I Beat Cancer Twice—Then Found Out I Had Stage 4 Breast Cancer

My cancer story is a bit of a twisty tale. Some people are diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer de novo, meaning they didn’t know about their cancer at an early stage, but not me. At 22, I beat Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a cancer of the lymph nodes. Then, at age 27, I found out I had stage 1 breast cancer. I also beat breast cancer, but then, at age 31, it became metastatic breast cancer (MBC), or stage 4.

I am now 36 years old and live in Georgia with my husband, Jesse, and our three dogs: Charlie, Lola, and Obi-Wan. Before I was diagnosed with MBC in November 2020, I had told my breast cancer doctor that I wasn’t feeling quite well. I was out of breath with the slightest change in position, like when I lay down to go to bed. Although it bothered me, my doctor told me not to worry and told me I didn’t need a PET scan, an imaging test used to evaluate diseases like cancer. Many health care providers have told me to avoid exams over the years, saying, “You’ll just see things that aren’t there and worry about them.” » But I prefer to know than not to know. My breast cancer doctor also told me that I shouldn’t waste my money, but I was like, “Well, I have insurance, so I’m going to do what I can manage.” It was as if she was almost demanding that I not get checked out. I was in an exam room under this pink towel, practically naked, but I sat up and told him, “I’m not leaving here until some sort of imaging is scheduled.” I didn’t know what was happening to me, but I knew I wasn’t okay.

Finally, she sent me for a CT scan and CT scan. Immediately afterward, she called and told me I needed a PET scan. I was like, “Are you kidding me? So I had the scan, and then she said, “You need a lung biopsy.” » At that point, she was convinced that my Hodgkin’s lymphoma must have returned, not that my problems were somehow related to breast cancer. She told me to seek out lymphoma specialists. Then she called again. The first thing she said was, “I haven’t been burned many times in my career, but this is one.” » I asked what that meant. She replied, “Well, you have breast cancer metastatic to the lung and mediastinal lymph nodes. »