A grocery store in Flowery Branch will offer the cheapest lunch deal in town on Saturday to support one of its own who is battling breast cancer.

Mary McWhorter, who has worked at Kroger for the past 12 years, is undergoing treatments for stage 4 breast cancer. But this isn’t the first time she’s faced adversity.

“This is not somebody that’s going to go down too easy,” said Angela Puckett, administrative assistant at the store.

When a tornado whipped through North Hall in 1998, McWhorter was in its path.

“Their family was hit with that tornado,” Puckett said.

A few years later, her home was destroyed in a fire.

In 1995, McWhorter was a single mother caring for her daughter, Miranda, who many thought would succumb to cancer as a child.
“Her daughter had severe leukemia and almost died,” Puckett said.

But four years later, Miranda’s cancer went into remission.

“She’s a fighter all the way,” Puckett said.

“We’re hoping she’ll live to laugh about it as she has with her daughter.”

To support McWhorter, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., the grocery store will be selling a lunch of a hot dog, chips and a drink for $3. T-shirts also will be for sale for $15 and there will be raffles for gift cards and other prizes.

The T-shirt features a breast cancer ribbon on the front and a “circle of friends” illustration on the back.

“We sort of created it amongst ourselves,” Puckett said.

“It’s a circle of friends holding her within our love to help her get through this battle.”

Puckett said McWhorter’s positive outlook on life is an important message for others to hear.

“Through the tornado, the house fire, her daughter having leukemia that she almost lost and now her, it shows you a fighting will at its best,” Puckett said. “That’s very inspirational just to go to show you what faith and perseverance will do for you.”