A Survivor's Story

In February of 2002, as I was preparing myself for my annual mammogram, I was feeling fine and having no problems. Then my life suddenly and forever changed with the news that a suspicious lump had appeared on my mammogram.

Following a breast biopsy, my surgeon gave me the news that I had an infiltrating ductal carcinoma. The mass was one centimeter in size, and the cell structure of the tumor indicated it would respond well to treatment.

I was scheduled for a partial mastectomy and left the surgeon’s office with a rather large stack of information about breast cancer. I felt devastated, and I felt angry about this great inconvenience to my life. The stack of information turned out to be a great source of comfort and information.

The Iowa Breast Cancer Edu-action’s Resource Guide answered every question I had in the next two weeks prior to surgery. My surgery was followed with 33 radiation treatments, and I will take tamoxifen for the next five years.

I am now actively involved with the Iowa Breast Cancer Edu-action organization. It’s a hard-working and terrific group of women.