A former Lehi Area Chamber of Commerce president and mother of two young boys, Kris Belcher co-owns Flowers on Main with her husband, gives several firesides a year, has been a Brigham Young University Women's Conference speaker and released her first book in April.

Oh, and by the way, she's blind.

"We happen to be neighbors and I knew of her story and I thought, 'Boy, that is remarkable,' said Deseret Book product director Chris Scheodinger. "She has such a wonderful sense of humor and you can't help but love her for what she is."

He was instrumental in Deseret Book requesting she write "Hard Times and Holy Places." Released in April, the book has received five star reviews.

Scheodinger attended a fireside where Belcher was guest speaker and said he was impressed not by only her story but the way she made her presentation.

"I didn't know what the project was going to be, but I knew we had to do one," he said. "The story is so unique and so perfect for how it reflects our mission for Deseret Book Company."

Eyesight taken

A northern California native and the fourth of six children, Belcher was 7 months old when doctors discovered she had cancer in both eyes, bilastial retinoblastoma. Treatment of cancer was still in its infancy and they treated her with radiation. As a child, she had limited vision with the radiation and the tissue scarring.

"That is the key part, it caused the rest of the cancer," Belcher said. In 2003, she was diagnosed with radiation-induced sarcoma.

She and her husband, James Belcher, had opened Flowers on Main, a florist shop on Lehi's Main Street, on Nov. 6, 2003; and a few weeks later her vision began to fade. She said she went to her specialists and no one could figure out what was going on.

"My vision was just getting darker and darker," Belcher said. "And then I was inspired to get a CAT scan."

But the doctor did not agree on the CAT scan for her head even though she was experiencing growing pain. Because of the acute pain on Dec. 27 the same year, they went to a hospital emergency room and got the CAT scan.

"On my little boy's first birthday, they found a tumor behind my eye," she said.

She had surgery to take out the tumor. Before surgery she could see a little, and after surgery she had no sight.

"There was nothing," she said. "It turned out there was another tumor pushing on my optic nerve, causing blindness."

Within five months, Belcher had five surgeries, three to remove the cancer and two to repair torn brain lining called the dura mater. She spent 2004 recovering.

"It was awful," she said. "It was just the most devastating, miserable experience I'd ever had. I have never been so low as that year. I had to learn to live again. I didn't want to be blind, I didn't want to do that -- to learn to live in the dark as a mom and a wife."

Defying limits

She admits it would have been easy to quit, but Belcher made the decision as a child to reach beyond limits set by appearances. Because of her cancer treatment as a baby, her eyes would hemorrhage when she became too active.

She said the doctor told her when she was 4 to 8 years old to be as still as a china doll.

"That was hard, but that was the restriction," she said. "I had to be very calm, which is very hard for a little kid."

Perhaps it was teen rebellion that helped Belcher make her life-changing decision.

"I kind of just decided I was tired of living like this," she said. "I'm going to do something and be happy, do something about the situation."

In eighth and 10th grade, she was a cheerleader; in 11th grade she was a pom pom girl; and as a senior she became the school mascot -- a warrior princess for the Armijo Indians.

"I talked to the doctor and got permission, of course, but it was more me saying I'm going to do this," she said. While she can't fit into her brown suede beaded dress anymore, she still remembers her cheers.

During her high school years, she began speaking at a few firesides. Belcher earned her bachelor's degree in therapeutic recreation from Brigham Young University and served an LDS mission for 18 months in the Kentucky Louisville Mission.

Bouncing back

Her second bout of cancer therapy in 2004 brought her to a new low, she said. She had to travel to the Center for the Blind in Salt Lake City to learn how to function again, how to use a computer with screen reading software and how to cook and clean.

"It took like a whole year to crawl out of that hole, probably a year and a half," Belcher said. "It took a while."

She began regaining her physical strength, then she worked on her emotional strength. And, she began speaking at firesides again.

"In 2005 is probably when I got a grip on my life," she said.

Scheodinger said he remembers seeing her playing with her children in the Belcher family backyard.

"She was jumping on the trampling with her kids," he said. "One night they were out playing football together and they made her quarterback. She would listen and her son would say 'throw now' and she would follow that voice."

Finding success

Another neighbor, writer and friend, Emily Freeman, said Belcher is one of the most positive people she has ever met.

"She is able to take what life gives her and turn it around to her benefit and for the benefit of others," Freeman said. "She's a very wise teacher in regards to teaching the lessons of life."

Taking those lessons, Belcher has inserted them in her book "Hard Times and Holy Places."

"Trials and difficulties can, if we let them, become holy places -- places where we can feel the power of the Atonement in our lives. Our struggles can be consecrated to our good and growth, and you and I can become more like Christ," reads an excerpt.

"I kind of told my story in the hopes of helping other people through their hard times," she said.

Being asked by Deseret Book to write a book is rare, and being asked to write her first book in two months was a challenge. By April 2008, Belcher had been prepared for the task, she said.

Her life had changed, and a lot of miracles had happened by then that she could share with people, her stories of healing, she said.

"There were moments I knew I was not the one doing the writing," she said. Written at a slower pace, Belcher is working on her second book while she appears at more firesides and other presentations.

She has two firesides scheduled for July and has a Time Out for Women presentation in September. Deseret Book has also brought her life into the Internet limelight.

"My 10-year-old thinks I'm really popular and famous because there are clips from Time Out for Women on YouTube," Belcher said.

• Cathy Allred can be reached at heraldextra@digis.net.

Kris Belcher

• hardtimesandholyplaces.blogspot.com

• desertbook.com/timeout