You don’t need to tell Todd Bevis he’s a blessed man.

Bevis, of Mooresville, NC, lives day to day believing a blessing from above is the only thing which stands between him building race cars for Victor Cagnazzi and residing six feet under.

Bevis was diagnosed with cancer on May 13 of last year. Six months after the last chemo treatment, he was at the NHRA 4-Wide Nationals smiling more than ever. The former drag racer turned tube-bender realizes the experience of the last year has been as enlightening as it was painful.

You don’t need to tell Todd Bevis he’s a blessed man.

Bevis, of Mooresville, NC, lives day to day believing a blessing from above is the only thing which stands between him building race cars for Victor Cagnazzi and residing six feet under.

Bevis was diagnosed with cancer on May 13 of last year. Six months after the last chemo treatment, he was at the NHRA 4-Wide Nationals smiling more than ever. The former drag racer turned tube-bender realizes the experience of the last year has been as enlightening as it was painful.

“It was definitely a battle,” said Bevis, who confirmed the chemo treatments doctors used were extremely aggressive. “I was sleeping 18 to 20 hours a day; I didn’t feel like eating, I didn’t want to get out of bed.”

Months earlier Bevis was just fine, walking around and constantly contemplating ways to build a better mousetrap. He began to develop a measure of discomfort in his neck and as he was shaving one morning spotted a large knot on his neck. Bevis realized he could no longer ignore the problem.

Bevis went in for tests and the results didn’t come as a surprise.

“The doctor called me and he said I don’t do this over the phone but I have to tell you it’s not good, you do have cancer,” Bevis recalled. They were suspect of it, that’s why we were doing all the tests.”

Bevis pointed out his doctor provided sound counseling.

 “He said you need to have three things to get through this, and I think you’ve got all three,” Bevis said. “You need to have the right attitude, a good support group of family and friends, and you need to have faith. I said, ‘if that’s all I need then I’ve got that in abundance.' With all of that I’ve got a real positive attitude on everything and I think that’s helping tremendously to get through it.

“Not only was God helping me but all the friends and family. Thinking about it overwhelmed me to the point of tears. Many times people got in contact with me that I hadn’t seen in 25 years. I’d only had like 4 or 5 hours of contact with them. They heard about it and called, and some put posts on the Caring Bridge website. It was overwhelming, the support of all the friends. That’s what gets you through it.”

His cancer was in his lymph nodes. The aggressive treatment regimen, along with his positive attitude was enough to help him through the ordeal.

“It was scary,” said Bevis, of his experience. “A friend of mine asked me if there were any tough decisions I thought I had to make. The truth is I had to ask myself, if I truly have faith in God and I truly believe he had a plan for me then I had to be okay with whatever his plan is whether I survive it or whether he takes me.

“I had to be okay in knowing that he had a plan for my wife and daughter. That was the scary part, what’s going to happen to my wife and daughter?”

“I had to be okay with all of it, not just part of it. This was the bad part, but I had to be okay with all of it.”

This thought process was instrumental in Bevis returning to a semblance of normal life, which also included a trip to the races.

The NHRA 4-Wide Nationals visit was both a homecoming and a sign he’s survived the toughest battle of all, a battle for his life.

“A friend of mine once asked if I knew the survival rate for life. I was kind of puzzled with the question. He said 0%. That hit me. He was right, there’s a 0% chance of surviving life, so you better start looking at how you’re living.”

The more Bevis looks at life, the more he sees a blessing.