Sue's Story from Ohio

My name is Sue, and I'm 50 years old. I went for a routine mammogram on August 22 of 2006, I didn't have any lumps or any suspicions. They called me in for an ultrasound and spot compression August 30th. Then on August 31 I had a MRI done. I went to see a surgeon a week later.

She suggested a MRI guided biopsy, so on September 13th I had this done. I got the call from the doctor stating that it was malignant. A couple of weeks later I went back to the surgeon to discuss my options. The tumor was large and up against my breast bone. It was invasive ductal carcinoma, and was the fastest growing type.

We decided that the best thing to do was a double mastectomy. On October 16th I had my life altering surgery. A couple days later I was released. I was in the emergency room twice the next week with infection. A week later the infection was so bad that when I bent over the infection would run down my side. I was hospitalized for a week.

After that, I was directed to start my Chemo in November. I had Chemo until February 21th. During this time I was hospitalized twice for extremely low red and white blood counts.

I started radiation on March 1st and continued it every day until April 5th. I was hospitalized for a 3rd degree burn from the radiation. If this wasn't enough I was also diagnosis with a brain tumor during this time frame. I had to get a pet scan and then they found a spot in my lung to!

My mom died of lung and brain cancer at the age of 50, the same age as I was. As if this wasn’t enough I was in an abusive marriage and had a couple kids still at home. One was a senior and one a junior. I kept leaving and staying with my cousin or my best friend to get my strength up. They took care of me.

When I went back home, I’d didn’t receive any support. The church brought food to me three days a week. This helped me get through this time because I knew I'd eat on those days. I also was "saved" during this ordeal. I know that helped me to fight and survive even though everything was going against me.

I was on disability from work and had hardly any money coming in. My soon to be ex-husband wasn’t working and we sometimes didn’t even have lunch money for the kids. Christmas was coming up and I was really concerned that I couldn’t give the kids anything for Christmas.

One day, a representative from the American Cancer Society contacted me because an anonymous person told them about me. They sent me a form to fill out about my income and situation, and it went up in front of a board to choose who they felt needed the help. To my surprise they called me and told me that my family and I were chosen to be sponsored. I cried when they came with the basket of items. I couldn’t believe how nice they were to me.

When you have cancer you really become part of a family of patients, survivors, and generous people who really care. I was given information about going to a cancer shelter and was able to get food for the family. I was also given a coupon from the Women’s Health Center to purchase a free wig!

Also, the Girl Scout Troop 1011 of Westerville Ohio made up a care package for me with all kinds of Breast Cancer items. Lastly, I need to mention that my best friend (who helped take care of me), and I had planned on walking in the RACE FOR THE CURE. I wasn’t able to walk due to my illness. So her husband and daughter put my name on their shirts and walked for me.

We hope that next year I can walk for myself. God Willing… I was never aware of all the special organizations and people out there until I was affected by breast cancer myself. It’s too bad that everyone out there can’t be aware and participates in support for the cure. You never know when it can hit you or someone you love. I want to personally thank all of them for helping me out during the fight of my life.

Well here's the good news, I'm coming up on my one year survivor anniversary! I found out that my tumor in the brain is a benign meningioma, and I can put off the brain surgery for now. The lung spot is just a nodule that they plan on checking on a regular basis. Lastly, I filed for divorce, and I'm living in my own apartment. I love my new found freedom! I feel like a new person for so many reasons! I guess the moral of my story is: If I can overcome all these obstacles and actually look forward to getting up everyday... You can too! Good Luck and may God bless you.