BREAST CANCER SURVIVOR
photo by Fred Salley
Jackie Smith's Story
My Story For His Glory As we recognize Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October, I am blessed to be able to still be here 14 years later to share my experience with you. In the years since my breast cancer diagnosis, I have met many other women that have gone down this same road. We are members of “the club." A club that we really don’t want to see others join with us. To me, the saddest thing in the world is to think that someone would go through what I’ve been through alone and without hope. Breast cancer is not a death sentence. There is always hope. Jesus Christ is my hope. God has taken what Satan had planned to destroy me with and brought healing and peace into my life on so many levels. Death and the fear of death have lost their sting. Doing a self-breast exam in the shower one November morning in 2007, I felt a lump in my right breast. Surely this isn’t anything to worry about I thought so I neglected to tell my doctor until my December visit. I had the mammogram scheduled for my day off in January so that I wouldn’t have to miss work. I was a third-grade teacher and didn’t like to miss school so I wasn’t in a rush to have this done sooner. A few days later a magnified mammogram was scheduled and then on February 4, I had a core needle biopsy. On February 7, 2008, I was diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma. Our daughter was in my third-grade class at this time and our son was in the ninth grade. We had two other teenage brothers living with us also; an eighth-grader and a senior in high school. I was 39 years old and never thought I would be told that I had breast cancer. After meeting with my oncologist, Dr. O. Sitti, the plan was to have a port-a-cath placed to allow the chemo to be administered to replace the need for repeated needle sticks. Because of the size of my tumor, chemo would be first and then mastectomy followed by radiation treatments. The chemo drugs administered were Adriamycin and Cytoxan beginning on February 27, 2008. These were known as the “red devil” and were given every other week. After this, twelve treatments of Taxol and Herceptin were given. On September 16, 2008, my Mom’s birthday, I had a radical mastectomy. My Mom said that hearing I was now
34
VIPMagSC.com
October 2020
