Lori Hamilton, widow of NASCAR champion Bobby Hamilton, opens up about the cancer that took his life--and how his strong spirit keeps her going.

Bobby Hamilton shocked NASCAR fans in 2006 by announcing that he had neck cancer right before his final race. But his wife Lori says that it wasn't his racing that made her husband a true champion.

Momlogic: When was Bobby diagnosed with cancer?
Lori: Bobby had a wisdom tooth that got infected. Because he was racing, Bobby didn't have the time, or let's just say, Bobby wouldn't take the time to get it checked out.

By the end of 2005, he had surgery to remove the wisdom tooth. In the meantime, his neck started to swell up. The doctor kept saying it was related to the tooth.

In January 2006, Bobby went back to the doctor. His neck was continuing to swell, and he thought the doctor should remove it. Finally, in February, they went in and removed it--that's when they found out it was cancer. It completely blind-sighted us. He's not a smoker, drinker, he brushed his teeth all the time and took really good care of himself, and all of the sudden he had cancer. It just knocked our feet out from under us.

The good news was it was confined to this one area. It became a whirlwind of going to various doctors and getting second opinions.

Momlogic: How did you and Bobby move forward?
Lori: Bobby wanted to race one more time, and then he wanted to tell the community. It was a night race, so after meeting with his team, he went into the media center. We told them we had a major announcement to make. Everybody was shocked. He was very strong--how can you face 300 people and say, "By the way, I've been diagnosed with cancer." He sat in front of everybody and said, "Don't call me a victim, I am a survivor from this point on." Bobby raced for the last time that Friday night, then his son took over for him. 

That Monday morning, Bobby started his chemotherapy treatment. From that point on, it was full steam ahead with his chemo. He went through several treatments, but the tumor continued to spread. They started radiation a month earlier than planned, and he went through a month of chemo and radiation combined.  Radiation kills good and bad cells and it blisters your skin. There are a lot of bad things that come with it--good things if it's killing the cancer, but in Bobby's case, it was doing both. The doctors formed a mask, they locked him down on the table (he was extremely claustrophobic), and he underwent radiation for 20 minutes a day, for six solid weeks, every single day. It blistered his skin of his cheeks and neck. Everything was blistered and his skin would just roll off. 

Our society is vain. When you get burned or when you look like that, it's hard to look at yourself because we all look at movie stars and celebrities all the time that are gorgeous people--at that point, it was a tough thing to swallow. He passed on January 7, 2007.

Momlogic: How did you find the strength to start speaking out?
Lori: It came from within. When Bobby and I went to the doctor for his visits, we got to know other people going through this because we'd see them at the office. We'd share stories and it became therapy. While Bobby was in chemo, some would roll their chemo pole over and sit and talk with him. Some were race fans. The hospital gave Bobby the opportunity to come through the back door or to sit in a private room, but Bobby said, "Nope, I'm gonna go through this with the people."

Bobby became such a big advocate. The American Cancer Society asked him to be an ambassador for the state of Tennessee. They flew him to Washington and he spoke to thousands of people while undergoing treatment. He said, "If I can change one person's life, if I can make a difference, then it's all worth it." I just couldn't stop doing that. At the end of the day, whether I liked it or not, it's impacted my life. It's something I hope I never go through again, but if I can help comfort someone who is going through it, than that's what it was worth to me. The Head and Neck Cancer Foundation asked if I would be the official spokesperson for the year, and it was an honor for me.

If I can be the one left to carry on Bobby's words, then I can be the one who says don't give up, don't quit. He didn't.

Click here to see the Bobby Hamilton photo gallery.