Cancer surviver Katy Coba, who served as both princess and queen of the Pendleton Round-Up, will be taking part in Tough Enough to Wear Pink day with her friend and fellow breast cancer survivor Ann Knutson.

Katy Coba was ready since April for this year’s Tough Enough to Wear Pink day at the Pendleton Round-Up.

It has been a turbulent year for Coba, a Pendleton native and longtime director of the Oregon Department of Agriculture. She was diagnosed with breast cancer on Oct. 19, 2015, undergoing 12 weeks of chemotherapy and another six weeks of daily radiation treatment.

Coba said she was feeling healthy and ready to don her new pink shirt and cowboy boots at last month’s rodeo. She was joined by her friend and fellow breast cancer survivor Ann Knutson, who traveled all the way from Oklahoma City to take part in Tough Enough to Wear Pink. In fact, the entire arena was awash in pink from the grandstands to the bucking chutes to raise money and awareness for local patients.

Last year, the Round-Up brought in more than $36,000 for cancer support groups. Coba, 54, said she’s always been thankful to the rodeo community for embracing such a good cause, supporting people like her personal cancer hero, Pendleton High School Spanish teacher Kathryn Youngman, who is facing her third bout with the disease.

This year, however, was different.

“This year will bring a whole new meaning, because it’s touched me personally,” Coba said before the event. “I think I will reflect on how lucky and blessed I am in so many ways.”

Fortunately for Coba, she was able to catch her cancer early. It started with a routine mammogram, where doctors noticed a small lump on her left side that didn’t look right. It was probably nothing serious, they told her, but scheduled an ultrasound and biopsy to be sure.

The results left both Coba and her doctors stunned — triple-positive breast cancer, the type that spreads more quickly and aggressively than usual. The worst part of the ordeal, Coba said, was breaking the news to her husband, Marshall, as well as their two grown daughters, friends and family.

“I wanted to protect them, because I knew they were going to be scared and worried about me,” she said.

As for herself, Coba said she’s very much a process person. She simply viewed it as another challenge to overcome.

“I just immediately went to, ‘OK, I’ve got it. Now, what do I do about it?’” Coba said.

The treatments began with a lumpectomy in early November, where doctors removed the small lump from her breast. The cancer had not spread to her lymph nodes, which was a promising sign. She then began chemotherapy on Dec. 2.

If telling friends and family was the most difficult part of battling cancer, Coba said losing her long brown hair was the second-most difficult.

“When you lose your hair, you become a very visible patient,” she said. “It’s all out there in the public.”

Chemotherapy and radiation can lead to a litany of side effects, yet Coba said she still felt well enough to continue working full-time at the ODA in Salem. She alerted her staff and Gov. Kate Brown, all of whom lent their support and pulled together to make sure the department didn’t miss a beat.

“They would have been fine if I had been gone five days a week,” Coba said with a laugh. “The overwhelming support was quite humbling.”

Coba still has a long way to go before she’s out of the woods. She will continue to receive targeted treatments via an IV injection once every three weeks through December. Breast cancer patients aren’t declared cancer-free until after 10 years, assuming there are no setbacks.

In the meantime, Coba has plenty to keep her busy. She began her new job Oct. 1 as Oregon’s new Chief Operating Officer, overseeing the day-to-day operations of state government.

Coba said the experience will also lead her to become an advocate for women to get regular mammograms and checkups, which in her case might have saved her life. The 1982 Round-Up queen said she was excited to be back home to support Tough Enough to Wear Pink, and hopes to reach out to cancer patients however she can.

“This has given me the opportunity to be thankful to live every day,” she said.