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Strength and Determination: Local Breast Cancer Survivors Share Their Story

 


This story has been republished with the permission of the Birmingham Times

To commemorate the beginning of October (Breast Cancer Awareness Month), the Birmingham Times visited the 10th Brenda’s Brown Bosom Buddy (BBBB) Sistastrat on Saturday, September 25, at Legion Field to talk to survivors. ..

BBBB is a 501 (c) (3) organization that supports breast cancer patients and promotes breast cancer education and early detection in minorities, low-income earners and poorly serviced areas. For more information on BBBB, please visit: www.brendasbrownbosombuddies.org..

This is just one of the moving stories from the survivors who attended this year’s Sistah Strut.

Ausiliah Jenkins: “Soldier Cancer Survivors”

Ausiliah Jenkins, 50, cuts hair with a small coil and twist. When she was diagnosed with stage 2 cancer in 2014, she was 43 at the time and couldn’t imagine wearing a hairstyle.

“After my first [chemotherapy] process, [an aggressive type of chemical drug therapy designed to destroy cancer cells in the body]I felt something aching, “she said. “I started combing my hair, and it was just coming out.”

according to Breast cancer.org, “Hair loss or thinning hair is a potential side effect of some breast cancer treatments, including certain types of chemotherapy. [and other treatments, which] It can cause very different types and amounts of hair loss (doctors call this “alopecia”). “

Jenkins decided to “shave everything” after seeing half of his hair in a lump of sink.

“I took a straight razor, took a shower and scraped it all off. It took me a month to show my little bald head.”

Two biopsies (procedures to remove tissue to examine cells to determine the presence or extent of the disease) were needed to understand what the “small pebbles” under her armpits were.

“NS [doctor] I had to go a little deeper for the second [biopsy]”Jenkins recalled. “When they finally told me I had cancer, my mouth fell to the floor.”

Nonetheless, graduates of WA Berry High School, now Hoover High School, decided to fight.

“I lifted my mouth and said,” Okay, what do we have to do? “The next week I had my first surgery,” she said.

After her successful treatment, Jenkins noticed that her hair began to grow very thick.

“It’s crazy to see the dramatic changes that occur when you experience something that dramatically loses your hair,” she said.

Jenkins now considers herself a “soldier’s cancer survivor” and she is fine to talk about her experience and praise her “main support system.”

“I am a member of a good church. [First Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Birmingham], It has my back, “she said. “I have a husband. [Phil], Over 24 years, and mine [two] Children. All three of them were a constant motivation to keep me going. If I didn’t have them, I’m not sure if I did it the way I did. “

Carmella Walker: “I was going to beat this.”

“Listen to your body” is the best advice Carmella Walker, 35, gives to people who are suffering from a cancer diagnosis.

“You know yourself better than anyone,” she added. “If you feel something is wrong, don’t ignore your feelings.”

In May 2018, Walker, then 32, was dealing with stage 2 cancer of the right breast “about 10 centimeters deep.”

According to Susan G. Comen (komen.org), The largest breast cancer awareness and advocacy group in the United States, “Tumor size is strongly associated with prognosis (probability of survival). In general, smaller tumors tend to have a better prognosis.”

One night when Walker was taking a shower, she found a lump on her right breast. The next day, she sought advice from her mother and was advised to make an appointment with OB-GYN.

“After struggling to get a three-day promise, I finally got it,” she said. “at first, [the doctor] I told me it was nothing. … I said, “Oh no no! This is something. It’s too difficult to do anything …. It’s too big to pay attention.”

Eventually, a doctor came and told me that he believed in stage 2 breast cancer. “

Three weeks after being diagnosed, Walker began chemotherapy that lasted for five months.

“After my first treatment … my hair started to come out,” she said. “One day my head was full of hair. The next day I woke up [my] I had hair. “

Walker, a graduate of West End High School and aspiring to be a nurse, said he “never forgets” the nurse who stood by his side during treatment. Her nurse was also a breast cancer survivor. She cried with me.she [told me],’If I can beat it, you can beat it. … We will do this together, ”Walker said.

According to the American Cancer Society, the next step in her fight was to receive radiation therapy, including “using high-energy rays or particles to destroy breast cancer cells.”Cancer.org). While receiving this treatment, Walker motivated himself.

“I was always crying,” she said. “I finally stopped feeling sorry for myself and had to put it all together. I was going to beat this. [I said to myself],’I have to pray. I have to accomplish this. “

“Healthy and healthy,” said Walker, who is now in his third year without cancer. She is taking vitamins and other medications to stay healthy and is looking to the future with the goal of completing her research at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and earning a degree in nursing.

Janet Ware: “My mission is to help others.”

Prior to being diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer, 69-year-old Janetware took part in a breast cancer awareness walk to help others.

“I knew people with breast cancer and wanted to help them,” she said.

Ware gets a mammogram every year, and a year later her doctor returned a result called a “complication” that caused suspicion of breast cancer. She was told to take prescription hormones to control suspicious cancer, and everything was fine for a while. A year after taking the hormone, she went to another annual mammogram. As she was preparing to leave, the doctor said, “I want you to stop.”

Through ultrasonography and biopsy, doctors revealed that the breasts of the garment were growing. She was overwhelmed by the news.

“When I quit my job, someone offered to take me home … I cried all the way home,” said Ware, who was initially thinking about death and death. ..

“I wasn’t thinking about chemotherapy,” she added. “I thought that if I had breast cancer, that was all … I saw other survivors, but I personally thought I would die.”

The devastated garment sought a second opinion, so he recommended visiting a doctor at UAB’s Kirklink Clinic, a super clinic specially designed for outpatient care, to begin chemotherapy.

Ware began to lose her hair, but the treatment did not make her sick. “I was really weak and tired,” she said.

After chemotherapy shrinks the tumor, she makes a “decision” during mastectomy (surgical resection of individual parts of breast tissue or “lumps”) or mastectomy (surgical resection of the breast). bottom.

“I asked the doctor. [one] Do i live long [with]?? ‘The doctor said, “It doesn’t matter. You have a choice,” said Ware, who decided to remove the breast mass.

During subsequent radiation therapy, Ware relied heavily on her faith, her family, and members of the Church who frequently visited and prayed for her.

“I called the minister,” she said. “The Bible tells the elders to pray for you … So I asked the elders in the church to pray for me. I had a particular elder find me. [at the hospital]So he will go to church on the altar on my chemotherapy day and pray for me. Forever, my church, [First Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Birmingham], Prayed for me. “

Cancer-free Ware wants to help others by sharing his story.

“It has become my mission to help others,” she said. “When I was diagnosed, I talked to some women who helped me. If you know who I have now [cancer] Or, even if you don’t know, give them a card with your name and number. “

Carla “Truth” Young Blood: “Keep fighting, stay strong”

Without her sense of humor, Carla “The Truth” Youngblood would not have been able to handle the diagnosis of triple-negative breast cancer in 2015.

According to the American Cancer Society (Cancer.org), “Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) accounts for about 10 to 15 percent of all breast cancers. The term triple-negative breast cancer means that cancer cells do not have estrogen or progesterone receptors and do not have much protein called HER2. Refers to the fact that it does not contain much. (Cells are tested as “negative” on all three tests.) These cancers are in African-Americans or women under the age of 40 who have BRCA1. Tends to be more common. [an inherited genetic],mutation. “

“”[Breast cancer] Young Blood, 55, said: “If you take the right attitude and look at it from a different perspective, you can feel the joy and laughter of what you are experiencing. That is one of the things I have learned. [that’s one thing] I’m trying to teach others — you have to learn how to laugh at yourself. “

A stand-up comedian from Birmingham discovered a swelling in her chest, and her intuition immediately told her that it was cancer.

“I found it myself and went to the doctor,” she said. “I’ve been waiting for a few days because I already knew in my heart and soul that it was cancer. [I told myself], “I have to deal with it before I get to the doctor, so I won’t be a fool when I get there.” I was preparing my brain to deal with it. “

After several doctor visits, Young Blood’s cancer was found to be in multiple places on her chest, so she immediately started chemotherapy. ..

Graduates from Philips High School and Birmingham Southern University said that “God was with me” during the treatment, noting that the prescription drugs needed to fight cancer did not cause any illness.

“”[I] Thank God for being with me while I am on chemotherapy. … I ate before, during, and after chemotherapy. I couldn’t stop eating. “

After suffering from 16 chemotherapy treatments, Young Blood had to undergo a double mastectomy, an operation to partially or completely remove one or both breasts. And she managed to take a humorous approach to the procedure.

“I had small boobs for the rest of my life … Now when they cut them out, I can make them as big as I want,” she laughed.

Today, cancer-free Young Blood, a professional comedian for five years before diagnosis, shares the story of a breast cancer survivor on the stage of a routine that stands up. She also said, “Cancer Ain’t Funny! Laugh anyway …”, a book she published in October 2018.

“While I was being treated, I was writing and writing a diary about everything that was happening to me,” she said. “After that, I did a stand-up comedy show [at the Carver Theatre for the Performing Arts in Birmingham] It’s been a year since I finished the treatment.

“In the meantime, I said,” What do you know, I’m going to take these same jokes and translate them. ” [which resulted in the] An extended version of my story in the book. … So I started writing it all on paper. “

Youngblood, a popular speaker at Birmingham and breast cancer awareness events across the country, gives encouragement to those who are being diagnosed or treated for cancer.

“Continue, keep fighting, stay strong,” she said.

For more information on Carla “Truth” Yungblud, her stand-up, and her book, please visit: keepyoulaughing.com..

Sources

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2/ https://www.al.com/news/birmingham/2021/10/strength-and-determination-area-breast-cancer-survivors-share-their-stories.html

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