When Lloyd was in her 20s, her older sister passed away from the disease.
Lloyd vividly remembers the painful experience and started getting yearly mammograms in her mid-30s.
In 2019, Lloyd skipped her annual mammogram.
Amika Cooper
This is her story as told to SELFs associate health director Melissa Matthews.
My sister lost her life tobreast cancerin her 30s.
As ayoung Black woman, she faced a greater threat from the minute she was diagnosed.
But in 2019, I skipped my mammogram because my insurance changed when I switched jobs.
I never had any symptoms that alarmed me, so I figured therewasnt much to worry about.
In August 2020, I almost skipped my mammogram again because of the pandemic.
After the mammogram, my doctor recommended doing an ultrasound.
But this time, my suspicion grew when the procedure started taking longer than usual.
I remember thinking, Why is she going over the same spots?
I had breast cancer.
I asked the doctor.
After years of normal mammograms, it was just so hard to wrap my head around it.
Yes, its cancer, but its really small, the doctor told me.
I left work early that day.
As soon as I got home, the surgeons office called me to schedule my first appointment.
Because of COVID-19, nobody else was allowed to come with me.
In that regard, I was lucky.
When my results confirmed I was BRCA2 positive, I completely fell apart.
I just cried and cried.
I immediately thought about my sister and everything that she went through when she had breast cancer.
I just never wanted to go through that.
I wondered if it would be my fate too.
She wouldnt even show me that she was scared, and that helped me be strong too.
I never felt alone.
When I opened my eyes after the surgery, someone was there.
Immediately, I looked down and I thought, Its done.
It took me two months to recover at home.
Knowing your family history, especially as a Black woman, is so important.
I never wanted to do a genetics test because I didnt want to live in fear of getting sick.
But knowledge is also power, and I wish those tests were readily available when my sister had cancer.
Like so many people, I missed my yearly mammogram just once.
My sisterfelt a lump in her breastfor a while and put off having a mammogram.
But remembering to schedule my screening saved my life.
