When one gets a diagnosis of cancer, it's common that the person's thoughts turn inward. How did I get this? How am I going to fight this? How will I and my family get through this difficult time?

Some people turn an ordinary response to a health crisis into something extraordinary. That's what Traci Gibson of Apalachin did.

When she reached the important five-year survival milestone after being diagnosed with stage 3B breast cancer -- doctors said she had but a 3 percent chance of doing so -- Mrs. Gibson thought the moment called for celebration. She founded a nonprofit group called Traci's Hope to aid others diagnosed with breast cancer in Broome and Tioga counties.

On her Web site, http://www.tracishope.com, Mrs. Gibson wrote that after family and friends surrounded her through her fight, something special happened to her. It was "from all of this love and support that I grew this 'Hope' inside of me. A 'Hope' to help others. To show my children what others have shown me." Since then her organization has provided funds to help those with breast cancer pay for medical costs and supplies, utilities, housecleaning, rent/mortgage, transportation and child care.

Today is the third annual Traci's Hope Barbecue from 1 to 7 p.m. at Hickories Park in Owego. (The donation is $12 for adults; $5 for children 5 to 12; and $3 for children under 5.) In the past two years, it has raised close to $27,000. Last year, more than 700 people attended and with the sunny forecast for today, maybe that number will be topped.

But the event today will be bittersweet. Mrs. Gibson, 38, lost her eight-year battle with cancer on Tuesday. An event that she created to focus on the needs of others will also today be a celebration of her life.

What a beautiful life lesson Mrs. Gibson leaves her children and this community. As her father Gordon Shiner said so eloquently, "She took an awful thing that happened in her life and, instead of sitting around pouting, took it and tried to help others."

Traci Gibson may have left this world, but her legacy will continue to help those who remain to fight the battle against cancer.