Taking control of her own destiny

[Hagan, cont. from pg. 1]

“We have referrals for free mammograms [at the Health Center] if people are over 40 years old and Northridge Hospital has a program for free mammograms for people who are not insured or underinsured,” Sargent said.

Hagan found a lump in her breast one day and quickly went to get checked to see what the problem could be.

She took her biopsy on July 9, 2010 and 4 days later on July 13th, was diagnosed with breast cancer.

“I was horrified and scared,” said Hagan. “But I told myself that this doesn’t mean I’m going to die. I told myself that this happened to me for a reason. I’m a survivor of many things.”

It was that confidence and strength that gave her the ability to continue on with her life the best way she could: happily.

The first person she told was her boss, being that she found out at her work.

Her family was next, but since she received the news a day before her youngest daughter’s 14th birthday, she decided to hold off until after their celebrations. A couple days later, she broke the news.

“My family took it really hard,” she said. “Especially my parents. You don’t think that something like this would ever happen to your child.”

By July 19 she had her first lumpectomy, in which the doctors remove the lump from her breast.

Unfortunately, they were unable to remove the entire lump, and she went under a second time on Aug. 19.

From August 2010 to March 2011 she went through eight treatments of chemotherapy. During this time she continued to work.

“It scared my co-workers a lot,” she said. “It was a reality check that anything can happen to anyone.”

But even though they were scared for her, they were extremely supportive of the situation.

During this time they made T-shirts and ribbons on her behalf to show their support.

After her chemotherapy she went through six and a half weeks of radiation.

“The worst part of the radiation was the drive to Los Angeles,” she said. But because she had an overwhelming amount of support from co-workers and family, it made the process a little better.

Today, assistant manager of the Pierce College bookstore Candy Van oversees Hagan and is impressed with her daily performance.

“She has an excellent work ethic,” Van said.

Throughout radiation her doctors advised her to keep a journal. But because the questions in the journal did not apply to her, she decided to skip the questions and went a different route.

“I began talking to the cancer. At first I said that he was a serial rapist