Troublessa Danyell
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January 7, 2019 I was diagnosed with Stage II breast cancer and I was TERRIFIED to say the least! I was learning how to be a new mom. My daughter was nine months old at the time I got the news. I found my first lump on my left breast in June 2018 while breast feeding. It was rather large. The doctors all suggested it was a blocked milk duct. Even after knowing my family history of breast cancer. My mother was diagnosed twice and one deceased aunt. Fast forward six months later in December 2018 I found my second lump under my armpit. I knew that something wasn’t right. This time I demanded the doctors to check it out further and I had an ultrasound followed by a mammogram along with a biopsy of both lumps. Just a few days later I received the worst news of my life. BREAST CANCER!!!! I was driving home from work. I made it home and my knees were suddenly weak. I cried and cried, and then began demanding & telling CANCER, “You can’t have me”, “I will beat this”, “I will live”! My oncologists told me I’d have 6 months of chemotherapy, a Double Mastectomy and a total Hysterectomy. I also tested positive for the BRCA 1 gene. This was like a punch in the gut and the hardest part of my journey. The one thing that I felt cancer took from me all at the young age of 33 years old.
On March 15, 2019, during my chemotherapy treatments, I got an infection due to my very weak immune system. My appendix ruptured, but I didn’t know it at first. After waiting three long agonizing days until March 18th thinking it was just side effects of Chemo, I was rushed to the ER to have an emergency appendectomy surgery. My surgeon told me after I left ICU, if I had waited one more day I would’ve died. That was a scary time for me. I’m grateful for this journey more now than when it first started. To have another chance at life, to be given grace and to have faith & hope through the process. To tell cancer I did win, I’ll continue fighting and I’M ALIVE. My pathology report is cancer free! God has blessed me with a beautiful daughter that I cherish & love with every fiber in my body. I know God is still working on my life. I’m Alive and I thank him for my life daily.
‘Cancer…you can’t have me’!
I had the pleasure to share my story with Catherine Young, Sr. Vice President of the Susan G. Komen Memphis-MidSouth Mississippi affiliate, and co-host Molly May, breast cancer survivor and author of My Crowning Achievement, as a featured guest on the Memphis Mid-South Mississippi ‘PINK PODCAST’. Listen below!