The first time Valerie David had cancer, she was blindsided and scared. The year was 1999, and the then-30-year-old was engaged to be married.

An aggressive, nine-centimeter tumor in her chest had turned her joyful future into a painful uncertainty. With double doses of chemotherapy and the support of those close to her, David beat the non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. She celebrated her victory for 15 years afterward.

The second time, though? David was angry when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2014. Not a "Why me?" anger but an anger that pulled a resolve from deep inside her.

Again, her life had been at a joyful point. At 45, she was about to start a new job running an editorial department at an advertising agency.

And again, she fought and beat the cancer.

"The great thing about anger is it's much more powerful than fear," said David, who's based in New York.

The actor and playwright harnessed her anger and sense of humor to write her 60-minute solo show, "The Pink Hulk: One Woman's Journey to find the Superhero Within," which begins a three-performance run Aug. 24 at IndyFringe. She has performed the award-winning play, directed by Padraic Lillis, all over the country and raised money for cancer research, among other causes.

The David who tells her story over the phone now is the same David you'll see on stage. She's warm and funny, the type of person you could talk with for hours on your couch, with cups of tea in hand. After her shows, people who have battled cancer, multiple sclerosis and other life challenges want to meet and share their stories with her.

For example, a woman with cancer who saw "The Pink Hulk" at the Charm City Fringe Festival in Baltimore later contacted David when she started radiation, asking David to send her hulk powers.

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"The one thing about 'The Pink Hulk' ... is it's very brutally honest," David said. "It doesn't hold back. ... There's a lot of humor in my show, but I also don't sugarcoat things."

Why 'The Pink Hulk'?

After David finished treatment, and with the encouragement of her oncologist, she decided to write about her bouts with cancer. Having graduated from James Madison University in Virginia and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City, she had plenty of experience on stage. But David — who has acted for 18 years and done improv for 10 — didn't know she'd end up performing her own story there, too.

The title came from correspondence with actor Mark Ruffalo, who has been her friend since high school and supported her through her cancer battles. Ruffalo famously plays The Hulk, and his science genius alter-ego Bruce Banner, in "The Avengers" and upcoming "Thor: Ragnarok."

"I had emailed him ... late at night, and I said how angry I was that I had cancer a second time and that I feel like I could hulk out," David said. "I said to him, 'You know, I could be your female counterpart except my color would be pink.'"

In every step of her illness and recovery, David credits her family, friends and doctors at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. She also pulled from her family history for strength. Her grandmother survived Hodgkin lymphoma — a rare occurrence in 1951, David said. And in 1941, her father's side of the family fled Iraq with what they could carry to escape religious persecution, she said.

"When I got diagnosed a second time, my cousin said to me, 'You know, Val, you're going to beat this breast cancer because look at the stock that you come from," David said.

The play incorporates her own sense of humor and "hulk" moments she observed in herself during her battle with breast cancer.

All bandaged up and in pain after a lumpectomy during her second cancer fight, David hulked her way through improv and an audition for a film. Her worried mother accompanied her to the latter.

David's earlier battle with lymphoma had caused her to drop out of a first reading for a Broadway show she'd been cast in. She didn't want that to happen again.

Another time, David couldn't eat for 11 hours while she waited to see whether she'd need a CAT scan. The hospital determined that she didn't need it and could eat, but the doctors hadn't yet lifted the food restriction. A hungry David slipped into her street clothes, tucked her IV under her arm, crawled past the nurse's station and snuck onto the elevator down to the cafe.

She left a note on her pillow with her cell phone number and the message "Valerie David went to get a sandwich — Be right back — Thanks."

She had barely reached the elevator when her phone rang. They needed her immediately for a different test.

"I was forever known as the patient who went AWOL," David said.

Breaking out of the darkest moments

A sense of humor, positive attitude and support can't always overcome the struggle. David said she broke down many times.

"Getting cancer a second time really took me a long time to process, and I was just beside myself," David said.

Cancer and its complications got in the way of having children and harvesting eggs. David didn't end up marrying her fiance from her 30s, and her bout with breast cancer brought on menopause early.

"This is something that I've accepted, and I realize that there are other options I can look at in the future as far as children," she said. "But I'm a proud aunt of five, so they're like my children."

David kept finding ways to remind herself of what she had, even as she was fighting for her life. While at home one night, an allergic reaction to chemotherapy and an immune-boosting shot sent her to the hospital. She ended up parked in a hallway that looked like the tarmac of an airport because so many people were waiting for CAT scans at 2 a.m., she said. Exhausted and upset, she just wanted to go back home.

Then a tiny toddler was wheeled past her. She hadn't seen someone that little with cancer before.

"There was a nurse that was holding her hands, you know, while she went past me, and I'll never forget ... just sitting in my wheelchair waiting for the CAT scan, starting to bawl my eyes out because I was so mad at myself," she said.

"It snapped me out of it, and I said, 'You've got to stop, and you should be lucky and grateful and think of what this poor little baby is going through, this little girl.'"

David carries the message of that night with her. When she catches herself becoming irritated over bad subway trips or long lines at the bank, she reminds herself of what she's been through.

Now, she jokingly calls herself a "walking complaint department." People sometimes seem drawn to vent about their daily troubles. David listens, but she offers a perspective and humor they might not expect.

"Recently I was at the post office, and literally the line was an hour and 15 minutes long," David said.

A woman "is like, 'I can't believe this line. Can you believe it? They just took the lady before me and just pulled her out of line. I can't believe this.'

"And finally, I looked at her, and I said 'Lady, I've had cancer twice, and I don't want to hear this.' I said, 'I am lucky to be on this earth, I don't care if the line is three hours long, I'm just happy to be here and alive.'

"She was like (gasps). She shut up and then afterwards, when she was leaving, she goes, 'Thank you. You taught me an important and valuable lesson today.'"

David laughs at her own reaction after she tells the story.

"I thought she would be yelling back at me, but she totally was like, got it."

Call IndyStar reporter Domenica Bongiovanni at (317) 444-7339. Follow her on Facebook,Twitter and Instagram.

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