Kristin Johnson

Survivor

No Room in the “Inn” for Breast Cancer

Breast Cancer was a very unwelcome guest at our “Inn” in 2017. I was active with work, raising a high school senior and a college freshman. I vowed to have a good attitude through it all. I was 42 therefore extremely high risk for this “unwelcomed” visitor to return solely because of my age. My husband, though a bit lost and shocked at the same time, was right beside me the entire time. We both asked, “how could this happen, what could I have done differently” and so many more questions about how to avoid this. Unfortunately, the answer was I was just one of those “Lucky” people. I opted to have a double mastectomy as I refused to encourage any other “open rooms” for this visitor and we were able to evict this visitor that had taken advantage of my kindness.

My family and friends were my leaning post, even if they didn’t know it. I knew they were all worried about me and I was worried about them. Without my support structure I would have never been able to be so strong. Ironically, they all called me the “strong one.” You just never know who you will lean on in a time of sheer and utter confusion. My advice: keep getting those annual mammograms, ladies and gentlemen. It does not know the difference between us!