Nancy A.

Nancy is a hemont nurse. She was diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer in 1996. 19 years ago, April of 1995 had a normal mammogram. It was December ‘95 when she first found the lump. In January, the doctor recommended an ultrasound and results came back next day “highly suggestive squamous cell carcinoma in [her] right upper quadrant breast.” She had a 1.8 cm tumor. Nancy ended up having biopsy, lumpectomy and axillary node dissection, and the doctors ended up finding 4 nodes positive. She was willing to participate in a clinical trial to get chemo 4 treatments each 3 weeks apart, instead of 6 treatments 6 weeks apart. Nancy’s attitude turned very aggressive because her tumor was aggressive, and because she choose to have a lumpectomy instead of a mastectomy, she had 42 radiation apts. over 7 weeks. It was very important for her to work through the chemo and radiation, and since she was a nurse at the hospital, she would go to her appointments during her break. “When you get cancer, you don’t feel sick. They MAKE you sick, they make you sick with chemo and radiation.” Nancy is happy to say that the treatment that she received is now the gold standard for women who have stage two breast cancer. In June and December she had Biannual mammograms and MRIs. Last June she got an MRI and the doctors found “suspicious cells they didn’t like the looks of.” They were atypical hyperplasia tissue and could potentially become cancer in her left breast. She choose to have a lumpectomy removed in Jan. Nancy has been involved in Relay for life for eight years. She doesn’t like to publicly announce she has had cancer, and the only time she “comes out of [her] shell is during Relay for Life. It is a time or awareness and to finish the fight, and I’m fighting for the cure for everyone.” Nancy was 53 years old, and was working full time as a nurse but because of cancer “I started working part time and started to do things that I wanted to do, because I had the feeling that life is to short and that I didn’t know if I was going to be alive in the next five years. So I started to be more carefree. It definitely made me value my life more.” Today, Nancy is a volunteer at the San Carlos Adult Center where she teaches chair exercises. She is also part of the task force of the county for fall prevention for the elderly.

Favorite memory: March 5, 1999 she became a grandmother.

Favorite place: Hawaii (Maui), Turkey and Greece in Santorini

Favorite hobbies: Reading

Meng, Maggie. Santorini. 29 September 2013. Flickr. Web. 11 August 2015.

ann_jutatip. child 3. 16 June 2008. Flickr. Web. 25 August 2015.