Survivor! Grateful for a second and third chance at life!
In November 1998, my gynecologist sent me for a biopsy for a lump under my arm that both my doctor and I assumed was simply a milk duct that hardened as it formed.
After all, I was only 31 years old at the time and eight-and-a-half months pregnant. Too young, I thought, to worry about anything like breast cancer.
So that evening, when the results came, I was floored by the diagnosis. The breast surgeon looked at me straight in the eyes while her assistant held my hands as they delivered the news – the cancer was advanced – in stage 3, aggressive and fueled by estrogen from my pregnancy. The doctor who did the biopsy later told me the lump was so hard that when she inserted the needle that she knew the diagnosis wouldn't be good.
I was completely shocked. To this day, I have no idea how I drove home. My baby pretty much saved my life.
Because of my young age and my pregnancy combined with cancer, I was quickly placed under the care of a team of doctors at UF Health Cancer Center – Orlando Health. The first step in fighting my breast cancer was inducing labor six days later on Nov. 15, when I became a mom six weeks earlier than planned to a healthy, 6-pound baby girl that I named Alyah Monique.
In the hospital, doctors placed a port in my chest to deliver chemotherapy that was scheduled to start right away, but my blood count dropped so low that treatment wasn't possible. As a result, my newborn and I went home and had Thanksgiving dinner with family that included my then-2-year-old, Alexis.
Then I started chemo. I had no idea it would be my first battle with a disease that would return, but through it all, I had my faith and family. I underwent chemotherapy every three weeks for eight months, followed by six weeks of radiation, five days a week. I had a mastectomy and reconstructive surgery on the same day in July 1999. I thought I was done with cancer and could move on with my life.
That phase was short-lived. In November 2001, I was still seeing a doctor every six months, and between visits, told my physician I was having back pain. I figured it was from lifting my daughters, but my doctor knew it was one of the symptoms of reoccurrence.
I was diagnosed again and this time, the cancer was deemed terminal in stage 4. It was in my liver, bones and lungs. I felt positive the first time, often getting radiation at lunch and returning to work as an accountant, but at that point, I was like, “OK, I'm done.” The second time, my mind got the best of me. This time, I focused on fighting for my daughters. This time, it was not about me, but about being there for the girls I brought into the world. And this time, chemotherapy left me sicker – sometimes leaving me so weak I had to crawl from my bed to the bathroom a few feet away.
But I managed to get through, until the next diagnosis. That came in August 2003, when doctors found a cancerous brain tumor that was treated with a nine-hour procedure, stereotactic radiosurgery, to shrink the mass. They literally screwed this big, steel plate onto my head and administered some meds to relax me so I wouldn’t move and so that the radiation would go straight to the tumor site and not harm any of my good brain cells.
Then, in November 2007, after resisting it for over a year, I had a hip replacement because my hip bone had deteriorated from so much chemotherapy. My doctors say I'll be on some type of therapy for life.
My daughters are now teenagers, and I mentor others with cancer. I am so grateful I was given a second chance – even a third chance at life. Just having a strong need to be there for my daughters, family friends and loved ones... really got me through it. It's not about me. I'm not the only person in this fight.
While I’m not cancer-free, I completely wish for that dream to come true one of these days. But for now, my cancer is very active; all over my body. It is by the grace of God and my wonderful team of doctors and nurses at UF Health Cancer Center-Orlando Health, that I can be treated through chemotherapy and medication while still being able to function as well as I am.
I hope my zest for life and unbreakable spirit will encourage other survivors to continue their fight as well!
Terlisa Faye Sheppard
HER2+, Stage 4 Metastatic Breast Cancer Survivor
1st diagnosis - November 1998
2nd diagnosis - November 2001
3rd diagnosis - August 2003
