Keri Hutto

Kari Hutto a resident of McKinney

​A semi recent thing, is going through stage two breast cancer, surviving three years post chemo. I go by my chemo date of March 15th. I guess my most interesting story is that I had no idea that I even had the cancer in me. I went for my regular checkup and they saw something suspicious. It was a whirlwind of 18 months to two years of five surgeries, six rounds of chemo, six weeks of radiation and four months inside.
 
That was my most recent exciting story about me. Oh, before that, a year before I was diagnosed, I went to help take care of my mom who was diagnosed with stage two breast cancer. Hers was a little bit different than mine, but also breast cancer. I had her teach me how to paint because she's a fantastic watercolor artist. I was 48 when she taught me. I got diagnosed at 49 and I've been painting and doing a whole bunch of fun art ever since. That's actually been a fabulous blessing in my life, and I love it. I absolutely love it. Now I do that, and I send happy mail out to people; I paint original pictures and stuff and send out cards to people. It’s very therapeutic. Very healing. 
 
I try to be an absorbent and caring person to people, and I think I thought it was pretty good at that. Once I went through this cancer, I learned that I can go even deeper. People experience a lot more behind their doors than I'm aware of. That gave me an even better insight into others, and that everybody has struggles that they're dealing with. I try to be really observant of others, and get inspiration, then reach out to talk to, and follow up with them. There's a lot of people out there who are suffering. One thing I also learned is once I was done with chemo, everybody kind of dropped off and stopped following up on me. But there's a whole other experience, the post cancer that not many people talk about, and that's been an interesting experience. Just dealing with your own emotions, your own feelings that you go through having gone through it, and then getting yourself back up into normal life.
 
Family was really important. My oldest son, Jake was very sweet and did not go off to a college far away. He stayed here and got his associates at Colin, and I had four of my five kids here. With my husband, there were six of us together, and they were my team. Then support from people who sent packages, and letters; I also learned that people rise to the occasion when someone is suffering. I was overwhelmed with love. I could look at cards and letters, which gave me great strength. Real letters are magical, you know, sending stuff in the mail. We still need our post offices. 
 
We’ve got five children, our oldest is married two years, married having a good fun adventure right now in her life. And then I've got four still at home. Jake is getting his bachelor's, and Drew is preparing to be a missionary for our church. The girls are both in high school. And what have I learned? We, personally as Hutto’s have had a lot of medical issues that we were dealt in our life. What I've learned is humor, lots of humor, and just being together, being by each other is super important. Being very open in our communication, expressing ourselves, and trying to not have anger come into things. Talking through things, that's been super important. Religiously, we keep real close to each other, faithful and hopeful. And we've been very blessed. So that's what I would say about my own personal family, my five kids and hubby.
 
We’ve been here almost 15 years, and we lived in Utah for the first 14 years of our marriage. We had an opportunity to come here, and David, my husband was going to do real estate, totally different, from what he was doing in Sandy, Utah. (Which is a lot like McKinney). I didn't know where in the world we were going to go in Texas. I just started looking and felt completely guided to McKinney multiple times. Even the neighborhood that we're in has been phenomenal. I love McKinney so much, and I've been very involved in the city, and in nonprofits over the last many years. I Just love it. My neighbors are fantastic. We're never going to move, David and I will be here, so the kids will come back. Because McKinney is our spot. I love it. Even our little house we've been in forever. That's the way I feel.
 
I feel I've been guided to work with our homeless population. I was on the breakfast crew all through the winter at the McKinney Salvation Army for our overnight warming station, that we finally got approved here in McKinney. I also washed towels, and have folded lots of socks, made hygiene kits, and stuff for Street Side Showers, which serves the homeless community. Lance and Hannah run that, and he brings the shower truck around to multiple places in a McKinney on Saturdays. Then the McKinney food pantry, I try to help with that, I'm on the McKinney Hunger-Free coalition. My family and I worked with the community food pantry and McKinney for five years. David's been on the board for ten plus years. I just love it; all the good that we can do right in our city.
 
I would end with this, I love that McKinney is a melting pot of many people from many walks of life, from many areas, and we've all ended up here. So many good and faithful hardworking people. And they all love McKinney. So, I love being a part of that!

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