Mary’s biggest battle

MADISON — Mayor Mary Hawkins Butler is asking residents for prayers — and a lot of them. 

Hawkins-Butler, who has served as mayor for 43 years and is the second-longest female mayor in the country, has said for decades that the city was built on prayer. Over the last four-plus decades, she’s had her fair share of battles, too, but now she is facing one of the toughest of her life. 

The mayor announced this week in an exclusive interview with the Madison County Journal that she has been diagnosed with breast cancer and is currently undergoing treatment. 

“I believe in the power of prayer,” she said, fighting back tears. “Prayer is more powerful than anything. I am taking treatments, and I’ve asked the Lord to bless the treatment with his healing hands and to make me whole. I do truly believe there is more for me to do in Madison and I want him to use me.”

Hawkins-Butler said she received her diagnosis this summer, though she admits she knew “something” wasn’t quite a year ago. 

In the summer of 2023, the mayor was caring for her now-late husband, Jim Butler, who passed away in August 2023. 

“It’s been a long battle, and I really don’t know where to begin,” she said. “But, I know that our Lord has a plan for all of us and no matter what we face, our strength comes from him.”

During that time she was still caring for her husband, she didn’t want to add the stress of her personal health concerns to the mix, so she said she avoided it and hoped whatever it was would go away. 

“My Jim was sick a long time and the last 18 months he was not doing well,” she explained. “When I lost him, that was a heartache, a different kind of heartache. He was my best friend, he was my confidant, he was my heartthrob. Not long after I lost him, I knew there was something wrong with me. I had not felt good, I was tired.”

The mix of emotions were coupled with her life experiences when it comes to health, as she pointed to the loss of both her parents to cancer at an early age. 

She talked about her father dying of leukemia and burying him on Christmas Eve. Three months after that, her mother was diagnosed with the same form of leukemia. 

“I’ve always had a fear of going to the doctor,” she said. “I just pretended there was nothing wrong with myself. I just didn’t want to go. But, something within my being gave me the courage to go to the doctor this time.”

This past August, Hawkins-Butler went to see a doctor. She then spent five weeks at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville. 

When asked why she decided to make the announcement public, she was quick to point out that it’s because she works for the public, and they have a right to know. 

“They elected me to be their mayor and I owe them an explanation of why I’ve missed a ribbon-cutting or missed something at their school and someone was there in my place,” she said. “I plan to go back to those businesses and welcome them personally. As soon as I can, I plan to go see my children in the schools. It’s important they know.”

She thanked the board of aldermen and the city department heads for helping take care of matters in her absence, but she wanted to let the residents know that she continues to work to keep Madison “the gem that it is.”

“I had a long meeting this morning, and I’m always on my phone,” she said. “It’s in my DNA. You can’t take Madison out of my heart. Even when I was at the clinic, I wanted to make sure that our Madison was OK.

“Whatever comes of this, I want it to glorify God,” she continued. “This city has been blessed in so many ways.”

She’s asking now that the residents say a prayer for her and for the continued success of the city. 

“When things get tough, I find sometimes I can’t pray,” she said. “When you feel like you can’t pray, sometimes the evil one does that to you. When we can’t pray for ourselves, there are those who pray for us. I know that people will pray for me through this, and I ask for those prayers.”

Hawkins-Butler’s announcement comes at the end of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, held each October to raise awareness around the world for the disease.

According to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, more than 360,000 people will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year. When caught early, the survival rate is 99 percent. 

For a list of resources, visit the National Breast Cancer Foundation at www.nationalbreastcancer.org. There, you will find information about early detection and signs and symptoms.