I'm Chiquita Tillman McAllister, I'm the daughter of Barbara and Otis Tillman, the proud mother
of Monique, Megan and Melanie, and grandmother of Christian and Madison- the loves of my
life. In 2010, I was doing a self-examination of
my breast and it just felt funny. It didn't hurt. I just felt funny. It just didn't feel
the same as they used to feel. So I called my OBGYN and told her that I was experiencing
a little bit of discomfort and she couldn’t feel what I was talking about. And I was like:
It's right here. It's right here. I went on and had my mammogram. And they didn't see
anything either. So they finally did an ultrasound. They found a little little bitty piece they
said it was about half the size of a pea. We can't believe that you found this. But
we just think it's a cyst and we're 99.9% sure that it's not cancerous. And I said well
okay. Are you going to take it out? Yes we're going to take it out. I kept waking up at
night and saying: If it's that small, why does my breast feel so much heavier on that
side? I couldn't sleep. I finally called the surgeon again and said: Please you have to
do something else to give me peace of mind. And they ordered a biopsy- MRI-guided biopsy-
and they found a mass on the right side of my breast.
So I went in expecting that you were going to tell me I could go back to work in two
days ended up, long story short, being out for about a year's time. Yeah. They had to
end up doing a double mastectomy. My message that I want to give to people who
are facing this challenge is that you have choices about what kinds of services are provided
to you. I did not choose to stay with the first surgeon
that I visited with and ended up at Wake Forest Baptist Hospital- which is one of the best
decisions I've ever made. I felt that I was the most special person. I know you have patients
all over the place, but when I was in their presence, I was the most special person in
the whole wide world. And I felt like I was able to turn my life over into their hands.
They had a very comprehensive team approach that made me feel so safe and I felt overly
educated after. I mean from the beginning to the end about what I was getting ready
to encounter. My two doctors, along with their staff, I
felt like they were a part of my family. Dr. Howard-McNatt, I saw right after I had my
surgery, at a Susan B. Komen race and I'm saying, she's not only living and doing it
at work, but she's doing it in her own personal life- providing support to women.
Dr. Pestana, what he helped me with mostly was helping to reestablish my sense of womanhood.
He encouraged me to look at myself and to embrace where I was. You know, of course I'm
thankful for being alive. But to say, maybe you might just have to redefine what your
womanhood is about. I'm very thankful to both of them to help
me be more of a-- I guess more confident woman and to look at beauty in different ways. So
I'm very very thankful for them being a part of my journey.
I am so proud to be a breast cancer survivor. I can't say that some mornings I don't get
up and I feel just a little bit insecure or a little bit afraid. But then I, you know,
just get quiet and say: Why is it that I'm having to endure this? I think part of it
is that I can save other people as well- to be there and be supportive- be a part of their
journey. Not to save them, but to be part of their journey.