Angela Sather
A survivor's story in her own words.
Two years ago, in October 2005 at the
age of 28, I was in a serious car accident. Two weeks later, I found a very
large lump in my left breast as I was getting out of the shower. I was
terrified--my first thought was, 'please God, don't let it be cancer.' After
many tests and doctor's appointments, I was preparing to chalk it up to an
abscess due to the trauma my left side suffered during the accident. However, it
seemed to be getting larger all the time, so my doctor referred me to a surgeon
for a biopsy. In December 2005, my worst fears came true: it was in fact,
cancer. The tumour had already grown to over 5cm in size, and had spread to my
lymph nodes. I was diagnosed with Stage 3 infiltrating ductal carcinoma. I had
no family history of any type of cancer; I was shocked and devastated.
In December 2005, I began a rigorous course of chemotherapy. I went off work, my
hair fell out within two weeks following my first treatment, and I started to
get very sick. It was a long winter, but in April 2005, I finished my 6th and
final round of chemo. I was allowed a few weeks to recover, then I was scheduled
for a lumpectomy in May 2006. The pathology report indicated that there was
still cancer in my left breast, so in June, I went back for a second
surgery--this time, I had a modified radical mastectomy.
Following my recovery from surgery, I began a 5 week course of radiation
therapy. I seemed to be healing nicely from all the trauma, when I found some
suspicious nodules on my chest. On my 30th birthday, I found out that they were
worrisome to my oncologist, and required another biopsy immediately. I found out
very soon after, that I had had a recurrence. The cancer had moved into my
dermal lymphatic system (my skin), and had also spread into my right breast. I
was rushed in for another surgery in December 2006; I had another modified
radical mastectomy, and a large excision with a skin graft on my chest. In
January 2007, I began another course of intensive chemotherapy. The tests had
shown that the cancer had likely metastasized to my liver, so we attacked
it aggressively with the drugs.
In May 2007, I completed my last chemo treatment. A few weeks later, I came down
with a serious case of pneumonia, and I was hospitalized for a month. They
quickly discovered that the chemo had caused acute renal failure, and had caused
me to develop a serious, rare blood disorder called TTP. I ended up on a
ventilator in ICU for a few days, and when I recovered from that, I was put on
dialysis to help with the kidney failure. I also began receiving plasma pharesis
treatments, to treat the blood disorder. I was released at the end of June, and
while I was at home recuperating, I discovered new nodules on my chest. I had
another recurrence in my skin, and was scheduled for another surgery in August
2007. I had another large excision, and another skin graft to repair the
damage. In the meantime, my kidneys seemed to rebound from their acute failure,
and dialysis was discontinued. The blood disorder also seemed to have resolved
itself. I have been healing nicely, and have recovered quite well from all of
the recent trauma my body has suffered. I will begin another 5 week course of
radiation therapy in November, and will hopefully continue to heal and to learn
from this ordeal.
Pink Warrior has agreed to debut my poem “A Life Reclaimed” on their website under their Survivors section. As they do with all their items – they will be donating $5.00 from each poem they sell to Breast Cancer Research.
I have said before it is important for all of us to share our courageous stories of battle and triumph with each other. As I was empowered by other survivors' stories and experiences I hope that other women will feel supported and empowered by my story and my poem. And if you should decide to purchase my poem for yourself or for a friend, you will know that the proceeds are going to a cause very personal to many – myself included.
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