Heather Leighton

In October of 2013, after a just-to-be-sure mammogram, I was immediately sent for a sonogram at which the radiologist told me I would need a biopsy, did I have any questions? I asked if I should be worried and he said he believed I had cancer. I was dumbfounded, but not for the reasons many woman are. My family has no history of cancer clear back to my great grandparents for sure, maybe further. My grand and great grandparents have lived into their late 80's or 90's and have passed away from old age. My sister was diagnosed with colon cancer at the age of 27 and passed away when she was 35. That was our first experience with cancer. We all figured she was our rare case within the family, never dreaming that, two months after my 40th birthday I would be diagnosed with breast cancer. They have done 3 different genetic tests, all of which have been negative. My samples are on file and they say one day I will get a letter in the mail telling me they have found the gene that caused my and my sister's cancers. I, too, am triple negative and had chemo first, then a lumpectomy followed by radiation. I finished in August, the day before my 41st birthday. My survivorship has now started and it is hard. Some days being a cancer patient is easier than being a survivor. I have an eight year old daughter who I am so afraid I will just be a vague memory to. The next three years will be excruciating due to the fact if it is going to come back, it is usually in the first 3 years. But we ladies, we kick ass and just keep getting stronger.