About Us 

Because of the size of the cysts and the fact they were invasive, I underwent chemotherapy first. I had to do four chemo treatments. I was blessed that I didn’t have a port, since I was only doing four treatments. I will not lie to you—chemo is tough! I experienced body aches, extreme fatigue and loss of appetite. It is important that you keep eating though, because you will need your strength to fight through this battle. One of the cancer drugs I received caused me to lose my hair, so for several months I was rocking hats and scarves. I personally chose not to wear a wig since my chemo treatments were only going to be for a brief period of time. I encourage you to make whatever decision makes you feel the best the good cells and the bad cells—so I was scheduled for a mastectomy. My husband and I had already made the decision that we wanted the mastectomy anyway because of all the previous problems that I had with my left breast (I had probably had eight cysts that I had biopsied throughout the years, which had come back as fibroid cysts). I knew that if they ever found another cyst, my initial thought would be that the cancer was back and for my own sanity I didn’t want to go through that – so we moved forward with the mastectomy of the left breast with lymph node mapping on September 29th.  

The week after surgery was difficult—it is just very hard to get comfortable (especially to sleep, as I am a side sleeper). You don’t realize how much you use your chest muscles until they are extremely sore. But after about a week the soreness improved. I had an expander inserted to stretch the skin in preparation of my reconstruction surgery which was December 16th.

On Friday, October 7, 2016, Dr. Patt, my oncology surgeon, told me that I am officially in remission and cancer free. She explained that the lymph nodes were all clear and when they biopsied the breast tissue removed, they only found two very small pieces of the cancer left (each less than 1 mm in size).

After my journey, I wanted to give back to other patients who have been diagnosed with breast cancer —so I started Faith & Support Ministry to provide items to help those going through their own personal breast cancer journey.