Tammy's Story from Virginia

My name is Tammy. I am 44-years-old. I am married to a wonderful man and have two very special little boys, 6 and 7 years old.

In early February, 2007, I was having some pain and swelling in my left breast. I was already scheduled to see my OB/GYN within a couple of weeks for my annual physical but I decided to call the doctor's office to let them know how I was feeling. They scheduled an appointment for me the next day. As soon as the doctor looked at me, he told me that he was fairly sure I had breast cancer, wanted me to have my mammogram done and see a surgeon to have a biopsy done.

On February 20th I was told I have Stage IIIC Inflammatory Breast Cancer. I was told the tumor was too big for them to operate and still have skin to be able to close the area without doing skin graphs so they decided to start chemo to try and shrink the tumor first. I went through four months of chemo and then had a radical mastectomy in August. They removed 10 lymph nodes from under my arm and 6 out of the 10 had cancerous tumors attached. I will be going for scans on October 1st to find out if the cancer has spread to other areas. I am scheduled to start 6-1/2 weeks of radiation this month and will continue with low dose chemo (Herceptin) for the next year.

I am trying my best to continue on with life as normal as possible. I have continued working through it all when possible. I am so very lucky to have employers (friends) that are willing to work with my crazy schedule and/or to let me work from home when needed. I have tried to keep my kids busy with the help of my family so that they do not get upset over what is happening. They were very concerned when I lost my hair...my 6 year old says he likes my "pretend hair" that I wear now.

My husband, kids, family and friends have been wonderfully supportive through this very difficult time. I am very blessed to have an unknown number of people that are willing to pray for me on a daily basis. I have received cards from people I do not even know to let me know that they are praying for me. What a blessing to know that so many people care about what you are going through and are so willing to help.

I don't know what is going to happen next but I am ready for it thanks to the support of my family and friends. I am going to continue to pray and fight every day with the hopes of hearing the news that I am cancer free at some point in the future. Until then, I am going to thank God for each and every day that he gives me to be with my family and to watch my kids grow into the very special loving boys that I know they will be.

Chesapeake, Virginia