Charlotte Fire Inspector Faces Cancer with Faith, Strength and Support

By Kevin Campbell, Charlotte Fire 

Charlotte Fire Inspector Denise Reynolds remembers sitting in the exam room, already suspecting what the doctor was about to say. She had seen the notes in her medical chart, and the tone of the nurse navigator’s voice when she called told her everything she needed to know. Still, hearing the words out loud — “you have breast cancer” — landed like a blow. 

It was stage three. The disease had already spread to her lymph node under her arm. The nurse tried to explain what that meant, but Reynolds could not process much after the word “cancer.” 

“You think you’re ready to hear it,” she said later. “But when they actually say the words, everything else fades out. It’s really hard to process.” 

Standing inside Fire Headquarters, Reynolds wears her Charlotte Fire shirt with pride, a symbol of strength, awareness, and survival. 

Reynolds had always done what doctors asked. Every year since turning 40 she scheduled mammograms, following every screening with careful attention. But in October, she felt something different. While showering, she ran her hand beneath her arm and found a hard lump. A second nodule appeared as she checked again. 

That discovery began months of waiting that stretched from fall into the new year. Appointments took time, and she knew each week mattered. “Cancer grows every 28 days,” she said. “From the time I found it to the time I actually got in there, it was growing.” 

By the time she sat in that office in late January, the diagnosis confirmed what she already feared. 

Her husband Jerry was with her when the news came. She remembers his grip tightening on her hand, steadying her when her own strength faltered. He told her they would get through it together, no matter how long or difficult the road.

Looking out from the stairwell of Charlotte Fire Headquarters, Inspector Denise Reynolds reflects on the long months of treatment and the faith that sustained her. 

“He never wavered,” she said. “It was always, we’re going to beat this. We don’t know what it looks like, but we’ll figure it out.” 

That optimism carried her into the whirlwind that followed. Cancer treatment does not leave time to ease into reality. Doctors scheduled consultations, procedures and labs one after another. Reynolds also had to sit down with her supervisors at Charlotte Fire and explain why she would need to step back. 

She worried at first how they would respond, but the answer came quickly. Her leaders told her to put her health first. They cried with her. They promised she would not go through it alone. 

“They were vested in my diagnosis with me,” she said. “When I shared it, there were tears. That compassion meant everything.”

A quiet moment outside Headquarters for Reynolds, whose story of survival and faith continues to inspire across Charlotte Fire. 

The first round of chemotherapy nearly undid her. Within minutes of the drugs entering her body, her temperature spiked. Her skin turned crimson. She remembers the sensation vividly — heat rising from her feet all the way to her head, as if her body had caught fire. Nurses scrambled with ice packs and medication to calm the reaction. 

She kept going, returning each week for treatments that left her exhausted and nauseous. For eleven sessions she endured the fog of chemo, sometimes feeling almost normal until the crash came without warning. “You could be doing something, and then all of a sudden you’re down,” she said. 

Then came the drug patients grimly call the “red devil.” For Reynolds, the name carried an especially heavy weight. Her father had received the same medication when he battled pancreatic cancer. He did not survive his first round. 

Framed by the front of Fire Headquarters, Reynolds stands tall — a survivor, an inspector, and a reminder of hope during Breast Cancer Awareness Month. 

She tried one dose. The result was devastating. Her blood counts dropped so low her doctors grew alarmed. They urged her to continue, but she felt she could not. 

“I told them I needed to pray about this,” she said. “I couldn’t keep trusting man with this. I had to put it in God’s hands.” 

Reynolds made the decision to stop chemotherapy and place her hope in surgery. Her surgeon, Dr. Merrill, offered compassion and confidence. She told Reynolds to give her a chance, and Reynolds agreed. 

When she woke up from surgery, she expected to hear about the next steps in a long battle. Instead, her doctor rushed to her bedside with stunning news: the cancer was gone.

Reynolds stands near a historic fire pumper “The Neptune” — a reminder of both the department’s legacy and the new chapters of courage being written today. 

“It felt like a dream,” Reynolds said. “You want to believe it, but it’s hard to take in. One moment you’re preparing for the fight of your life. The next, they’re telling you it’s gone.” 

Her case was so unusual it was presented to a panel of more than 50 physicians. In clinical terms, it was a “complete response.” For Reynolds, it was confirmation that her prayers had been answered. 

“That wasn’t me,” she said. “That was God.” 

Surgery did not end her journey. Doctors recommended radiation to ensure no microscopic cells remained, including a small area behind her breastbone that could not be reached surgically. She completed 25 rounds. 

A close portrait of Reynolds captures the strength in her eyes — a survivor whose story now inspires awareness across Charlotte Fire and beyond. 

Radiation accumulates in the body. Even after her final session, she felt its effects for weeks — fatigue, soreness, skin irritation. The end of treatment was not the relief she expected. “You think you’re done, but it keeps working in you,” she said. 

Through it all, she endured stretches of loneliness. With no extended family in North Carolina, her days often fell quiet once Jerry left for work. Messages from friends and her church community lifted her spirits, but the isolation weighed heavily. 

“My mental psyche did suffer,” she said. “Some days it was just me and the house. You never knew when you’d suddenly feel down.” 

In those lonely moments, a verse from the Bible became her anchor. 

Reynolds outside Charlotte Fire Headquarters, wearing the department’s Breast Cancer Awareness emblem close to her heart. 

She had read scripture all her life, but one day Proverbs 18:14 caught her eye with a clarity she had never experienced before: “A person’s spirit can sustain him through illness.” 

“That was the game changer,” Reynolds said. “It told me I needed to rely more on God. I wasn’t looking at the situation the right way. From then on, I started feeding my spirit — what I read, what I ate, what I surrounded myself with. That verse gave me the strength to endure.” 

She believes her cancer was environmental, connected to exposures, diet and lifestyle. So she began making changes. She researched everything from food to household products. She prayed differently. She looked at her life through the lens of the scripture she had found. 

“It wasn’t that it became easier,” she said. “It was that I finally had the strength to endure. My spirit was carrying me.” 

Returning to Charlotte Fire was a milestone, but also revealed how invisible survivorship can be. Colleagues were glad to see her back at work. Some assumed she was fully healed. 

“People see you back and think you’re okay,” she said. “But you’re still going through treatment. You’re still going through residual effects. That part can be very lonely because people forget.” 

Charlotte Fire shows its support during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, with Inspector Denise Reynolds wearing the department’s awareness shirt that symbolizes her own fight against cancer.

The reminders are written on her body. She lost her right breast to surgery. Scars from ports and procedures mark her skin. Reconstruction may come later, but for now she lives with what she calls the “lopsided” reality of survivorship. 

“I don’t care,” she said. “You don’t know the battle I just went through. Compared to that, this is nothing. I look at my scars and I see survival. This is strength.” 

This October, Charlotte Fire is joining the fight against breast cancer by wearing shirts and making public displays of support. For Reynolds, those symbols are anything but small. 

“It’s huge,” she said. “It may look like just a shirt to some people, but when you’re living this, it’s not small. It tells you that you’re not fighting alone.” 

Charlotte Fire Chief Reginald Johnson said her courage has inspired the entire department. 

“Denise embodies the same courage and resilience we value across Charlotte Fire,” Johnson said. “She has faced this challenge with faith, determination and a spirit that truly sustains her. Her story reminds us that cancer does not only touch the community we serve. It touches our own family too. We stand with her, and with all who are still fighting.” 

Inspector Reynolds stands proudly in front of Charlotte Fire Headquarters, carrying both the scars and the strength of her fight against cancer.

Reynolds wants others to learn from her experience. Screening matters, she says, but so does self-advocacy. For years doctors told her the area they were monitoring looked benign. She now urges others not to accept dismissals when they know something feels wrong. 

“Getting screenings is important, but it’s not everything,” she said. “You have to know your own body. You have to speak up. That’s what saved my life.” 

Her message is blunt. 

“No one else can do it for you,” she said. “You’ve got to be important enough to take care of yourself.” 

The fight has left its mark, but it has also deepened her faith. She says her relationship with God feels closer now than ever before. 

“It put a different spin on everything,” she said. “Whatever comes my way, I’ve learned I have to rely on him. That gives me the power and the strength to keep moving.” 

Captured in black and white, Reynolds stands alongside her Charlotte Fire vehicle, representing the department that has supported her through her cancer journey. 

She carries with her the verse that sustained her in her darkest days, repeating it quietly before appointments and holding it close when fear rises. 

“A person’s spirit can sustain him through illness.” 

For Reynolds, those words are not just scripture. They are the truth she lived, the faith that carried her, and the story she now shares with others as Breast Cancer Awareness Month unfolds in Charlotte.