Early detection is vital, says breast cancer survivor

“On my dad’s side of the family, all of the males in the family had cancer, starting with my grandfather, my dad — he had two brothers. All of them had cancer in different places,” Gordon, 76, said today, in the midst of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. “I had a male cousin who had cancer also, but the women had not had anything like that.”

Then, around early 2017, one of Gordon’s cousins became the first woman in the family to have cancer. It was breast cancer.

“Because there was so much cancer involved in the family, I was very aware of annual appointments,” Gordon said. “The doctor told us we needed to be vigilant about doing that because of the family history, even though it started out being mainly the males.”

She recalled getting her annual mammogram in December 2017.

“Everything looked great: no problem,” Gordon said.

But in June 2018, she found a lump in her left breast, “even though I’d had that mammogram six months earlier,” she said. “So that right there is why it’s so important for women to know their breasts and know if there’s anything that feels different, and not to ignore it. Because if I had gone another six months (while ignoring the lump), my situation might have been a lot different.”

After finding the lump, Gordon’s doctor performed another mammogram, as well as a breast biopsy to determine if the lump was cancerous.

“The mammogram was abnormal,” Gordon said, “and then they did the biopsy and confirmed that it was breast cancer.”

In August 2018, she had a lumpectomy to remove the lump.

“They also, at that time, did biopsies of the lymph nodes, because that’s another big factor,” Gordon said. “If you know it has spread to the lymph nodes, then your diagnosis for treatment is even greater.”

Thankfully, the cancer had not spread to her lymph nodes.

After her surgery, Gordon began taking a pill that blocked the production of estrogen in her body.

“There are different types of breast cancer, and mine was fed by estrogen in the body,” she said. “It was called the hormone receptor positive, that’s what they diagnosed that I had.”

Gordon had to have 19 radiation treatments. She then had a mammogram every three months for a year, then every six months for two years, and then once a year.

She said even though she has now been cancer-free for seven years, “That doesn’t mean I don’t stop examining and knowing my breast situation. The whole key is early detection: Know your body. Know when something’s not right. I have many friends that were in different situations where they ended up having to have radical type surgeries and chemo. I was very blessed because I was vigilant about checking and going to my regular appointments.”

Gordon said her faith and trust in God helped her immensely in her battle with breast cancer.

“He was with me through everything,” she said.

She recalled feeling very anxious on the night before she had her lumpectomy.

“It was just like in my mind, you know,” Gordon said. “It was just, ‘What if? What if they find it in my lymph nodes?’”

She said after her husband and son prayed for her, “I just felt a literal hand come over my head, and it was like the Lord was saying, ‘I’ve got you,’ and I never did have any more of that anxiety going into the surgery. I was at peace when I went in. It was pretty powerful what God did for me.”

Gordon said she also had felt God’s strength and love when she was undergoing her radiation treatments.

“Every time that I would head to go to my appointment, I would turn on my car and listen to SiriusXM,” she said. “I listened to the Christian contemporary music. Every time I turned on the car, a song would come on. It was the same song every time.”

The song was “More Than Anything,” by Natalie Grant. In it, Grant sings, “Help me want the Healer/ More than the healing/ Help me want the Savior/ More than the saving.”