Military mom beats cancer, released from hospital in time for Thanksgiving

RAEFORD, N.C. -- The saying goes "where there's no struggle, there's no strength."

Rileigh Denis knows both very well. She survived a crash with a drunk driver two years before taking on a fight against Leukemia.

After three weeks of intense treatment at Duke Hospital, the Raeford mom is sharing some exciting news.

"The nurse practitioner, she told me the bone marrow scan I got last Thursday was completely cancer free. So total complete remission so that was really exciting yesterday so there's no cancer they can see in my body," said Denis.

We first introduced you to Rileigh in October during the Ri: 2.0 Challenge. Her gym, Iron Forged Athletics pulled together to help her lift and press through.

"Its overwhelming in a good way. All the love and support. I mean the fact that my gym dropped everything," said Denis.

These days, Rileigh is picking up where she left off, literally. The mom hit the gym just days after being released from the hospital.

But, at home is where Rileigh says the rehab really begins.

"I'm getting back in the swing of things, obviously my house isn't in the order that I wanted it to be in," said Denis.

But there's no place Rileigh would rather be.

"Getting woken up at 4 a.m. to have labs drawn was not a fun thing but the hardest was not seeing Noah," said Denis.

Rileigh comes from a family of warriors. Her husband is in the military, and her mom is also battling cancer, but Rileigh's strength to survive came from above.

"I love God. I love Jesus and for me, I always stayed positive," said Denis.

That's something to be thankful for.

"I'm thankful for my community, I'm thankful for my gym, my family, all of the well wishes and calls," Rileigh listed.