AMY ANDERSON
Hello, my name is Amy Anderson. I’ve been a resident of Beech Grove from a very young age and I’m also a 1992 BGHS graduate. I share my story below, a story of how I found out that I was diagnosed with Triple Negative breast cancer, stage 3A/Grade 9, which is a rare type of breast cancer that is very aggressive and fast growing. My hope in sharing with all of you is to make people more aware of breast cancer and signs to watch in your body!
In January 2023, I went in for my annual mammogram, which came back clear, and all was good. Fast forward to June 2023; I felt a lump and asked my family doctor to check things out. She also felt something and ordered another mammogram, with an ultrasound and the results came back same as before, all good. They said it was dense breast tissue and a small cyst, so I went home and on with life. By the middle of July, I continued seeing more changes and called my doctor to get an appointment. Unfortunately, I was unable to be seen until the end of August. During my appointment, I discussed a couple other health issues with my doctor and as we approached the changes that I was seeing in my breast, she dismissed my worries and told me I would have to wait until my next mammogram, which was scheduled for January 2024. Three days later I found a small lump in my armpit. I decided to send a message to my doctor, via MyChart, hoping she would take some time to listen. Another doctor in the practice saw my message, responded within a couple hours and had me in the office the next morning at 8:30 am. She checked over me and immediately set up another ultrasound for the following week. I went in for the ultrasound and you could tell they saw more than before. The radiologist came in and said that there were significant changes and that we needed to do a biopsy. He told me to be thankful to myself for pushing to be seen. I went the following week for the biopsy. They took tissue from under my arm and from the lump on my breast and told me I would have answers within a week.
I knew in my gut that I had breast cancer, but little did I know I would find out the very next day as I was driving to serve for the weekend at a Christian walk called Emmaus. I was less than 10 minutes away when the very doctor that dismissed me, asked me to pull over on the side of the road so she could talk to me. Even though I knew the answers already, it was still a punch in the gut to hear the words “you have breast cancer”. I wanted to turn around, go straight home and just cry. I knew going home wasn't going to change the outcome, and I felt like there wasn't any better place to be in that moment then as close to God as possible. I continued to drive to the camp, to serve and help others in their walk with Christ. I needed that time, to have a few days to wrap my head around how to tell my children, family, and friends. The first four hours at camp, I received many calls for scheduling for the next week – everything was moving so fast. I decided on that Saturday I was giving my cancer to God, to trust in him and knew he was going to walk me through this journey every step of the way…and he has.
When I got home that Sunday, I told my children and some of my family. I asked them that we try and keep things as normal as possible. This cancer wasn't going to define me or take over our lives. It most definitely altered some things, but it never took over. I even named my cancer “Darla”, so when I was angry or upset about the cancer, or what was going on I would talk about her by name and know that once she was defeated, I could say goodbye to Darla! The following week I had my pet scan on Wednesday, an MRI Thursday morning, my port placed Thursday afternoon, and my first chemo treatment Friday. I did 14 weeks of treatments and then three months of new chemo treatments every three weeks. On April 23rd, I had a mastectomy and 28 lymph nodes removed from my arm pit, seven of which were infected with the cancer. After surgery my pathology reports show that ALL cancer was killed. As of today, I am cancer free. However, I will still be required to undergo radiation (unknown how long at this time) and Keytruda immunotherapy until October of this year.
Without my amazing support system of God, my family, my friends, and prayer warriors (some of whom I have never met), I would not be doing as well as I am today. This disease affects so many; not just the person going through it but everyone that loves that person. There are not enough words in the world for me to be able to express the love and appreciation I have felt through this journey. My hope is that someday I will return as many of the blessings to others that have been given to me.