During the month of October we are sharing stories from women whose lives and experiences have been shaped by a breast cancer diagnosis. We hope these stories will help provide comfort and courage to others whose lives have been touched by cancer.

Hello, my name is Stacy Stewart. I am a wife, mother, registered nurse, and breast cancer survivor.

I was 32 years old when I was diagnosed with stage 3 lobular and ductal invasive carcinoma. My children were ages 7, 9, 11, and 12. It all felt surreal, like this wasn’t truly happening. Things started moving very quickly.

I had gone to my primary care provider when I noticed a difference in how my right breast looked. She set me up for an ultrasound thinking it would be an inflamed milk duct or infection, given my age. The ultrasound showed a solid mass requiring a mammogram; which was highly suspicious. A needle aspiration was inconclusive. A lumpectomy was performed and was definitive of cancer. In the post op recovery room was when I first cried. A lot of things were going through my mind mostly regarding my children. I decided at that moment that my life was forever going to change and that I was never going to give up or leave my children.

It was not easy at all. I wanted someone to talk to, but there are not many women as young as I was to discuss feelings with. I handled each procedure and complication with the end in mind. After multiple rounds of chemotherapy, all of the nausea and vomiting that goes with it, my hair falling out for the first time, a double radical mastectomy with multiple lymph nodes positive for cancer, a severe infection leading to 30 days in the hospital and a wound vac, my hair starting to grow back only to fall out again when chemotherapy resumed, to a total hysterectomy from the chemo side effects, (the feeling of loss that came with that), to hair starting to grow back during the healing process of the hysterectomy, to resuming chemotherapy again and the hair falling out again, to finally radiation, and the burns that came with radiation the battle was over.

With the help of the Sarah Bush Lincoln Regional Cancer Center I had WON! I have been cancer free for six years and can honestly say that cancer was the best thing that ever happened to me. When I say that sometimes people look at me very funny. However, my life changed for the better during that time. I had to learn how to love me for me, and look hard at myself and figure out who I was, and come to terms with the physical changes that happened to my body. For a young woman, those physical changes were a hard thing to come to terms with. You learn how to love in a much deeper way.

I have remarried since my battle and have just in the past year undergone reconstruction. Cancer taught me how to be grateful for every day I get to wake up and taught me what things are truly important. It helped me be a better wife, mother, and nurse. I still see my care team at the cancer center every four months for my check ups and I can never thank them enough for all they did for me. The secretary, Chris, and I laugh sometimes at how long ago and how the kids have grown from when they were little sitting in the waiting room on their Gameboys playing while mommy got treatment. The nurses would hold my hand every time I threw up and genuinely cared for me; I could feel it. My chances of survival were very low and my doctors made sure I understood that, but the human spirit is strong and I was a fighter. Never give up and always look to and for a solution.