Introduction
I am a woman of God, a mom, a conqueror, a warrior, a sister, a friend. I am Jamaican. I was diagnosed at 49 and am now 60.
For I know the plans I have for you,? declares the Lord, ?plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.? Jeremiah 29:11

Mon histoire avec le cancer du sein
My best thoughts and ideas are in the shower, so on the Sunday evening of September 9, 2012, while taking one such shower, my thoughts turned to doing a breast self-examination, as I had not done one in a while. I started with the right one, then the left one, then the right one again because something did not feel right. I must have been in that shower an hour trying to convince myself that I did not feel a lump; needless to say, it was a sleepless night. [LADIES, PLEASE CHECK YOUR BREASTS EVERY MONTH]. On Monday morning after arriving at work, I called to make an appointment to see my family doctor. Now here is where God showed up and told me that I would be ok. You see when I phoned to get an appointment with my doctor I expected to get one in one to two weeks. The response was, “We have an appointment at 12:30 today, can you make it?” Well, try and stop me.

After the visit with my doctor, I went through the whole ultrasound, mammogram, and biopsy. 3 ½ weeks later came the dreaded news that I had stage 3 TNBC ? (Triple Negative Breast Cancer). Not gonna lie, that knocked every ounce of breath out of me and I bawled, not just for me but as a single parent my immediate thought was for my then 11 year old daughter and what was going to happen to her. I cried and cried but then I stopped and told the devil that he had won that battle but he would not win the war.

This might sound strange but I promised that I would cry one more time and that would be when I was a cancer conqueror. You see you never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have.

After more scans, ultrasounds, blood work, PICC line, prodding and poking, I started chemotherapy 5 ½ weeks after first finding the lump. Those 5 ½ weeks were the longest in my life and felt like 5 years of waiting to start fighting. One week later, I ended up in the hospital as my body was literally shutting down from the effects of the chemo. An X-ray showed that the tumour, after only one round of chemo had shrunk to half the size. I had to remind the doctor that I had the doctor of all doctors, my doctor, Dr. God, and I believe he made sure that I was on the road to getting rid of this cancer. Isn?t our God Amazing? Who else but our miracle working God can do something like this?

I had the best employer who allowed me to schedule my chemo for Fridays, take the weekend off to rest and back to work on Monday. I also could not have done this without my family, friends, and my church.

Along the way, I was able to have wonderful conversations with ladies from my community and was encouraged to come out to the monthly meetings where I met other survivors and supporters and most importantly people of faith. That lifted me and helped propel me to see that others have gone through what I was currently going through and had never lost their faith.

By the time December rolled around and I finished my first rounds of chemo, my oncologist said he couldn’t find any evidence of any lump and several tests, ultrasounds, X-rays showed nothing. Did I really have cancer? Did the medication really work that well or was it just that MY doctor showed up? I believe my doctor showed up.

February 21st came the day of my mastectomy and I returned home with the biggest bandage I’ve ever seen in my whole life. Later, tests after tests after tests showed no sign of any cancer. My oncologist referred to me as his miracle patient and says he often refers to me in his teachings. Such an honour!!

March 8, 2013 I CRIED!! That was the promise I made when I first started this journey.
Cancer was a test, stay in faith with God and he will get you to where you want to be.
Let your test be your testimony.

Ce que j’aimerais vous dire
Do your due diligence, check yourself. Do your monthly self breast examination.
If you feel something, say something. I never want you to go through what I went through. Early prevention saves lives.

June
Diagnosed at 49