During the month of October we are sharing stories from women whose lives and experiences have been shaped by a breast cancer diagnosis. We hope these stories will help provide comfort and courage to others whose lives have been touched by cancer.
One of the greatest gifts Misti Lewis received from a breast cancer diagnosis was a lesson in perseverance. “There are never any guarantees in life,” she said. “You just have to wake up every morning and keep moving forward.”
At 34 years old, the single mother of two young girls was between jobs and without health insurance when over Memorial Day weekend in 2012, she found a lump on her left side. Misti was not overly alarmed because she and her twin sister both had benign lumps removed in their teens. Still, she had a mammogram to ensure her good health. A sonogram was ordered as well, due to the lump’s location.
Radiologist Matt Jones, MD, reassured her that because of her age, statistics were on her side. And then she had a biopsy. Misti’s doctor told her that she had breast cancer. “I just didn’t know how bad it was,” she said. Putting on a brave face for her girls, she was understandably upset.
“I have two young girls and for the first time in my life, I didn’t have health insurance,” she said. “I called IBCCP [Illinois Breast and Cervical Cancer Program], and the staff helped me get health coverage right away.”
She met with Medical Oncologist Abdur Shakir, MD, who presented her options. Misti chose the least invasive procedure: a lumpectomy. Her cancer was aggressive and had already spread to her lymph nodes, so an equally aggressive treatment protocol was required. The lumpectomy would be followed by two months of chemotherapy, 36 radiation treatments and seven to 11 years of taking Tamoxifen, an oral medication which blocks the effect of estrogen, the hormone that fueled her cancer’s growth.
“My biggest fear was how I was going to pay for the treatment. But the staff in the Regional Cancer Center never asked me whether I could afford it. They just treated me like their other cancer patients and held my hand through the process,” Misti said. “The staff made me feel like family– that I wasn’t alone in my battle. I never feared coming to the Center because it was welcoming and friendly.”
Confident in her recovery, Misti said, “I never had a sense that I wasn’t going to beat this. The Regional Cancer Center has a very positive atmosphere. Dr. Shakir laid out my treatment plan and my options. He was honest and truthful with me. I believed in the doctors and had great confidence in them.”
Strong and outgoing, Misti said she didn’t allow herself to delve into the “what ifs.” Instead, she chose to move forward in a positive way to beat her cancer and reassure her children that she was going to be fine.
Near the end of her treatment, Misti and her fiancé, Raymond, were married. They share their new life and their future with their three children: Garrett, Baley and Megan.