N.B. This blog post has been extrapolated from The Nation Barbados: Easy Magazine Interview with June Fowler. Permission was given by June Fowler to share her story on this blog.
For me, it didn’t make sense when I received my diagnosis of breast cancer, because it just didn’t run in my family at all. It’s not that I asked why me? But it just didn’t make sense to me.
However, when I got the diagnosis I decided to treat it like a project.
That’s just how I deal with things based on my background in management. I met with the surgeon to go through a plan of what needed to be done including blood tests, X-rays, CT scan, prepping for surgery etc. There was so much to be done and this was all 2 weeks before Christmas of 2015.
Well, I got through Christmas and then had my surgery in January. I proceeded to have 6 sessions of chemotherapy between March and June. Then I went to Trinidad to get radiation therapy for 8 weeks from October to November. My doctor had told me that my whole year would be different but I didn’t believe him until I looked back and saw everything spanned over a year from December 2015-December 2016.
I then came back to Barbados to follow up with my oncologist and do follow up tests. I thought to myself “so after all of this, what happens?” My doctor told me that in reality I was “cancer free” after surgery however, it’s considered insurance to complete chemo and radio therapy in case some cells “got away”.
Well I’m happy to say it’s been over 4 years now since I’ve been cancer free, thank God.
I would say to all women, it doesn’t matter who you are, where you live, what school you went to, rich or poor, breast cancer is no respecter of persons. As long as you have breasts, you are at risk and there are certain things you can do to mitigate the risk.
For me it wasn’t a bad diet but I believe it was connected to the type of stressful lifestyle I was living with work. I had a lot going on.
Please don’t allow the fear of death from breast cancer stop you from doing your check ups and getting clarification on any lumps you may find while examining yourself. You should always do your yearly mammogram tests. I started from the time I was fifty and never missed a year and that’s how my mass was detected-through a mammogram.
I once got some good advice from the nurse at Barbados Cancer society. She said “don’t feel for lumps but feel for normal, so that if you feel anything abnormal in your breasts you should get it checked out.”
Family, friend and prayer support is so important when you are going through treatment. I had a phenomenal church family and friend group that prayed me through. I also made a firm decision that I did not want to be hospitalized or really sick, so I did whatever my doctors told me to do. I made sure I kept my diet good and fluids up and kept my weight in check.
Breast cancer has taught me not to have a bucket list, but to do whatever I want to do now, to travel and make the most of life because tomorrow is not promised. I want to have peace knowing that I lived the life I wanted to live without regrets. So live your best life now.
It has also taught me to say “no” to people and do what’s best for me. My priorities are to spend time with my grandchildren and to stop stressing. So I’ve really learnt to control my stress and say no to new projects unless God tells me to.
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