Ashley...
On August 5, 2015 after feeling not right about how my breast and armpit felt, a couple of ultrasounds, a biopsy, a sentinel node biopsy and a chat with my family doctor, I then sat down with my newly referred surgical oncologist and she told me I had invasive ductal carcinoma. I had two tumors in my left breast and the sentinel node biopsy was positive for cancer cells. I was only 32 and was having a hard time accepting this news. I was a young wife, mother of a 6-year-old daughter and had my whole life ahead of me. I didn't know enough about breast cancer to know if I'd even survive.I was only a few weeks away from flying to my home province of Prince Edward Island to stand in my little sister's wedding and was wondering how I was going to keep it together. I did it with the help of my husband, daughter, my family and my friends. In the next few weeks I had numerous scans, flew east to take part in one of the most important days in my sister's life, talked to my work about taking a leave of absence before my surgery, our daughter started grade 1 and had my unilateral mastectomy on September 25th.
I am so fortunate to have an amazing and supportive sister and parents, because they flew out from PEI just to be by my side during this time. Over the next few months I'd come to learn that my two small tumors actually ended up being large, the largest being 12cm in size. Also 4 out of 7 lymph nodes were positive and that this cancer was trying to go places, therefore I was diagnosed with stage 3, grade 3, estrogen, progesterone and her2 receptor positive breast cancer and my treatment plan changed from only 6 rounds of chemo to chemo and radiation. Scary stuff! I finished my chemo, had 24 rounds of radiation and I'm almost finished of my 17 rounds of Herceptin.
Over the past year I've grown as a person, a mother, a wife and a friend. I've become a Mom to a new fur baby, our Jack Russell, Ollie. I've not only made it through this chapter of my life with strength and resilience but I survived it and I'm honored to be the kind of woman that other women can look to, to see what resiliency looks like!
Lorna's Scars Project was an absolute honor to be a part of. Each and every woman that I've met because of this project is courageous and beautiful in so many ways and I'm lucky to call them friends. Each story is unique and so important to be shared! My hope is to show other women that you can have breast cancer and bare your scars without fear while still feeling strong, beautiful and alive!
The scars that cancer has left me with I wouldn't change, because they tell the story of this important chapter of my life...