Breast Cancer Survivor Stories
Four women under age 40 reveal how they found and fought breast cancer and lived to tell the tale.
Jeannette Garcia, 33 continued...
In March 2010, a few months after I finished chemo, I had an 11-hour surgery to do the bilateral mastectomy and reconstruction. I worked through all my chemo but took six weeks off after surgery, and now I'm back at work. There are still some procedures to do, but I'm almost done. I can't wait to be there.
It's all been pretty expensive. I have a PPO plan and have to pay 30% of everything, so I'll probably be in debt for the rest of my life, but at least I have my life.
I have my days where I get tired still, or just get frustrated with the whole process. Growing out my hair is really hard -- being bald was easier! It's messed with my confidence level a lot, but I'm trying to gain that back now.
It's been a long journey. You see life in a different light -- it's just too short for the little stuff. I think I've changed for the better.
Joye Beachum, 36
I was diagnosed with stage II breast cancer in the spring of 2009, two weeks before my first wedding anniversary. I had felt "something" as far back as January, but I wasn't sure if it really was anything. I took off work later on for some oral surgery, and while I was off, I thought I'd get it checked out. The doctor said he felt something, but told me, "Don't worry about it. You're too young and you don't have a family history." So I didn't worry. But then the needle biopsy he did in his office and a mammogram both came back inconclusive, so he sent me for a core biopsy and an ultrasound. When I went for that, I saw something on the monitor and it freaked me out. It made it real.
Less than a week later, I got the phone call -- at work, no less. "I'm so sorry, it's cancer." I was inconsolable. Even remembering it is hard now. My first thought was that I was going to die. I have a daughter who's 20 now, and she was just about to graduate from college in Oregon. I didn't want to tell her. I didn't want to stop her momentum -- she was doing so well. And at that point I couldn't really talk about it without being hysterical.