COEUR d’ALENE — Every day Denise Ferrie goes to work, she wears a happy face and exudes a positivity that is contagious.

Her customers feel it and her coworkers are inspired by it, especially knowing she is fighting a tenacious and tough cancer.

"She has a smile on her face for everybody," said Jeff Withycombe, a loan officer at the U.S. Bank in Coeur d'Alene where Ferrie is a teller. "She's one of those people who is always positive and upbeat even though she's going through a living nightmare."

Ferrie was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2013. She went through chemotherapy for six months, underwent surgery in 2014 and recovered from the arduous process.

The cancer came back last year, but it's not keeping her down.

"She went to chemo and she came back to work the same day," Withycombe said. "I'm like, 'Are you kidding me?' It's uplifting but it's heartbreaking to see it. I would go home and cry on the couch, I sure as hell wouldn't go back to work and be nice to people."

Despite dealing with the appointments and draining treatments, Ferrie, 57, takes care of her 6-year-old granddaughter once a week. And in the middle of the present cold snap, her furnace went out, forcing her to take out a $1,000 debt to keep her home and granddaughter warm.

"If I was one of the millionaires in this town, I would buy her a new furnace in a heartbeat," Withycombe said.

Another coworker, Nadeen Hayes, has worked with Ferrie for about seven years. She said she doesn't know how Ferrie does it.

"I don't think I could do what she does," Hayes said. "She hasn't missed that much work doing the treatments and going through what she's going through. Not too long ago, I said, 'Why aren't you using your sick time and taking more time for you?' She said, 'Well, it just makes it so hard for everybody when I'm not here.' She's worried about everybody else."

Ferrie tearfully said how overwhelmed she is by the love and support from her coworkers.

"It's gotten to be so tough this year," she said. "It's been a process and it's been a battle. I haven't been past the three-month point with my CAT scans. I'm hoping at some point we get there."

The resilient grandma explained her sunny disposition comes from how thankful she is knowing things could always be worse.

"I come in and I just try to set an example because I know there are other people going through it and other people worse off than I am," she said. "I put it into perspective. I have doctors who are working with me and trying to cure me. Other people don't have that."

Her coworkers continue to be inspired by this example she sets as she keeps on fighting the cancer and spreading a message of hope and kindness.

"She's always keeping a positive attitude," Hayes said. "I don't think I could be that strong."