Huffman battled a rare blood cancer known as Waldenstrom’s Macroglullnemia for more than two years, but continued to work throughout her illness because she didn’t want her patients to worry about her. Only a few of Huffman’s closest friends and relatives knew of her illness, and her medical partner Dr. Charlita Mangrum was one of those people.
“She was most definitely an asset to the community,” said Mangrum, who worked with Huffman five years, this month. “She was a great teacher and patient advocate. She was one of the smartest people I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing and she is going to be sorely missed.
“She was a very quiet and private person but had a wonderful sense of humor, not everyone got to see,” she continued. “She was a funny lady and had a big heart.”
Dr. John Stevenson, a retired physician who practiced medicine in Richmond County for 36 years and now sits on the FirstHealth board of directors, said Huffman was one of those special people that comes into people’s lives.
“It was a pleasure to work with her and I’m really shocked at what happened,” Stevenson said. “She was a fantastic physician, a compassionate individual and doctor, and she took great care of her patients and many of my friends and family.”
Stevenson’s wife was one of Huffman’s patients.
“We miss having quality people when they go and she’ll definitely be missed by everyone,” he said. “She’s one of those people that paid attention to detail, was thorough with her patients, and was one of those professionals you look forward to working with.”
Huffman received cancer treatment for more than a year at UNC Chapel Hill, where she was a medical student from 1973 until 1977.
In her obituary, it says “she regrets leaving her patients and friends to fend for themselves in the future.”
She is survived by “life-long partner and soulmate” Jim Huffman, her parents Kenneth and Mildred Woodard of Hayesville and brother Warren Woodard and his family. She has a large extended family and patient family in Clay and Cherokee Counties, where she practiced from 1980 until 1997.
“She loved them all too much to stay,” her obit reads.
There will be no funeral or memorial service, but Huffman requested in her obituary that her friends and relatives spend 30 minutes with someone they love who is living, to honor her memory.
Huffman is donating her body to the UNC School of Medicine for anatomical research. She was a great advocate of blood and organ donation, but because of her cancer diagnosis, she could not be an organ donor, but would like her friends, patients and family who could be organ donors, to consider this gift.
“If you wish to honor her, visit or contact someone you love or need to forgive,” reads her obituary.
Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. the staff of Sandhills Regional Medical Center will hold a memorial “honoring the life and contributions of Dr. Huffman” at Cole Auditorium on the Richmond Community College campus.
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