NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Betty Humphery
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
256-544-0034
betty.b.humphery@nasa.gov

News release: 08-033


HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – Bennie Jacks, a management analyst at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, will get behind the wheel of a new BMW March 29.

No, it's not a birthday present or game show prize for the 41-year Marshall Center employee. But for every mile she drives the car, she'll be raising money to help give someone the gift of life -- just as she was given as a breast cancer survivor.

Jacks will be honored this month in Huntsville during BMW's "Ultimate Drive" as a cancer survivor, and for her volunteer work and dedication to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, the world's largest grassroots network of breast cancer survivors and activists.

During the nationwide fundraising event for cancer research, a fleet of BMWs will crisscross the country to encourage communities to get behind the wheel to raise money for breast cancer research. For every mile driven by participants, $1 is donated to the Komen Foundation.

On March 30, leading 19 other drivers in cars clad in pink ribbons -- the international symbol of breast cancer awareness, Jacks will drive to the nearest participating dealership in Cordova, Tenn., in a vehicle personalized with her name and picture.

Jacks, a management analyst for Marshall's Safety & Mission Assurance Directorate, directs the relocation of Marshall Center personnel into new offices, handles special events and provides administrative services.

She began her career at NASA in 1966 at the Marshall Center's Test Laboratory as an administrative assistant after graduating from Madison County High School in Gurley. She's held a variety of positions at the center, including serving as a patent documents examiner, physical security specialist and real property and space utilization officer. In that position, she was responsible for planning and coordinating office moves for more than 2,500 Marshall workers in five days.

Jacks' cancer battle began in 2002, the year her father succumbed to prostate cancer and leukemia. She was working as a program support specialist for Ares Projects, a program that is creating safer, simpler and more reliable space transportation for the nation. The Marshall Center is developing the launch vehicles Ares I and Ares V, to achieve NASA's goals for space exploration.

Jacks became increasingly aware of just how tired she felt -- something she attributed to the stress of grieving her father's death just a month before. A nurse at the Marshall Medical Center, noticing Jacks had not had a routine mammogram in three years, scheduled one for her. Jacks couldn't believe the results: a suspicious mass. Lab tests confirmed it was cancer.

Jacks became the fifth person in her family to have the disease. Her brother, Roy Atchley, lost his battle to colon cancer in 1993, a year after her sister-in-law, Jean Harris, died from cervical cancer. Her sister, Pat Kelley, discovered in 2004 that she had kidney cancer, now in remission.

In 2002, Jacks had a mastectomy. Her cancer is now in remission.

She's earned numerous honors and awards during her career at the Marshall Center, including a Silver Snoopy, awarded in person by an astronaut to recognize outstanding performance in support of NASA's human space flight program. Jacks and her husband, Paul, have one son, Patrick, and live in Huntsville.

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