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Hello, my name is Danna C., and I’m a breast cancer survivor. Although no one wants a cancer diagnosis, I believe my life is fuller after surviving breast cancer. My relationships are stronger, and I’ve slowed my life down enough to enjoy the goodness in each day. But I have to tell you, when I first found out I had breast cancer I was scared. In fact when I hung up the phone, I said to myself, "It’s cancer." Then I just lost it and started crying. All I could think was, I have a four-month old son and a 20-month old son who depend on me. How will I tell my husband? How will I get through this? It was one of the worst days of my life.
In the end, anyone can get bad news, and that’s when the support of others can make all the difference.
But what was about to happen changed my life.
There were a lot of things that helped me through this, like realizing the importance of having confidence in the medical team treating me and of course my spiritual faith. However, two things really stood out for me during my experience.
First, I knew for myself that I needed to keep busy and keep things as normal as possible for my two small boys. So for me that meant working. Getting things done at my job gave me a sense of control. It was a reason to get up in the morning.
And the second thing was letting people help. My colleagues worked hard to take the burden off me. Coworkers would ask, “What can I do so that you can go home early?” At first I felt guilty, but I came to realize that accepting help wasn’t a sign of weakness. People at work truly cared.
I feel lucky that I caught my cancer early. I know that early diagnosis is an important factor for survival. I strongly believe that performing monthly self-exams and having mammograms at the recommended age based on your personal family history is so very important.
- Danna
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