The Power of a Penny To Instill Hope and Optimism In The Future

A year before her breast cancer diagnosis at age 38 in 2020, Conger lost her father—her biggest supporter—making her own journey through cancer all the more emotional.

Her dad, shaped by the hardships of the Great Depression, had a habit of saving pennies and giving them to his family, creating treasured moments with his grandchildren. After his death, Conger started noticing coins as subtle, touching reminders of him.

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She recounted on SurvivorNet’s panel, “Notably, if my dad was walking somewhere and saw a coin on the ground, he picked it up. And throughout my girls’ lives, he would take those coins, collect them, and give them to his grandchildren.”

“We would come home from all the places that we’ve lived and they would get to sort their coins, roll them and take them to the bank…. When my dad passed, I started noticing coins,” she added, noting that she might never have really looked down or taken note of the pennies before.”

Conger said  that while headed to chemotherapy, she had discovered a penny on the ground and decided to pick it up.

“I’ve picked up every penny since then and I saved them all. So at any time, I’ll have a penny in my pocket,” she said.

The penny reminded Conger of her father’s encouragement, offering her some much needed strength and confidence to confront her challenges as if he were there telling her, “You’ve got this.”

She then recalled how she recently, accidentally dropped one of her pennies down the drain in her bathroom, prompting her to feel a sudden need for reassurance—a “backup” penny—to remind her she’s not alone and supported.

Conger, who described how she puts her pennies in her “hope chest,” thought to herself, at the time she dropped the coin, “Dad. I could really use a penny right now.”

She then recalled checking her bedside table, finding none at first, and then came across a penny.

Conger continued, “”And I picked up that penny and that coin’s year was, I don’t know, 1975 I think. And I was like, ‘Oh, how cool will it be if I had a 2020 penny for the year that I was diagnosed?’ I’m like, well, this is the one.

After placing the 1975 penny in her pocket the next morning, she discovered another one on her bedside table, dated 2020, the year of her diagnosis—sparking a feeling of comfort.

“I know a lot of people believe in a lot of different things and I know that our minds are strong and we can will things to happen. We can will to be well, we can will to be healthy. We can will for things to work for us,” Conger concluded.

“I’m not sure that’s what happened, but I know that my dad, my God, my family are with me … and in my weakest, most desperate moments, something that’s as invaluable as a penny to remind me that I have so much worth.”

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We love how Conger is the epitome of resilience and courage. At 38, she was diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma during the COVID-19 pandemic, facing chemotherapy, surgeries, and long hospital stays largely in isolation. This experience prompted deep reflection, leading her to embrace life wholeheartedly.

A native of Texas, Conger says her battle with cancer deepened her faith, uncovered the true strength of her relationships, and helped her grow into a more purposeful leader.

Her journey shows us that hope can be found in the tiniest moments.

Why Faith Offers Cancer Patients Hope

A study featured in “Cancer” revealed that 69% of cancer patients reported praying for their health, compared with just 45% of the general U.S. population.

Dr. Andrew Kneier, a cancer psychologist, co-authored “Coping with Cancer: Ten Steps toward Emotional Well-Being” and collaborated with Rabbi Jeffery M. Silberman, director of spiritual care at Danbury Hospital, on a column for Stanford Medicine.

Together, they explore how faith can shape the emotional resilience of cancer patients, emphasizing that, “A person’s faith or spirituality provides a means for coping with illness and reaching a deeper kind of inner healing.

“Coping means different things to different people: it can involve finding answers to the questions that illness raises, it can mean seeking comfort for the fears and pain that illness brings, and it can mean learning how to find a sense of direction at a time of illness. Religious teachings can help a person cope in all of these dimensions.”

SurvivorNetTV Presents: ‘SN & You Turning To Faith’

New York City Presbyterian Pastor Tom Evans shares with SurvivorNet the importance of discovering strategies to navigate the overwhelming emotions that may arise in the aftermath of a difficult health diagnosis, like cancer.

“It’s important to reach out in a simple prayer to God, even if you’ve never prayed before, you don’t know what to say, a heartfelt plea, ‘God, help me, be with me,’” Pastor Evans previously told SurvivorNet.

“You can reach out to God, and you can reach out to people, your friends and family, and say, ‘I can’t do this on my own. I need you.’ “It’s in that willingness to be open and to receive that we can find something deeper that we never would’ve encountered without this hardship,” Evans continued.

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Content independently created by SurvivorNet with support from Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp.

Contributing: SurvivorNet Staff

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