So it should come as no surprise that Sharon, 61, and Anna, "79 and a half," as she likes to point out, both battled, tackled and beat breast cancer.

"We're a family of fighters. We don't surrender easily, that's for sure," Anna said, sharing a laugh with her oldest daughter.

Although her family has no history of breast cancer, Anna was still quick to make a doctor's appointment when she felt a small lump in her left breast while showering one day in March 1994. After a few tests at Emory Adventist Hospital in Smyrna, Anna was given the news that she had stage 2 breast cancer.

"It was surprising, but I just said, well, OK, let's get at it and let's get it done. It was really just more of an inconvenience for me, but that's just my nature. I don't let anything interfere with what I've got on my agenda. I had things to do," Anna said.

At age 62, Anna underwent a lumpectomy to remove the lump under her left arm, which she said was less than two centimeters, as well as some of the nearby lymph nodes. Following surgery, she drove to what was once called Parkway Hospital in Douglasville five days a week for six weeks for radiation treatments.

Afterwards, Anna was free to spend more time on her favorite hobby, quilting, and return to doing volunteer clerical work at Emory Adventist, which she has now done for 19 years. Anna said she enjoys the clerical work "because it gets me out of the house and gives me something to do," but also because Sharon works there as well, as Emory Adventist's director of development and volunteer services.

"I went to some of her doctor's appointments with her just to show my support, but she went to her radiation treatments on her own," Sharon said. "She just soldiered through, as she always does, and I think she was just annoyed by it more than anything else. Never scared. She's extremely independent, and - I guess, if I'm being honest - the apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

Sharon's own experience with breast cancer began five years later, when a routine mammography showed an abnormal growth along her chest wall in 1999. But after seeing her mother's slides and knowing what to look for, Sharon said she knew the minute the mammography technologist put her film up to the screen that she had cancer.

"I just pointed at it and said, 'that's cancer.' And she kind of turned to me and freaked out, because they never really want you to know until they know for sure and a doctor can tell you. But I just knew," Sharon said.

As it turned out, Sharon was right. She was diagnosed with stage one breast cancer, and had to have a surgical biopsy performed on her because the cancer was so deep into her breast tissue. After that, she had to go in for a second surgery then followed that up with radiation and drug therapies.

"I felt sad for her, because you don't like to see your kids ill. But I also knew she had the strength to carry on and not let it get her down and depress her," Anna said.

"I wasn't OK - you're never just OK with being diagnosed with breast cancer - but I was prepared. Having been through it with Mom, I knew that it was not a death sentence. I made a decision that cancer was not going to define me. It's life-changing, but it wasn't going to define who I am," Sharon said.

Sharon's treatment, however, was far from just being an inconvenience. She said the seven weeks of radiation treatment burned her skin to the point that her skin would open up and crack, and the treatment also sent her into an early menopause. Additionally, Sharon said she had "just about every side effect I could get" from the medications she was taking, including vision loss and rapid weight gain.

"I had a few moody nights, I will fully admit that," Sharon said with a laugh.

"Sometimes, I just had to know when to go into hibernation," Anna, who lives with Sharon, said with a laugh.

"It had a psychological toll on me, for sure. But I just kept pushing through it. I learned that from Mom," Sharon said.

Sharon said she has an inclination that their cancers may have been caused by their environment, as she grew up on a nine-acre farm in central Ohio, where the family "used a lot of DDT as a pesticide, which we know now was really bad for you."

Today, Anna said she and her daughter try to eat foods that are fresh and not processed. Sharon said she consulted a nutritionist when she was diagnosed, and believes the actions she took based on the nutritionist's recommendations helped her to heal quickly.

Sharon said she now encourages young women to get a mammogram simply for a baseline image to compare future mammograms too, though she said it may take some persistence in convincing insurance companies to pay for it.

Both women are now considered cancer-free, and Sharon said the experience helped her to "shed the drama," and live a more carefree and peaceful life. If family history repeats itself, that life will likely be long, as Anna said most people in their family live well into their 90's.

"I figure, we made it this long, we can make it some more. Even with breast cancer," Anna said, before turning to Sharon, as they both smiled, Sharon seemingly knowing the next words out of her mother's mouth.

"I think we're stuck with each other for a while."