Breast Cancer Patient Stories

For decades, my healthcare routine was the same: When I scheduled my annual mammogram to screen for breast cancer, I also booked an appointment for a preventative transvaginal ultrasound. That’s because my sister survived a bout with uterine cancer 40 years ago, and our family history could put me at risk of developing the same cancer.

I am 84 years old and I just moved to an over-55 community with my husband, George, last year. Since I retired from secretarial and real estate work about two decades ago, I’ve kept busy by joining a knitting group, gardening, and going to the gym.

There were a lot of things going on in my life when I first found a lump in my breast. My mother-in-law was in failing health, my two children were teenagers, and I was separating with my husband of 23 years. My life was in chaos; when I found the lump, it further added to that.

I’m 65 years old, and thanks to a 35-year career at the Department of Defense, I’ve been happily retired for just about a decade. I live in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, with my husband Bill, our dog Tess, short for Tess the Mess, and our cat Amoco, who is named for the gas station where we found her.

I lost my hair, but I never even got sick, which I was fully expecting to happen. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, but it never did.