MOSES LAKE - Like all pageant winners, the Ms. Washington Petite Senior title comes with responsibilities.

For Moses Lake's Dona Strickland, the chosen recipient of this honor for 2014, the responsibilities lay close to her heart. Under her new title, Strickland plans to attend breast cancer awareness events to spread hope and answer questions for those recently diagnosed. She was diagnosed in 2006 with breast cancer, and continues treatment today.

Strickland was born in Ontario, Ore. to Don and Mary Hite. She moved with her parents and two brothers to the Warden area to farm in 1954. When farming was no longer lucrative, Strickland's family bought a resort on the Washington peninsula, where Strickland attended and graduated from Cascade High School.

The whole family migrated back east, where the family took up farming again and Strickland attended nursing school in Yakima. Her first two years as a nurse brought her to Moses Lake, where she would eventually settle down to raise her son, Michael Strickland. In between, "My career took me different places," for 40 years, she said.

Although her journey is no longer taking her to different places, Strickland is venturing outside her comfort zone. She said privacy is important to her, and does not care to be in the public eye. However, she is inspired by her own battle with cancer to reach out to others and share her story.

As part of her Ms. Washington Petite platform, Strickland encourages all women to get their annual checkups and perform self-examinations at home regularly.

"I'm not an expert. There's all kinds of breast cancer and all kinds of treatments. We're all with different doctors, different kinds of meds," she said. "I offer support. Instead of talking to them (those battling breast cancer) about their medications and treatments, offering support sounds more like what I feel comfortable doing."

Strickland is not a traditional sort of success story in the sense that she has rid her body of cancer. But, she is a survivor, "so far anyway," she said.

Instead, Strickland offers strength and hope. When she was first diagnosed, she did not know how long she would live. Now, eight years later, she has been crowned royalty.

Strickland said she finds her strength and serenity from her faith in the Lord. "I have a strong faith in God, just turn it over to him," she said.

She also survives, she said, with a positive attitude. "I don't focus on it, I'm not depressed over it. I don't want the community to be depressed over it," she said.

Ms. Washington Petite fills her time drawing and painting. She dabbles in "a mixed bag of everything," when it comes to subject and paint medium.

She is proud of her son and his wife Cathy, and her granddaughters Micayla, who will be a junior at Gonzaga University in the fall, and Marissa, who will be a senior at Moses Lake High School.

Strickland is willing to offer support and answer questions regarding breast cancer. She is especially reaching out to anyone who has recently been diagnosed and wants to "sit down with someone who has gone through it," she said. She can be reached at 509-760-9910.

Strickland is the eighth Ms. Washington Petite Senior, said Mrs. Washington America executive director Pam Curnel. She has known Strickland for years. Strickland was chosen for her platform on breast cancer awareness and also because "Dona is a beautiful woman."

"Even though this is breast cancer awareness month (April), people should be aware of it year round," Curnel said.