Mary: Breast Cancer Survivor since 2009
In July 2008 Mary was vacationing in San Diego with her younger daughter and two grandsons. Mary realized that although the vacation was relaxing and totally enjoyable….she was still very tired all the time. She thought it was her low thyroid.
In late October of 2008, her youngest grandson was sitting on her lap. When he jumped off her lap, his elbow struck the very spot that the lump was. She felt a sharp pain and knew that something was terribly wrong. Although the pain in her breast was excruciating, Mary’s fear was even more powerful, paralyzing her from making an essential appointment with her doctor for another three months. She found all kinds of reasons to put others first while the tumor was growing inside her breast. She knew the risks she was taking, the longer she waited to be treated the worse the prognosis for success was. The odds would not be in her favor.
After receiving her mammogram in January 2009 Mary was first diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer. However, the results from her PET CT scan, found that the breast cancer had metastasized to her right hip bone, which changed the diagnoses to Stage 4 breast cancer. Two week later, Mary remembers sitting in the oncologist’s office with her close friend beside her. The oncologist finished explaining the treatment plan and asked her if she had any questions. Mary’s response was, “Will I be alive in 3 months?”
That may be your question or you may think that sounds pretty silly, but everyone responds differently to breast cancer. While she was going through chemo treatments, she kept thinking about that question, “Will I be alive in 3 months?”
She kept asking herself how she had let this happen to her, her family and her friends when she knew the facts about yearly mammograms and early detection. Mary thought back to her personal family experiences with cancer … when she was 12 she had watched her mother go through uterine cancer and treatment. She was diagnosed in the early sixties, the prognosis for her mother wasn’t favorable and the treatment then was much different than it is now. She saw her mother suffer a great deal and was fearful of losing her only active parent at that time. Mary’s mom managed to beat the odds and went on to live 25 more active years. However, after retiring, her mother was diagnosed with ovarian carcinoma and wasn’t able to survive more than one chemo treatment. Her mother passed away a few months later. At the same time, her father was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and passed away within the year as well.
Mary’s perception of cancer was that it wasn’t only a death sentence but it also represented abandonment which stemmed from her childhood fears. She realizes that these fears played a strong part in keeping her from early breast cancer detection.
“Fear nearly killed me,” Mary says. Through perseverance and courage that she didn’t know she had, Mary beat those odds. She reminds us that technology is in our favor, “To be diagnosed with breast cancer IS NOT an automatic death sentence. We have come a long way in treatment of breast cancers and there is so much hope for successful treatment and survival rates. Don’t let anxiety or fear, the thought “it won’t happen to me” or, “I have more important things to do first” keep you from scheduling your annual mammogram.” Mary says, “As late as it was for me, through excellent treatment, surgery, radiation, a loving family and friends, and a positive attitude, I’m alive and cancer free today! Life is better today, so much better.”
