Our Breast Cancer Stories
We carry the "pink" cause with great empathy at Anderson Subaru of Pensacola. We carry it personally and with great appreciation for awareness. A number of our (pretty small) staff have survivor & fight stories of their own.
Anderson Subaru is privileged to share two survivor stories with all of you. With each of these stories, we hope to generate awareness and inspire action to screening that will save lives!
With courage, dignity and grace, Wanda overcame all odds to beat her cancer. She now hopes her story might inspire other women to pursue early detection and screening. Here is Wanda's story:
"I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer 21 years ago, at the age of 36. My mother had Ovarian Cancer and died at the age of 58. I have two sisters that had Breast Cancer prior to mine and a niece was diagnosed after I was. We were all in our late 30's when we were diagnosed. I also had several aunts who died from Breast Cancer. Unfortunately, our family carries the BRCA1 gene. When I was diagnosed in 1992, I had my left breast removed, followed by six months of Chemotherapy. Fortunately, I have not had any occurrence of cancer since. Both of my sisters have had cancer a second time. I believe you have to somehow keep a positive attitude along with treatment to overcome cancer. I also believe in self-examination and early detection. With the knowledge of self-examination, I found my lump and immediately went to the doctor. After a biopsy, we found it to be cancer. Hearing the words "you have cancer" is frightening. You instantly feel like your world is going to end, but death never crossed my mind. All I remember about the day I was diagnosed is crying. I lived in Milton and my doctor’s practice was located in Pensacola. I cried all the way home and all that night. My son, 18 years old at the time, was with me at the doctor's office when I received the news. It was agony for him too, but I am very fortunate to have survived."
Tina, a member of our team and someone with whom we have had the privilege of working with since we became Anderson Subaru, valiantly conquered her battle with breast cancer and has courageously agreed to share her story with us:
"Nothing can prepare you for those dreaded words, "You have cancer." I went to the appointment with the pathologist by myself, which turned out to be a big mistake. Why not? I had almost always been called back after my faithful yearly mammograms. The only difference this time was that they did a needle biopsy a week before this appointment. They saw a suspicious "spot" but my doctor said, "Not to worry, 80% of the time, it's just fibrous tissue." So, I confidently walked into my follow-up appointment expecting to hear, "Everything's fine." Not this time. The pathologist continued to give the details, but he could have been reciting the Pledge of Allegiance as far as I knew because all I kept hearing in my head, as tears streamed down my face, were the words "You have cancer." A very kind nurse stayed behind as the pathologist said his, "I'm sorry" and left the room. The nurse said nothing and just handed me a box of Kleenex. I heard her on the phone making an appointment with a surgeon. "...Yes, she has Invasive Ductal Carcinoma..."
When the nurse got off the phone, I finally spoke. "Invasive… that sounds really bad." She said, "Are you ready to talk about it?" "Yes", I said. She went on to say that if I had to have cancer, I had the best-case scenario. It had been caught very early (so important to get those yearly mammograms… case and point!), and it was a very slow growing cancer. I left her office with an appointment card with a surgeon that I was to see the next week.
As I stepped out of the women’s clinic, it hit me and I began sobbing. As I walked in a daze toward my vehicle, I called my husband. He could hardly understand me through my sobs. I went straight home to his loving comforting arms. Thank God I had him!
Within two weeks, I had the surgery, a lumpectomy. He also took a lymph node to test to be sure it had not spread. The results were good, "We got it all and no signs of it spreading." I felt incredibly lucky! At the follow-up appointment a week later, I was scheduled for yet another appointment with a Radiologist.
The Radiologist confirmed what the surgeon had suspected. I would indeed need 33 sessions of radiation. The thought of radiation going into my body terrified me. But, at least I didn't have to have Chemo. Again, I felt fortunate. I cried that first day of a radiation treatment... just the thought of having to go through it. And I cried that last day... because it was over.
Now, it's a year and half later. I thank God every day for my outcome and for the support of my family and friends. I realize there are so many other brave women who had, or are fighting now, a much worse battle than I did or who didn't survive at all. My heart goes out to each and every one of them and their families."
Thank you for helping us Love Pink and support Breast Cancer Awareness. We love to see you and your businesses flying the pink colors throughout Pensacola this month!Anderson Subaru is an automotive dealer in Pensacola Florida. We sell new Subaru's, quality used vehicles, CPO Subaru's, as well as provide Service & Parts to Subaru's and vehicles of all makes. If you would like more information about our Love Pink Pledge, please visit the Community tab of our website. We look forward to any opportunity to serve your family's automotive needs.
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