fight like a "cowgirl"

by Emily Parks, a cancer survivor giving back

Everyone’s first question is ‘How’d you find out you had cancer?’ I guess that’s how this story should start. I was taking my usual morning shower and thought to myself, ‘That’s a lump, that’s never been there before! How could this be? What do I do?’ I decided to wait, not to panic, let this sink in for a few days. Letting myself panic and lose my mind was not going to help me, so I might as well get used to the idea for a few days and gather my thoughts and strength. I was sure I’d need it.

After the initial shock, I showed my husband and told my mom, then headed to the doctor. At the office they felt the lump and sent me to the Breast Care Center the next day. There, at age 31, I had my first and last mammogram in my life. The results turned into a biopsy and a week of waiting and wondering which, by now, you know the results.

The call came Thursday, had a consult on Friday, and was scheduled for surgery the following Wednesday. One thing I didn’t know, was that with cancer things happen fast, and some of the worst parts are “not knowing” what to expect. All of this was foreign to me so I chose the least invasive option; lumpectomy and to do the genetic test for cancer that day.

Normally I spend four to five days a week at the barn where we board our horses, this wasn’t a normal week. I remember riding my horse that weekend for the last time before anything was done. We were scheduled to go to a competitive trail ride, but that was cancelled since surgery and a lot of bouncing doesn’t mix well.

So, I had surgery and was more nervous about the IV needle than the surgery - heck, I’d be asleep for the surgery. No need to be nervous about that. especially when you have a great team of doctors! As I recovered, we found out I am BRCA1 positive (I have the gene for breast cancer). My tumor was exactly 2 cm which is between stage 1 and 2, and it was triple negative breast cancer, which is not fueled by hormones, it is a faster growing more aggressive type. The only up side to this was during surgery they tested the sentinel nodes, or the first few lymph nodes, to see if the cancer had spread at all, and that came back clear!! Great News!

My treatment was eight weeks of chemo every other week. Of course, with all the drugs proposed for treatment you get the full disclaimer of side effects, none of which are pretty, and most are plain scary. Obviously, most everyone gets a new hair (un)do during treatment. We did go to Mayo hoping for some miracle treatment that would be easier, faster, better – none of which was the case. We found out more about my cancer, got a lot of questions answered, found that their prescribed treatment was the same as the doctor in Waterloo talked about, and they ran a few more tests. The results were very reassuring since they all came back negative.

Upon returning, surgery was scheduled to install a port for administering treatments and I started chemo shortly after the port site healed. A few weeks later, as I sat in my hometown watching a friend in a horse show my hair started falling out and blowing away like loose hay in the wind. Later we went home and used a pair of new horse clippers to shave it off (now my hair hasn’t been over 2” long). After the first month of treatment I looked at the calendar, and felt mortified. This was August and I wouldn’t be done until the last week of OCTOBER! Yikes, it felt like an eternity!!

During all of this I wasn’t able to ride much at all. A few of our friends helped us keep the horses exercised when we couldn’t. When I could be there it was very relaxing, I appreciated just feeling good enough to go see them when possible.

After chemo was finally over, and knowing that I am BRCA1 positive, there was a big decision to make: Mastectomy or Not. So we went back to Mayo to consult with surgeons, radiology (my next step if I didn’t have a mastectomy) and talk about the risk of recurrence.

My decision was mostly made, if recurrence happened I did not want to go through treatments again, taking six-seven months of my life. Reconstruction did not sound like anything I needed, and was another four-six months of no riding. Side effects of radiation weren’t any better than the chemo. So double mastectomy it was, and I’ve never regretted it. I remember getting on my horse and saying to my husband ”If I had reconstruction I wouldn’t be able to ride yet.” I made the decision to do what I could to reduce risk moving forward, and I will NOT LIVE IN FEAR.

Instead of fearing my future, I thought what can I do? Why did this happen to me? And what am I going to do with it? As I went to horse shows with friends and saw silent auctions raising money for clubs and groups an idea formed: “Why doesn’t the horse community do something for this cause? Just like everyone else, people who have horses have been diagnosed with cancer.”

A year later that idea became the "Pretty In Pink" Horse Show! This July was the 2nd annual "Pretty In Pink" Show! During the show we held a silent and live auction for the large items, handed out tons of prizes, sold t-shirts, and even our lunch stand donated a portion of their proceeds from their sales. All of our items are donated by the generous people in the Cedar Valley, and major companies who sell horse related items. So we get quite a range of items to auction off. This year we raised over $2,700 for the Beyond Pink TEAM, and all of the money stays local! Check us out on Facebook at N.E.I.S.C.A. Pretty In Pink Horse Show and stay tuned for details on next year’s show. 

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