Janay Bailey
Survivor
“By His Wounds, You Have Been Healed.”
After four years of being a live-in caretaker of my grandfather, he took his final breath Feb 27, 2023. As if grieving and planning for his homegoing service wasn’t already heavy, two nights before his funeral, I discovered a lump in my left breast. It was nearly the size of a golf ball. Needless to say, his services are mostly a blur because my mind was elsewhere.
This was my second breast cancer scare. When my son was six in 2017, I still was producing a low amount of milk but by this time, it turned greenish-brown color. The condition was intraductal papilloma; benign and went away without treatment. I still made it my business to do regular exams and thank God I did because this discovery in 2023 was a lot more urgent.
Five weeks of testing revealed Stage II Triple Negative Invasive Ductal Carcinoma; detected relatively early but very aggressive! My relationship and faith in the Lord were proven to be true as I put all that I had in Him and letting His will be done in my life. I knew the road would be tough but I knew He would bring me through this!
As a mom and a hair stylist, my life changed very quickly! By round 5 of a 16-round chemotherapy treatment, the lump was nearly impossible to feel! By the end of chemo, an ultrasound and MRI revealed that the mass was totally dissolved!!! Surgery should be a breeze, right?!?
Well, the procedure was the morning of 11/15 and before leaving for the hospital, I randomly selected a prayer card that said, “ Keep me safe, Lord. For You are my refuge.” Shortly after reading it, my spidey senses were tingling and I knew something was off. It wasn’t until the surgical team step out of the pre-op room that I tearfully confessed to my mom that I felt like something was wrong. We talked and agreed that it was just my anxiety.
Next thing I remember was waking up in the middle of the night with no peripheral vision and everything in front of me being a blur. When I went to reach for whatever was in my mouth, I realized my wrists were restrained and I knew I wasn’t at home, but in the ICU! I woke up again in the daytime with a pen and a stack of paper on my chest filled with notes that I obviously had been using to communicate with family and the medical staff; no recollection on my end.
Once the tubes were removed I was informed that within 15 minutes of the procedure, I went into anaphylactic shock due to an allergy to a dye called Isosulfan Blue. My blood pressure plummeted, they lost my pulse, and my surgeon did 9 minutes of chest compressions to bring me back!! Reactions weren’t totally uncommon but cases like mine are one in everything thousand patients! The only progress made in my surgery was the incision in my underarm so I had to make the decision to try it again. My faith went into overdrive and we rescheduled for 12/20; WITHOUT the dye of course.
The morning of Surgery:Take 2, I pulled another random prayer card and it read, “By His wounds, you have been healed.” Once I read that, the anxiety left my body and I knew I would be ok. I woke up in the recovery room and cried crocodile tears of joy for a successful procedure.
On 12/26, I received word that I was officially CANCER-FREE!!!!! My final radiation treatment was in February and my immunotherapy treatments are coming to a close! I’m slowly getting my life, body, and career back! My maternal grandmother passed in 1981 from a breast cancer that metastasized to her lungs. She hesitated treatment because cancer was a taboo subject! I share my story for me and for her. I’ve even done various speaking engagements and I look forward to sharing my testimony even more about how my God gave me a second chance! My story is still unfolding! Stay tuned!!!!