'We're Going To Fight': Chili Benefit Held For Catoosa Police Captain Battling Pancreatic Cancer

People in Catoosa are getting together to support one of their own police officers.

Captain Jennifer Swarer is battling stage 4 pancreatic cancer as a single mom.

The Catoosa Middle School cafeteria became a center for support as the community rallied around one of its own.

Police officers, firefighters and others who wanted to help showed up hungry for a bowl of chili.

"That's the difference between living in a small community where everybody is family, versus larger cities and stuff where you sometimes don't even know your neighbor," said Catoosa Police Chief Ron Benight.

Jeri Wicker has stood by Jennifer's side for years.

"Jennifer is my best friend, partner in crime pretty much," Wicker said.

With the news of Stage 4 pancreatic cancer a few weeks ago, Jeri hopes her friendship is a source of strength for Jennifer.

"Well she didn't want to tell me, but we don't keep secrets from each other. I told her she's not going to keep secrets from me, we've never done that, we've kept secrets from each other and we're not going to start now, Wicker said. "She's strong, so my thought was, We're going to beat this. We're going to beat it together. And that's what we're going to do. We're going to fight and fight and fight, and she's gonna be fine."

She's worked for Catoosa Police for 15 years.

The chili benefit raised $8,600 that family and friends say will be used for chemo and doctor appointments both here and out of the state.

A donation account has been set up for Swarer at RCB Bank in Catoosa.