The very first words I heard from my surgeon was..you have Abnormal Cells.."Pre-Cancerious Cells" but not Cancer! Next step was to have a lumpectomy to remove the pre-cancerious cells and test them again just as a pre-caution. Why was I not happy to hear that the cells were not cancer? Something inside me still remained very uneasy about the words pre-cancerious. To me that still meant there was a chance that they would find cancer while in surgery. Surgery day came and went...then came the wait to find out whether or not I had cancer. The report was in and they suspect that the cells are indeed cancer but they need a more expert opinion so they send the biopsy to the Mayo Clinic. I think to myself that there is no better place to make that decision but for me that meant more waiting and by this time I am terrified of the outcome. Five days past the results are in. The surgoen in a very calm polite voice says...'I'm sorry Mrs. Cheek but the Mayo Clinic feels that the cells are Cancer." The surgeon immedicately says in a friendly voice, but they feel that we have caught it very early and it is treatable. I felt as thought my heart was in my throat. I was so scarred! My surgeon then said don't worry with treatment and prayer you will be just fine. All of a sudden when people started to find out that I had Breast Cancer I begin to hear from people I knew that had also had Breast Cancer and they gave me alot of support and I in return shared my story with others to get the word out about how important it is to get mammograms for early detection!! Patricia Cheek, Clayton NC

Patricia Cheek
Clayton, NC