20 Years After Her First Diagnosis, Her Breast Cancer Came Back As Stage 4

Rays of Resilience: 31 Stories in 31 Days. So many people around the world have been affected by breast cancer, yet no two breast cancer journeys are the same. This Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we’re celebrating a new survivor every day. Their resilience is an inspiration to us all.

My name is Marlayne.

My story — or as I like to refer to it “my journey” — began in May of 1996 at the age of 38. I heard those words: “You have breast cancer.”

I was diagnosed with stage 0 DCIS. I had a total radical mastectomy and 19 lymph nodes removed because my surgeon said he wanted to give me the best chance for survival. All the lymph nodes were negative for cancer. My children were only 12, 7, and 3 at the time.

I didn’t need any follow-up treatment, and I survived the next 20 years without cancer. I was the “poster child” for doctors visits and went to my surgeon every six months for years. Every year I was told that all looked good. I also saw an oncologist every six months.

Then in March of 2016, I heard those words again: “You have breast cancer.”

I was speechless. This time the recurrence came back with a vengeance: stage 4 breast cancer with metastasis to five spots on my bones. I was, and still am, speechless. I feel like when doctors are speaking to me they are speaking to someone else. How could this have happened a second time?

Oh, I forgot to mention that the cancer came back on the same side that I have no breast, as well as the same spot. I am a fighter and will continue to be one. My cancer is hormone positive and HER2 negative. A good combination, I am told, for the medication I will be taking.

My doctors at the Cancer Treatment Center in Philadelphia refer to this as a chronic illness that will have to be managed for the rest of my life. I intend to have a long life and be a winner for the second time. I have a positive attitude and know I will beat this damn thing. I have too much to live for!

My daughters are married, the middle one recently. My eldest daughter gave birth to my grandson in July of 2017. He is the sunshine that keeps me smiling. I had to retire from a job I absolutely loved; I was a library media specialist in a K-5 school. Not a day goes by that I don’t hear from a former colleague or from parents or students that I had the honor of meeting during my time as a teacher.

I was also the coordinator of the Reach to Recovery Volunteers for the American Cancer Society for 20 years. I “left” my position as coordinator as I needed to wrap my head around my illness before I could properly help others. I hope to return to the ACS someday.

I am truly blessed with the family and friends I have who help guide me through this disease. My adult children and my husband get the best and worst of me, but they are wherever I need them to be. There is no doubt in my mind that I will live the best life I can for as long as I can. Faith, prayers and love help me through those days that I feel down — but there aren’t many of those, thank goodness.

I have so much to live for and I am not done yet!

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