San Antonio , Texas ( CNN ) -- Melissa Coleman has amazing stories to tell and some family members still ca n't get enough of the harrowing tales of her 33 days as a prisoner of war during the first Gulf war . Even 20 years after the start of that war , Coleman can captivate an audience . She tells family friends or her daughters ' classmates about American bombs that struck close to where she was held by her Iraqi captors . `` That was the biggest fear for me , I did n't think the Iraqis were going to kill me , but I was afraid of one of our bombs , '' Coleman tells CNN . Or the story of how the Iraqi soldiers spared her the worst punishment because they were convinced she was an ignorant woman . She outsmarted them anyway . `` I played along with it , '' Coleman says . `` I really do n't know anything . I 'm just a woman . '' But 20 years after her 33 days as a POW , Coleman is fighting another battle : breast cancer . She was diagnosed five months ago and is preparing for a fourth round of chemotherapy . Coleman says being a POW `` helped me keep a positive outlook because I know what I can withstand . '' `` I know that I 've survived something as dangerous , if not more dangerous , so I feel like I 'm going to make it . '' Coleman says her doctors have removed all of the cancerous tumors for now and that she 's been given a `` good '' prognosis . The former Army specialist says she rarely thinks about her days as POW , but during those 33 days , Coleman was one of the most visible faces of the war . Coleman was driving a truck on January 30 , 1991 , near the southern Iraq border . After a couple of confusing wrong turns , Coleman and another soldier riding alongside her found themselves in the middle of a firefight and surrounded by Iraqi soldiers . Her parents , Leo and Joan Rathbun , held vigil from their home outside Grand Rapids , Michigan . It was an excruciating and painful wait . Not knowing if she was still alive , the Rathbun 's received a Valentine 's Day card that she had mailed just hours before being captured . `` When I first heard , I just sat by the TV and just cried the whole rest of the day . So , it was difficult , '' Leo Rathbun says . But then came the 3 a.m. phone call that sent an eruption of joy through the Rathbun 's home . A CNN producer called and told the family to turn on their television . For the first time in 33 days , the Rathbun 's saw their daughter safe and alive being turned over by the Iraqis to the International Red Cross . Looking back through the long lens of time , Coleman 's parents say the POW experience changed their daughter in a fundamental way . `` She 's a lot more serious about life and relationships now than what she was before , '' Joan Rathbun says . `` Everyone means more to her . Life means more to her now . '' Now she lives a quiet life in San Antonio with her husband and two teenage daughters . Her oldest daughter , Briana , wants to join the Army and that 's sparked a minor tug-of-war in the family . Coleman is n't comfortable with the idea , but Briana is n't giving up . The Coast Guard might be an acceptable compromise . That 's the kind of battle Coleman prefers these days , the struggles of raising teenagers and watching her girls prepare to venture out into the world . `` I 'd like to be remembered for being a good mom , '' Coleman says . `` I 'd rather be remembered for that than being a prisoner-of-war . ''
Coleman spent the day as a prisoner of war during the fourth Day . Now , Coleman faces another battle : breast cancer . Melissa Coleman : Being POW `` helped me keep a positive outlook ''