Stephanie Johnson was 38 when she was diagnosed with stage 3triple negative breast cancerin September 2011.
She also had a hysterectomy to remove her uterus.
Johnson was officially pronounced cancer-free on Valentines Day 2012.
Ted + Chelsea Cavanaugh. Prop Styling by Amy Elise Wilson.
Since then, shes wrestled withand largely overcomeher fear that this notoriously aggressive form of cancer might come back.
This means that hormone therapies and drugs designed to target those HER2/neu receptorswont work for triple negative breast cancer.
Researchers are also working to develop additional triple negative breast cancer treatment options, like immunotherapy drugs.
When triple negative breast cancer does recur, its usually even more difficult to treat than before.
Its no wonder why fears of recurrence often plaguetriple negative breast cancer survivorslike Stephanie.
No one expects to bediagnosed with breast cancer.
I was very independent as a divorced single mom of two boys who were in high school.
My youngest son was a freshman, and his older brother was just about to graduate.
I was just living my life, working as a photographer and artist.
I also had a regular gig at a bar.
Ididnt have health insurancewhen I found a lump on my left breast.
It was visible right where my areola met the other skin on my breast.
I could feel it with my fingers.
Im pretty pragmatic, but I was also scared.
Once I could tell that it was growing instead of going away, I did assume it was cancer.
That was my assumption: that there was nothing to be done about it.
I was like, I really dont want to leave right now, Ive still got stuff to do.
My mothers sister and their mother both had breast cancer in their 30s.
Fortunately, even without insurance, I was able to go tothe Bridge Breast Networkhere in Dallas.
With their help and Planned Parenthoods, I was able to get a mammogram, biopsy, and diagnosis.
I learned that I had breast cancer over the phone.
It felt like someone had punched me in the gut.
In short, I had a very aggressive punch in of cancer that was already quite advanced.
When something bad happens, my first instinct is to research so I know more about it.
The more I know, even if its bad news, the better I feel.
So I dove right into research about triple negative breast cancer.
I was very much asking lots of questions.
If I cant control whats going on, I can at least control how much I know.
I wish I could have also controlled how the treatment made me feel.
I got diagnosed in September 2011 and needed to start treatment as soon as possible.
After that, I went to chemotherapy every other Tuesday from around mid-October to January.
Chemo is different for different types of cancer, and people respond to it differently.
It knocked me down for the count for a while.
I had a lot ofbone and muscle pain.
My hair falling out was tough too.
Its hard for me to be vulnerable in public.
Looking like a cancer patient and seeing people do the sympathetic head tilt was very uncomfortable for me.
I was also struggling with fears about leaving my kids.
I thought, If I can do that, everything else is gravy.
My sons did tell me they were scared, but I tried to stay positive for them.
Its the only thing Ill ever have in common with Angelina Jolie.
I also had an oophorectomy to remove both ovaries and a hysterectomy to remove my uterus.
I was officially cancer-free.
At first, it didnt seem real.
To go through all of that then hear that I was cancer-free felt unbelievable.
It wasnt just cancer I was afraid of, though.
Thankfully, that was nearly eight years ago.
But Im not going to let that stifle what I do with my life.
you could let the fear swallow you whole, or you could be the one who swallows the fear.
During treatment, I was so focused on the task at hand of physically treating my cancer.
The cancer center I went to had therapists, so it was easy to find people that way.
A lot of situationscancerand otherwiserequire changing the tape running through your mind and talking yourself through the hardships.
Therapists are gold, especially when dealing with the chaos andtraumaof illness.
Now I make an effort to live purposefully every day.
Jake helped me a lot with this.
With all of it, actually.
But I carried a lot of guilt when we started dating.
Thats really affected a lot of my perception of life.
All of our lives are finite, and I think that should be a driver to be more purposeful.
Sometimes its about whittling down your community because not everybodys good at dealing with illness.
Thats not a slight to them.
Were all different with how we deal with things.
It makes everything more enjoyable.
Some people look up at a point in their lives and think, How did I get here?
Its a laundry list of decisionsoften teeny decisionsthat bring people to that point.
Breast cancertook me off autopilot, Ill tell you that.
It gave me the opportunity to carve out the life that I want to have.
Even if Ill eventually die ofcancer, Im not dying today.
