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — In 2019, Komen Race for the Cure Knoxville picked eight "covergirls" to be the face of the breast cancer fight. Emily Huber was one of those selected.

RELATED: Need to Know: Komen Race for the Cure 2019

Unfortunately, she lost her battle with breast cancer at the end of September 2019.

Huber's family is remembering her life and legacy as the race approaches Saturday, October 19.

Huber's mother, Rhonda Boling, said her daughter Emily knew how to brighten a room just like a sunflower.

"Emily was a very sassy, very strong-minded young lady," Boling explained. "She was very sweet, she was a great mother, a great wife, and a great daughter."

In September 2018, at 27 years old, one month after giving birth to her son, a two-word diagnosis changed Emily's life. Breast cancer.

"I did not see anything other than the bad stuff, and she told me 'I'm not gonna die, I'm gonna fight this,'" Boling recalled.

After chemo, radiation, and a double mastectomy, Huber and her family felt like she was home free. She even returned to work as a nurse.

"She told me, she said, 'Mom, I feel better than I have ever felt,'" Boling remembered.

Not long later, Huber started having severe headaches after bumping her head on vacation. Doctors said it was bleeding on her brain.

"[But] it wasn't a brain bleed. It was a mass. Her cancer had come back. The breast cancer had metastasized to her brain and spine," Boling explained.

It wasn't long after that, doctors discovered her left lung was damaged from radiation.

"So what she was doing to save her life actually took her life," Boling admitted.

Huber fought hard in the ICU at UT Medical Center.

"She looked at me and told me, 'Mom I don't know how much longer I can do this,' and I said to her 'you've gotta do what you've gotta do.' All this time I had been praying to God to heal her. All this time, and that day I had to pray for God to end her suffering. As a mother, that is the hardest thing you will ever do in your life," Boling recalled through tears.

Now, when Boling looks in her grandson's eyes, it brightens the room just like Emily used to do.

"This last year with her having her son was the happiest time in her life even though she was fighting breast cancer," Boling said. "It was the happiest time in her life."

Huber's friends and family, known as the group "Fight like Emily" will be at the Komen Race in Knoxville on Saturday to remember her life and fight.

The Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure Knoxville is Saturday, October 19, at World's Fair Park. Registration begins at 6:30 that morning and the race begins at 8:30 a.m.

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