February 23, 2009 08:47 am
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Editor’s note: This is the next feature story in a series highlighting Cherokee County Relay for Life’s cancer survivors, their struggle and triumphs against the disease and why they support Relay for Life and the American Cancer Society. Keep watching Monday’s editions of the Daily Progress through March to learn more about your neighbors and how you can help fight all forms of cancer.
By Cristin Ross
cross@jacksonvilleprogress.com
Reklaw resident Melissa Duncan was only 36 years old when she found a lump in her breast after doing a self-exam in May 2008.
She was surprised, since her family has no history of breast cancer. She went in for a mammogram and ultrasound to get it checked and was told it looked benign. When she got a second opinion from Dr. Tony Haskins in Nacogdoches, things got even more worrisome.
“He said he didn’t like the way it felt,” she said. “And got me a biopsy that same day. And the result was cancer.”
The toughest part of that day, she said, was telling her family — husband Michael and daughters Megan, 11, and Melody, 5.
“Megan and Mike were with me when I was diagnosed,” she said, voice cracking with emotion. “Mike was shaken, but it hit Megan pretty hard at that moment. She was just a year old when her grandma was diagnosed with melanoma (the worse type of skin cancer). She’s seen pictures of her grandma back then and can see what having cancer does to a person. She remembers the impact having chemo had on her Nana, and was scared that I’d have to do that, too.”
Fortunately, Duncan didn’t need chemotherapy. She had a lumpectomy and was relieved to be told the cancer was not in her lymph nodes.
“It was pretty easy, as far as that goes,” she said with a teary laugh. “We caught it early enough. They felt confident they got it all and I did six weeks of radiation. And I’m on a five-year drug called tamoxifen. I’m telling you, ladies, do those self-exams. Early detection is the key. That’s why I didn’t have to have chemo.”
Her 5-year-old, Melody, accompanied Duncan to her radiation treatments and was a huge ray of sunshine through it all, Duncan said.
“She didn’t really understand what was going on,” Duncan admitted with a genuinely happy laugh. “But that’s OK. She went with me to every session and became real good buddies with the radiologists, especially Richard. Even now, when we’re in that area, she’ll say ‘if we have time, let’s go visit Richard.’ And if we have time, we do.”
The Mount Enterprise ISD second-grade teacher is proud to have worked through her bout with cancer.
“I didn’t miss a day of school,” she said with a smile. “I was so tired, but I made it. The kids in my class were so great. I explained to them what was going on and told them that I’d have to do some arm exercises as I got better.
“Pretty soon we were all doing those exercises. They were such good troopers and really sweet..”
Duncan admits it was the support she received from her family — especially her mother and mother-in-law — her class, friends and medical team that pulled her through and helped her beat breast cancer. That support is the reason she participates in the annual Relay for Life event, too.
“I’m a member of a sisterhood of survivors,” she said solemnly. “I didn’t want to be, but I am now, and I’m proud of it. I know what it’s like and it means a lot when other people show they care, even if they can’t understand what it’s truly like.”
To participate in the 2009 Cherokee County Relay For Life, contact Chairperson Cynthia Kline by e-mail cherokeerelayforlife@yahoo.com or by phone, 903-683-7483 or 903-795-3604. The Relay begins at 7 p.m. Friday, April 24, and continues through the night to 7 a.m. Saturday, April 25. This year’s theme is “Music inspires us, memories sustain us, and the fight against cancer unites us.”
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