Doug Miller's 11 News report | Raw video: Interview with Cancer Diva

If you saw her around town, maybe at lunch or talking with her friends, you’d never guess who Terry Hayes is and why so many people care.

KHOU - TV

Terry Hayes is known as the 'Cancer Diva'.

She’s a Houston Chronicle employee who is dying of colon cancer.

On her blog, she calls herself the Cancer Diva.

While Hayes doesn’t get bylines her blog is getting a lot of attention. “People really don’t have any idea of what you go through. I mean, everybody kinda knows somebody who has cancer. But a lot of people don’t really, I guess, share their experiences. And so I get a lot of people that say, ‘Oh my God. I had no idea.’”

But from a desk surrounded by stuffed animals, she’s telling people what it’s like. “Here’s what I have a problem wrapping my head around. Most days I feel okay. Passable, at least. But even when I feel horrible I certainly don’t feel like I’m dying.”

Her prose is pleasant, plain-spoken and powerful. “What’s going to be the thing that kills me? Will it be gradual or will it happen quickly?”

And for a woman facing death, she’s quite lively.

“I don’t think I want to have a funeral,” says Hayes. “I think I want to have a memorial service and a big party.”

The fact that Terry Hayes can still smile even though she’s dying is what surprises so many of her readers.