Stephanie Pickens

Survivor

My Fight

I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2019, a month after my sister Kim whom is 9 months older than me. I was 50 and she was 51. Kim was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer that later turned in to Metastatic Breast Cancer. She lost her battle on 9/12/2020. After I was diagnosed a month later, I was diagnosed with stage 0. I’ve have had lumps in my breast since 1997 and I went every year for my mammograms, so when they found two lumps in my breast, I became a little concerned. The nurse called me and said “well we found two lumps in your breast and we can keep an eye on it. I said “NO'” I want a biopsy done to rule out breast cancer. I remember being worried and scared. I had a felling it was cancer. The test came back confirming my fears. I ask myself “what if I went along with the nurse and just have them keep an eye on it, the outcome could have been worst. I had two failed lumpectomy before I made the decision to have a myectomy. I opted out of reconstruction so I have a prosthetist. I don’t regret my decision. My goal is to advocate for women that don’t know to ask for a bioscopy and more. I just celebrated 3 years cancer free. We have an organization called Beauty In A Bag and we providers beauty bags for women currently going through chemotherapy treatment. Every penny we receive goes towards providing supplies for the beauty bags.