​My name is Melanie I am 31 years old in 2018 I was diagnosed with stage two breast cancer (triple positive) at the age of 28. I discovered a small lump in my breast and also had a lot of pain which made me go to my primary care doctor. My first visit the doctor basically said that because I’m African-American I could have fibrocystic breast and that it’s no way it could be cancer because cancer doesn’t hurt. A month later I made another appointment with my primary care doctor this time being told it could possibly be my hormones that are causing my breast to feel lumpy but yet again no ultrasound or mammogram, I then came back a third time and basically told them I wasn’t leaving unless I got some sort of test to confirm that it wasn’t anything dangerous like cancer and finally I was ordered an ultrasound and a mammogram.

Days later I had a vacuum biopsy I literally had the results in maybe less than a week and then I was diagnosed. For me I was very Afraid ultimately thinking the worst, After being diagnosed everything just move so quickly I did six rounds of chemo along with hormone treatments which lasted one year and 28 rounds of radiation.

Chemo was very hard on me I literally had every side effect but I made it through for surgery I decided to have a bilateral mastectomy and reconstruction I also had 22 lymph nodes removed. After my reconstruction I had a few complications my incisions decided to open so my healing process was a lot longer than it should have been.

Fast forward to now having been in remission for two years I look back at the good, the bad, and the ugly and I can say that I am resilient, I am strong, and I am brave, fighting breast cancer is definitely not a walk in the park and I say all that to say yes it’s hard but you do get through it. I had the support of my family and friends but most importantly God Holding onto my faith is what got me through it all and I am still standing.