I am a radio personality here in Detroit, on MIX 92.3.
So I was at an appearance,
encouraging people to come and get your tickets early. So once I got a break,
I looked at my phone and there were like two or three missed calls from my
doctor. I'm like, oh no, I got extremely nervous. So I took a break,
I went to my car, I returned the call.
And she said "I'm sorry for calling you on the weekend,
but I have some news for you.
The results came back and you have breast cancer that will require surgery."
What was.
Snapping off in your head? What were you thinkin?
That was going to die. That I was going to die.
Cheron's diagnosis was ductal carcinoma in situ,
which is a non-invasive type of breast cancer.
And we treat that aggressively with surgery and sometimes radiation
to help prevent that sort of breast cancer from turning into an invasive
cancer.
When I turned 40, that is the time to get your first mammogram.
I've always known that. So I've never had any health problems, my whole life.
This is really nothing I need to worry about, but I'll go eventually.
But it took my mother to say, Cheron, just go. It's nothing.
And when you talk about early detection being key,
I had no family history. I had no symptoms.
I never would have thought that I would be sitting here in the position I am
today, but I'm so grateful to my mother who said, listen,
just go. It's nothing. Because it saved my life.
African-American women get diagnosed with breast cancer at younger ages on
average. So it's really important to start at age 40.
I was told I would need a mastectomy.
That devastated me.
I could not even imagine going through that type of surgery.
She had an extensive area of imaging abnormality,
which was calcifications.
And calcifications is something that doesn't always represent cancer,
but it can.
And she had calcifications throughout her entire breast.
Two separate areas of those calcifications were biopsied,
and both came back as that ductal carcinoma in situ.
Cheron was recommended a mastectomy due to the extent of imaging abnormality in
the two separate biopsies that showed us that noninvasive cancer.
I felt like I was their only patient. And I knew I wasn't.
They do this every day, but the bedside manners at Henry Ford were amazing.
They made me feel special. They made me feel like I wasn't alone.
And they made me feel like I was going to be whole again.
I was desperate to connect with someone that I could relate to.
I was so grateful when Kenisha entered my life.
A young woman who was the same age,
recently was diagnosed and had a mastectomy. She didn't know me.
I didn't know her. And she took the time to speak to me.
And I could tell that there was joy in her voice.
She wasn't down about what happened to her.
She had moved on and she wanted me to get to that point too. Initially,
I didn't want to talk about it.
I wanted to get through it and forget it and act like it never happened.
But I realized that's not the way I should live my life.
Because someone,
the night before I had surgery gave me so much hope,
I felt like I had to pay that back.
I launched a website called Cheron's Sheroes,
celebrating the superhero inside of you.
Providing women with support during their breast cancer journey.
It's been really encouraging to people to not only see my story,
but there are several other beautiful women around the same age that share their
stories as well. And that's helped a lot of people get over the hump.
So my children were very young when I got diagnosed, but I did tell them,
"one day mommy is going to tell you a story and you're going to be so proud of
me." I've gained a new life. I've gained a new purpose.
It took many weeks for me to be able to stand up straight as a woman and walk
down the hall. So just appreciating every single moment,
each moment with my husband, with my kids, with my family,
I just lead with more gratitude now.