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Breast Cancer doesn't care where you live, who you know, how healthy you are, how many initials you have behind your name, or the color of your skin. It could care less about money. This is a party that you never RSVP’d to, yet you are the guest of honor… and you don’t know what to do next.
Being diagnosed with breast cancer is where the discussion starts. Join host Shellie Turner in her new podcast that will shine light upon the darkness of diagnosis, giving you the support and information you need to keep moving forward from fellow fighters and survivors. We know you have questions, and this is a space where you can begin to find answers, community, and a voice for yourself in this journey. C. We Do Have a Voice welcomes you to the marvelous light of day.
so Welcome to See We Do Have A Voice. I'm your host, Shelly Turner. Being diagnosed with breast cancer is where the discussion starts. Breast cancer doesn't care where you live. It doesn't care who you know, how healthy you are, how many initials you have behind your name, or what color your skin is. This podcast is a platform that will create discussion in order to help you find your story, your decisions, your information, and your understanding. Now let's get into it. I have with me today someone very special to me, Robin Early. So she's here because she is a breast cancer survivor. She's here because she wants to share her story. She's here because she has a story. And she has a story because she is a breast cancer survivor. So I am always Always, always, it's my pleasure that Robin agreed to come and tell her story. This is not a segment where we're going to have anything talked about medical or treatment, doctor's advice. We're going to talk to Robin about her story. So let's go. Robin, let's hear your story.
Thank you so much, Shelley. It's a pleasure being here to share my story. I am a 12 year breast cancer survivor as of yesterday. And congratulations. Thank you. My story is basically I am a survivor who is a thriver. When I got the diagnosis of breast cancer, it was kind of like a blow. But I had to rely on my faith to give me the strength and the hope and the love of my family and friends that brought me through. So my whole thing that I always tell women is early detection saves lives. And we have to be advocate of ourselves in the health of our breasts, our life overall, and knowing our bodies better than we, you know, should do in reference to seeing things as goes on in our bodies and bring it to our attention of our doctors. And I had a wonderful support doctor system. And I think that came about with sharing with other women who go to the doctor and other breast cancer survivors to help me to be able to strive and to know what to expect. So basically, I'm just excited to be able to share my story and just help any encourage anyone out there to get your support and talk about it, share about it.
So what you said about early detection and you felt like early detection was a help for you. So did you diagnose yourself or was it through a scheduled treatment with your oncologist or how did how did you find out?
Well, I found out with my mammograms that I do annual mammogram screening that I do every year. And unfortunately, I had always had for 19 years a normal mammogram as a result of a situation where I was a victim of violence and I got shot in my left breast and as a result of that I had fragments that were still there and that always came up every year for 19 years but on my 50th birthday on the 20th year I did my mammogram and we had to do a biopsy and the biopsy came up as positive and that was a result of A week before I was supposed to have a hysterectomy. And my gynecologist, who was very thorough and always getting me two screenings because I have dense breasts. So he gave me two screenings of the ultrasound and the mammogram. And that's how I found out. because I did my routine exams.
So I usually like to ask the question, how did being diagnosed change your life? But you had something tragic that preceded breast cancer changing your life. So after you went through that in your personal life, and then here you are now dealing with breast cancer, how did that like heighten what you were going through? You know, how did that now affect your life since your life had already been affected?
Well, it's just a matter of me strengthening my faith to be able to be an advocate for breast cancer survivors. Because when we heard the C word, we thought we're going to die always. And so I had to look on my faith to say, God brought me through a lot and he didn't save me that breast or to kill me. So my faith was basically strengthened as a result of having cancer?
Hmm. I mean, but it sounds like you had strong faith to begin with that just piggybacked on what you were actually going through. And now it's like, show me who you really are, because I need you now some more. I need you really now to show me. But it's like when we get diagnosed with cancer, it changes our life. And it changes relationships. It changes, you know, where we were going. So how did breast cancer change your life from where you were going to now where you are definitely going to go, you know, where you have to go now?
Well, I think it was more or less a glimpse of my life was upon me that I'm like, OK, I got 50 and I get this cancer.
It's like,
Wow. But again, with my faith, I'm like, Okay, I can get through this. I'm a thrive. And every time I talked to somebody about have I never was shamed of it. I talked about it. And even though when I talked to people who I had a friend of mine who actually when I found out that I had breast cancer, she was like, Oh, I wanted you to talk to this doctor. And it's like, because her mother died the same year I got it. right and so she was kind of really upset about it and she was like i'm like i'm not going to die with this i'm going to survive yeah that's what you said when people hear cancer automatic that's a death sentence and it's and with that it just made me become more of a thriver with it, and it actually helped her to see it, a person thriving with it, because she had her mother who dealt with it, and it was, you know, to death, even though her mother went through it a second time around. But the point is, is that to answer your question, it just made me, just enlightened me, and then just made me want to do, it made me want to live. You know, it made me want to be more serious, more connection with my faith, more giving, more gratitude. It just want me to be, I want to just be more positive about this situation.
Did you have a lot of family support?
Well, unfortunately my family, my immediate family is all on the East coast. So I have relied on my friends. And my family, when my aunt came out here, she came out here for my hysterectomy because again, I found out a week before I was supposed to have a hysterectomy and she was coming out here to help me with the hysterectomy. I couldn't tell her when I found out I had cancer because I knew she would be worrying about coming on a flight from back east. And I just waited till I saw her face to face. And the result of that, it helped her to see she was going through everything trying to help me to figure it out. And now I was telling her that I have God and God's going to take care of it. He's going to give me the right doctors. I prayed on everything in reference to it. And as a result of me going through that, it showed my family the faith that I had to rely on God because my family, my immediate family wasn't here. So. Right. Back then, when I happened, you know, 12 years ago, I had to deal with the resources available that we didn't have zoom, we had, I forget what it was. And so every week, I had to check in with my family. After when I went through after the surgery, when my aunt was here, but when I had to go to the radiation treatment, which was 35 days of treatment, you know, and I had straight every day, Monday through Friday. Straight every day. And that helped me to not only help my family to show my strength, it helped my job, my co-workers, because I was encouraging myself where I would go to work and do my radiation in the morning and I would go to work afterwards because again, your mind starts playing tricks on you, you know, and the devil basically, that's what I'm going to call it. The fact is that it plays tricks on you. Like, okay, you don't need to, you can go home and, you know, go into this pity party with yourself, but I wanted to keep going. And I talked to women because again, I talked to other survivors and it, they helped me to understand you can keep going, you know, when you're tired, you know, just, just feel into your tiredness. And I went every day, go to the radiation, go to work. come home, just relax. And that was kind of hard because I wanted to go and stop and do all my shopping on the way home, stuff like that.
Yeah, because I know you'd like to do that. I know you'd like. Yes.
Yes. So I mean, try to catch my Macy. Yeah, I know. But I said, OK, I got to go home and relax. And I had a good support staff. I mean, a good support system. My friends. Support me in special ways, and that's something that I think sometimes when I talk to other women who have breast cancer, or they, you know, they're like, I don't, I don't want to tell nobody because I don't want to be a pity party or stuff like that. It wasn't a pity party, it was strength because one of my friends would make me smoothies, vegetable smoothies. to take every day after I take my radiation to help put deposit you know nutrients back into my body so oh and it was a male and and so and at the time I was dating my partner I was dating he was like why does it have to happen to good people I'm like I didn't look at it that way. I looked at it like why it happened to me, but because it's my faith to bring me through because people, God needs testimonies from people.
And he's going to use you to like you're being used today to tell your story. Because for me, telling stories is healing. And for someone to hear your particular story right now, It's a stop and listen and let me hear what else she has to say moment, you know, because I'm listening to you and I know you, but I'm listening to you like I this is this first time I really heard your story. So when you say that it's your faith. and the support you had, I know for sure that's true. I know that you're just not saying it because, okay, that's a good thing to say. Oh yeah, well, let the next person that's been diagnosed with breast cancer say, oh, you know, well, you're gonna have friends and there's gonna be people you can talk to, but there's not always people you can talk to. So like with your doctor, did you feel you got enough information in your doctor's office to help you to navigate the journey that you're on?
Yes, I did. My gynecologist was great anyway. And I got him again, how I got the doctors. I found out from friends. Cause everybody got a friend who goes to the doctor all the time. So I'm, I found out from my friend who, who do you go to this and that, and that's all my gynecologist. Well, what happened was my gynecologist referred me to an oncologist. And when I went to the oncologist, he referred me to, he wasn't available. and this other person came, this other doctor came into the room. And I was kind of like, well, you're not Dr. So-and-so. And he's like, no, Dr. So-and-so was busy and I'm taking over. And I said, oh, okay. But I had to remember, I go back to what I prayed about. My prayer was, Lord, give me the right doctors to help me through this.
But it manifested right there for you.
It manifested so, but the problem is that it manifested so real that it was like, I had to have a pause, like, okay, when he said this name, and I just saw him Friday. for my annual follow up. And we have connected so well that we talk about the breast cancer, then we talk about other medical things, and then we talk about sports.
I love that because my relationship with my oncologist, I love him. And I mean, I love him. He, he's, he's a friend. And just like you said, you guys talk about whatever is to talk about. We talk about the breast cancer a little bit and then we go on and we talk about his mother in Spain. We talk about his twin. You know, we have great conversation. And sometime I tell him I feel guilty coming in there because I see him twice a year because I see that people are still walking through those double doors in the to the chemo room. And I think I guess I don't know. I don't know if it's bad to say I forget. about people that are going through, but there are still people being diagnosed every single day. And the journey is still going, the fight is still going, and the reality is some people are losing the fight and some people are winning the fight. So when you hear people are getting diagnosed for the first time breast cancer in these days and these times. How do you feel about the new things that are going like the clinical trials, would you would you do a clinical trial now, if you were diagnosed again would you be interested in something like that.
Yes, I would, because the whole thing about it is that from what I found out on the journey, we as African-Americans are not in these clinical trials. Exactly. And I think the fact is that we're not in the clinical trials is because of the fear. And I want to say one of my church members went through a clinical trial with triple negative breast cancer. And she is still standing strongly. I think she's in her over five years, triple negative breast cancer. Most people say you pass away from it.
Yeah, that that's like, you know, go get it together.
I think the trials are very important. And we as African-Americans need to try to refocus our minds. They were not guinea pigs.
Exactly. Now, that's the point right there. We're not for data. You know, we just don't want you to give us what you think. How do you communicate to do your homework? Just don't let your doctor tell you, oh, we have this new clinical trial that you would, you know, let's see if you qualify. And when I hear that word that people have to qualify for a clinical trial, what does that mean? Do you need to be almost at death to qualify for this clinical trial? Because we would like to get data on your cancer and the result. And if you, if you make it, we're still going to, you know, we have another clinical trial for you. So even in my third diagnosis, my surgeon, she did try to mention to me, she said, but Shelly, there's so many new clinical trials. I looked at her, I said, I'm not doing any treatment. I was not interested in a clinical trial because just like you said, African Americans don't get the information about the clinical trials. They get the suggestion, you know, well, why don't we offer this to you and you're like, okay, but what is it? Oh, don't worry about it. Don't worry. It'll work, it'll help you. But the extension of that is that we as African-Americans sometimes don't even ask the questions because we trust wholeheartedly in the doctor. A lot of people don't even get offered clinical trials. And when I ask people, well, did your doctor offer you a clinical trial? No, they make a decision for you without you knowing that they made a decision to not include you in something that might help you. So it's like clinical trials, it's like you need to really do your homework. You just can't take their word because I know, you know, like I know so many women that have had breast cancer that just don't have a relationship. If they go into the doctor, doctor says okay you have breast cancer let's get you in for a biopsy let's do the mammogram over let's see let's leave that seat and you're just like okay okay okay instead of you know what are you talking about tell me again and if your doctor doesn't want to explain it to you until you get it. You know, just like being in a classroom when you're in school. Explain it to me until I understand, until I can repeat it back to you.
Right. I would have to have all the information and I would ask the questions referenced to it. Now, I think the question going back to how did you find out, there's so many organizations that are available, including the more of a mixed culture that we need to get involved in to get their information, because we we can find out what's going on and we can mention it to our doctors. Now, when I had talked to my doctor, my oncologist, and he said to me, my counterpart, who you're supposed to see, because I was stage two, would have recommended chemo. He said, my oncologist says, I don't recommend chemo unless it's a certain stage. Right. It was more aggressive because we medically speaking, he said, don't know the long term effect of chemo. Who said this to you? My oncologist told me this. Really? So again, when I said, I pray for God to get the right doctors in my life, I listened to what he said.
Now what you just said, I've never heard of that. He didn't recommend chemo unless you were at a certain stage and you're at stage two.
He did not recommend it. He said, my conifer would have, and then I was going to refuse it because I know from other people who've taken chemo, that they had long term effects. Oh, you do. And I would have been. And the fact is that I, you know, asked the question, well, What if I don't take the chemo right now, but I know radiation, because I understand when they explain the radiation, because I still have my breasts and did the lumpectomy, and therefore there was seeped out when they removed the tumor, it could have been seeped out into your system in their micro, micro scales that you can't see. I can understand that. So my point is, is I would have found out a little further if he would say, no, well, you can take chemo if it comes back. Then I said, OK, then I'll do what they did. But I mean, he didn't recommend it to me. So I'm just saying for myself, because of what I've heard from others, what I've seen, I would just made the decision of declining on that part. But that would have been my decision on it.
And hearing you say that, I was not given that option. I wasn't even privy to that type of conversation. And my first diagnosis in 1998, I didn't know that I was in control. I was one of the people that I just talked about a few minutes ago, you know, you just go to the doctor and you say, OK, OK, my mother, my brother, my husband, we they all we all went, you know, because it's like what you've got cancer. I never knew until the third time. That I really had a choice. And the third time my doctor went way above and beyond. Like, because this is your third time, it's a HER2 positive. We're trying to figure out where this even come from. You had your breasts removed, so this is not even supposed to be something we're talking about. But it came anyway. But I refused chemo. I refused everything because they were like, OK, with this, you're going to have to have chemo for about a year. I'm like, what? The second time almost killed me. And then after that, because it's a her to positive, we're going to have you on another chemo that's going to affect your heart. But after you finish the treatment, your heart should go back to normal. I'm out. I'm good. I said no.
And that's important because my my another friend of mine who had to have her mother had it was hereditary and going back to Hers is hereditary. Mine's was not. I was the first in my family. I lost my mother at an early age, not knowing if she would have had it. But my grandmother, which was her mother, lived to 99. She never had it. Oh, wow. OK. So and my grandmother on my father's side, she had cervical cancer, but he was only 15. So. Oh, wow. OK. When she had passed. But the point of what you're saying is important because my girlfriend who had to have chemo, she had a mastectomy done and she couldn't have reconstruction because the chemo damaged her heart. But she's alive and now the type of cancer she had came back into her bones.
So that's what I mean. I'm thinking I mean, really, literally, I'm thinking realistically, where would I be if I have never had chemo? Because it came back after the first time, you know, they tell you, oh, if you got those good five years, you're good. But mine came back after 12 years. And then the third came back after 10, after the 12. So where would I be? What would be the difference of my three, my two additional diagnosis if I hadn't done chemo the first time? And there are long term side effects. You know, some days you feel like You have the flu because you're so achy, but those things have like tapered off. Now the hot flashes. Oh, yes, that's that's not a myth by any means. That is the truth. And I have dealt with hot flashes since 1998. And I mean, to the point where I could get up and lay back down and you would think I had a heating pad on because my body is on fire. But I've learned to live with that. But those are the results. And like I said before, sometimes I forget I have my ovaries taken out. I forget. But it's like all those things. What if I hadn't done any of those things? And when I have my annual visit with my OBGYN, I love her, love her to death. And I and I asked her and I know she thinks I'm crazy because I asked her more than once. I said, did I really have to have my ovaries taken out? And I always asked her, I said, if it was you, would you have done it? And she said, 100 percent, Shelly. But they call everything preventive. I've removed my breast and it came back. So what happens if I didn't take my ovaries out or didn't agree? But, you know, hindsight is 50-50. It's like, there we are, but I've done those things. You're saying to me that your doctor said you didn't really have to have chemo. That's wild to me.
He said that his counterparts, but like I said again, I mean, I'm just saying I stood on my faith when I asked a question to the Lord.
But you got the doctor that God sent you.
Right, because I asked for that. I'm just saying because I'm like, Lord, you got to have faith. the point you can ask for it and if it's God's time he's going to answer it number one but the point is that he in the conversation when he said that to me it's just like wow you know he said no yeah we just don't and he's very you know um he's and he's Japanese and like he's very he's very mild manner um and that's kind of straightforward about certain things. And I told him, I said, I appreciate it.
Oh, God, how how could you not? And it's like, I'm appreciating him through what he told you, because he was honest with you. I have never heard a doctor say, well, let's not do chemo now. That's the first thing that comes out of their mouth. You know, that's the first thing they go through. It's like, oh, your hair is going to fall out. I saw a lady in the mall and she had she was her hair was gone and she had a baseball cap. And it's like you have that intuition when you see another woman with with her hair gone and that look. There is a look that people going through cancers have, and I don't care what anybody says, because I've walked up to several people and just said, are you doing okay? Because I see that look. And it's like, I just looked at her and I was like, it's, it just breaks my heart. Like I said, you walk in, women are being diagnosed every day that when we were diagnosed years ago, could have never thought they were going to have cancer. They weren't even in the arena where the conversation was being had. But now here they are, and here we are on the thriving side, looking at the ones on the treatment side. And it's just, you know, it's just got to be something that we can continue to be the advocate for one another. You know, always talking about it, new or old. And that's why I wanted you to come and tell your story.
Well, I appreciate that. And another thing I would like to say is support. Oh, get involved. Women have to get involved in support because you hear, and like I said, you go to the extreme, you go to the Susan Coleman's, if I have to throw out there, although people say they don't give money to the black women.
They don't really do anything in the community. And I will say that they don't, I mean, they used to be the only organization that you were, you were thrown at and They don't do anything. I mean, did they do their run walk this year? I didn't hear one thing about the Susan.
They did, but what I was going to say and get the information from them and look into it. Yeah. Because they got the information and their website. I took their website, went through the website with the questions to ask your doctor. I took that with me and also I had My aunt being an educator who was out here for me again for my hysterectomy, she was all on the internet and she looked up YouTube and somebody was giving a testimony from our hospital back east that happened to be a friend of hers that we had no idea. that she had triple negative breast cancer back 25 years ago. And that was a death sentence. Right. And that's what she said. But she she she gave her testimony on that one. But I know it shouldn't be that we have to track it down should be easily available to us.
But it's not. It's not as African-American women. It's not a given. They're surprised if you know about it and they'll talk about it if you talk about it. But if you don't know about it, they're not going to offer it. And it's like breast cancer doesn't discriminate. You know, I say in my trailer, it's like it doesn't care where you live, what color your skin is, how many initials you have behind your name, who you know, how much money you make. Are you kidding me? All those people die, you know, every single person from every single class people die from women die from breast cancer. So when you want to discriminate against us. What is your reason? You know, do you want to see us die? Or do you just don't want to help us? Or you don't think we're worth your time? I've had a woman on the show previously, and she said her doctor told her Black women don't get mammograms. And it's like, that doesn't make sense. You know, that's why I said we have to advocate for ourselves. And when you say about the support groups, that's why being newly diagnosed, I would hope the first information that you stand by is go get information. outside of your medical, you know, your doctor's office outside of your insurance or go get information. I was told recently that there's a certain breast cancer insurance. I never heard of that. I never heard of that. So it's like all these things that other women know are key. to live, you know, because if you don't know you have to care about your life of just a little bit to go ask one question and that person can ask another person and you'll get an answer or you'll get some direction the journey is not really for you to be on your on your own on this journey. and those who think they can do this journey on their own, I would say no, you can't. You really don't even want to. And just like you said, you know, after radiation days, you had a friend making you a smoothie. You need somebody there that may not necessarily know what you're going through, but that will support you no matter what you're going through. So It's a journey. And like I said, to know that women are being diagnosed every day, so you know the journey is not over. And the things that are available now were not available way back, you know, when I first got diagnosed in 1998. There are so many different resources out there today. And Robin Early, you have become a resource.
I'm proud to say I don't have a problem being a resource. And sometimes women, as we found out, they don't want to talk about it. I want to forget about it. But you can't forget about it because it can help somebody else.
Right. And it happened to you. It's a reality. It's now part of who you are. Definitely who you are. So when you don't want to talk about it, I don't know what to say with that because I don't understand people that don't want to talk about it, you know, especially women that have had their breasts removed. I'll tell you, I'll stand on the highest mountain with the biggest mouth. I don't care. You know, I don't care. This is what I decided to do for me, and I'm extremely comfortable but to say somebody else is no I wouldn't say that for anybody else but for me I'm very comfortable with it because this is the choice I made for myself because everything is a choice and you'll have the experience from the choice that you make so have the information before you make a choice so you can make a choice that you won't regret you know you won't wish that you hadn't get all the information because if you ask for it you can get it Can't you can't you Robin? Yes, you can. So I want to thank you. I really do want to thank you for taking the time out to share your time with me. Thank you for being so receptive to my invitation. I appreciate you more than you know.
You're quite welcome.
Anytime. Thank you, ma'am. I know I know I have access to you. Yes, you do. I'm available. Thank you so much. And Robin, thank you really for sharing your story, because your story, just like anybody else telling the story, it's healing. Like I said, if one person just stops and say, what did she say? Oh, I want to hear the rest of her story. Then you've done it. Absolutely. You've reached your goal. Thanks, everyone, for listening. Make sure to follow and rate the show wherever you get your podcast. This podcast is produced by Rainbow Creatives with executive producer Matthew Jones, producers Steven Selnick and editors and mixers Rob Johnson and Stefano Montelli. See you on the next one.
keywords: breast cancer, breast, cancer, cancer research, health, womens health, woman health, health and wellness