Fast facts (if you don’t have time to read the full post): Today I had the honor and privilege to speak as a breast cancer patient at the flag raising event for Breast Cancer Awareness Month for Kadlec / Tri-Cities Cancer Center. This week seems to be a week crammed full with opportunities for me to share with our community my experience and hopefully inspire and motivate others to focus on their health as it relates to breast cancer awareness. Tomorrow I have an interview with the radio, there is a pending article about my story being written for an org based in New York (more on that this week!), and I am attending a dinner at the cancer center on Thursday!
TO THE LONG VERSION!
I wanted to share my speech with you all in today’s post along with some photos that my friend took at the event today. I have a request for me to do a post on the BRCA1 mutation, so that is on my to-do list this week. I covered it earlier on when I was initially diagnosed, but I wonder if I can expand upon it. Of course, it is October so it is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I will be giving you all some tips this month on how to conduct self breast exams and other information to stay vigilant about your health!
I don’t mind public speaking. I think I sometimes have a knack for it if I am prepared enough. I do require more scripted content these days due to chemo brain. My thoughts stop and wander more than usual and it is really hard for me to center my thoughts.
I was pleased to discover that my anxiety meds don’t completely erase my ~extreme~ anxiety. I felt a couple pangs before I spoke. Ah. It was so nice to feel the anxiousness run through my veins! I spoke after my breast surgeon which was a hard act to follow. The first speaker (I forgot what her title was) but she works with a lot of the staff at Kadlec and she introduced three staff who also had fought breast cancer. As act one, she was the perfect dose of facts and emotions. Then my breast surgeon spoke and he was all facts, but the good kind. And he is a great public speaker and insanely smart. My potato ass had to follow him and I brought it home with more feelings.
After the speeches, there was a countdown to raise the flag. However, once the flag was up, of course it was a day where we were all sweaty and there was no wind, so the flag did not move. Very anticlimactic. All of this was followed by a toast with apple cider, some custom pink sprinkled Spudnuts (MY FAVORITE KIND OF SPUDNUT!), and awkwardly fun conversation amongst one another. Speaking of awkwardness, my breast surgeon gave me a very funny side hug and I loved it. Why am I such a nerd? It was a great day.
SPEECH! SPEECH! SPEECH!
My name is Madison and I have stage III breast cancer. It’s a hard thing to say, but it’s easier than keeping it to myself. On Friday, February 11 of this year, I discovered a lump in my right breast while I was at work. Ten days later, after an ultrasound, mammogram, and biopsy, I got the call on February 21 that I had breast cancer. It was a day that my life changed forever. After that day, everything moved quickly and in a blur. I was in and out of appointments and meeting with my treatment team, and trying to come to terms with what was happening in my body. For someone who likes to be in control, I had never felt more out of control.
On March 17, I started chemo. 21 weeks later on August 4, I celebrated my last chemo and got to ring the bell. And on September 15, I had a double mastectomy. Soon, I will begin 28 rounds of daily radiation. Time has moved so quickly, yet there were days it was a struggle to feel like I was going to survive for minutes at a time. Some days still feel like that, but I am still here and that is something I am extremely grateful for and don’t take for granted.
Even when cancer feels improbable, it’s still very possible. Cancer doesn’t discriminate. I was 29, four months shy of turning thirty when I received my diagnosis and learned my family’s history with breast, ovarian, and prostate cancers. Because of my diagnosis, I learned I have the BRCA1 mutation, a mutation responsible for an increased risk of these particular cancers. I am one of four in our family who currently have cancer and I am the youngest in my family currently going through active treatment. It’s been my mission to get as many of my relatives tested and start a conversation with others on how they can be proactive with their health.
It is a personal choice to share my journey, but sharing it makes cancer feel almost purposeful. If I can convince any of my friends, family, or even strangers to self-examine on a regular basis, self-advocate always, and to prioritize their health over their busy schedules, then this will have meant something.
In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, in honor of the thousands of individuals who will be diagnosed this year, for those fighting, and for those we have lost, this is my ask: Take the time to start a conversation with your loved ones about your family’s history with cancer. Take the time to do a self examination. And if you are in a position to do so, support patients locally by donating or getting involved with the Kadlec Foundation or the Tri-Cities Cancer Center. Thank you.
Written by yours truly, the cancerous potato.
Shout out to my friend Joel for being my emotional support human today and capturing some great photos. I wonder if I could use these on LinkedIn? Just kidding.
The highlight of the event was the communications director (or at least I think that was her title) from Kadlec said that this was the first time she has ever had an event and the news did not do follow up interviews with the speakers. This means that we all did a great job and they want to use our speeches as-is. I thought that was a great compliment for all of us. Nailed it!
Oh and the news covered the event too! You can see me mentioned here and here.
Today’s song lyrics of the day are brought to you by P!nk.
“So raise your glass if you are wrong
In all the right ways
All my underdogs
We will never be never be, anything but loud
And nitty gritty dirty little freaks
Won’t you come on and come on and raise your glass
Just come on and come on and raise your glass”
madisonhatescancer 