Patricia's Story

My life has been one of goal setting, but the biggest goal I ever set and achieved was battling breast cancer. I was diagnosed on April 1, 2003, not a very good April fools joke. I must not be as brave as others for this is definitely a hard story to share. The news of my diagnosis beat me home, which was hard to take, someone at the doctors office had leaked the news and my neighbor new of the test results before I. First goal was to tell my four children, which my husband did. I had a hard time facing them at first. Then the biggest goal - to beat this disease. I was diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer. So the months of chemo, surgery and radiation became daily realities. Just getting out of bed some days was almost more than I could handle. I had a ten year old daughter at the time and her world seemed to be okay if I was up before she caught the school bus in the morning and dressed when she returned home from school in the afternoon, this took all the energy that I could muster up on some days. My dad always said if something was worth having it was worth fighting for, and life is definitely worth having and therefore worth fighting for. The fight with this illness has made me a stronger person, ready to take on whatever the world has to dish out to me.

On the month of the fifth anniversary of my diagnosis, which was just this April, I asked my doctor if I was in remission, his reply, “Patty, you don’t put stage IV breast cancer in remission. You can say it is controlled.” Controlled means a monthly visit to the doctors office for a bone treatment to keep the disease at bay, as well as daily medicine therapy. With these treatments comes daily pain, a heart condition as a result of the chemo and a strong will to beat this illness. But the sum of the whole thing is that I am here. My desire to beat the cancer is still strong, the goal of rasing my children is almost completed. There are other goals however, that I have set and plan to accomplish. The desire to reach these goals and the dream of just being alive are still strong in my heart.

I have often told others of my fight with cancer, and know from where my strength came, from the prayers of my husband, children, father, sisters, and brothers, extended family, friends and a whole community, but mostly from the Lord. I could not have done it alone. To others I would say, that cancer is beatable today, people live through cancer and chemo in our day, my mother was diagnosis with leukemia in 1974 and died form the disease and chemo treatments in 1976. But in to days world people live through cancer and chemo and carry on. So for today my goal is still to beat this thing, and live out the rest of my goals and my dreams.