Shelly Holbrook, news@greenepublishing.com
Darla Dee (Carver) Winn, who is better known to so many as Darla Dee Sunshine, has been a Madison County resident for most of her life, raised on a small family farm in Pinetta. Even though she relocated to Carroll County, Ga., in August 2020, after marrying Travis Winn, Madison County is, and always will be, “home” to Winn. Winn has contributed to the Madison community for many years, as a member of the Junior Auxiliary, teaching VPK, working in the school system, participating in local community theatre, coaching softball, a pageant director, assisting in a Madison County Memorial Hospital Fashion show fundraising event and serving as the PTO President at Pinetta Elementary School for nine years, just to name a few. She is the daughter of John “JC” Sullivan, of Pinetta, and Vicki Sullivan-Bloomstine, of Madisonville, Tenn.
Winn and her husband Travis are blessed with a blended family, having five children total. Travis manages Complete Automotive, Inc. in Dallas, Ga., loves their family beyond measure, enjoys building farmhouse style furniture and is an avid outdoorsman. John “Country”, age 19, is a graduate of JMPHS and a current student at NFC. Country was a member of the Trap Shooting team at JMPHS. Gracie Lee Carver, age 15, a sophomore at MCHS, plays on both the JV (pitcher) and varsity (extra hitter) softball teams. Riley Hayden, age 10, is in the fifth grade, enjoys writing, drawing, and anything outside. Jacob Bryson, age eight, is in the second grade, loves taking care of their chickens, ducks and pets, building anything and is his Daddy’s fishing buddy. Michael “Dalton”, age 19, works full time, loves taking care of the chickens and ducks, and anything to do with water sports and fishing.
In July of 2017, Darla was involved in an auto accident, fracturing five vertebrae. Emergency surgery to fuse her spine and attach three titanium rods was necessary to save her life. Despite the trauma, Darla continued to smile through all of the recovery and treatments necessary to regain as much of a normal life as possible. Almost five years later, she continues to have surgeries, therapy and treatments to maintain mobility and independence. This, in itself, is enough to discourage most people.
On April 15, 2022, after diagnostic imaging and biopsy, Darla was diagnosed with breast cancer. She is being treated through the Piedmont Cancer Centers in NW Georgia, and will have surgery, along with radiation treatment, in Fayetteville, Ga. The extent of treatment, for the cancer, is dependent on pathology results, which will be available to her surgical team prior to her surgery (planned for the end of this month), unless chemotherapy is a necessity beforehand. Six weeks after surgery, radiation will begin each day, Monday through Friday, for several months. In the meantime, surgical procedures, which were already scheduled, will continue to take place for ongoing treatment of the spinal injury. Once again, Darla has remained a ray of “Sunshine” to all she meets, knows and loves. Her positive attitude and amazing faith inspire courage and hope in all who come to know her story. Her smile through adversity is extremely contagious.
A GoFundMe account (#DarlaIsMySunshine) has been set up to assist the family with medical, travel and other expenses during this battle. The family has a CashApp account ($Southerntosassy) and a bank account at Madison County Community Bank (Darla Dee Carver) where family and friends have been making generous donations. A t-shirt fundraiser is in the works and Darla has a blog on Facebook where she has many followers who love to read the antics of her life, which she calls “This Beautiful Chaos.” You can continue to follow this journey and support the family at www.facebook.com/thisbeautifulchaos. If you have additional fundraising ideas, would like to share words of encouragement, or assist the family in any other way, please reach out to them via Facebook Messenger, by email at darladee1980@gmail.com, or on CaringBridge.org site name: #DarlaIsMySunshine.