dr.burcusengez's Story: I Wasn't Letting Breast Cancer Take My Active Lifestyle
dr.burcusengez is a Breastcancer.org community member in Izmir, Turkey.
I spent many months in the hospital during my childhood due to allergic asthma attacks. That's why I grew up as an adult who was always mentally prepared for hospital processes. My doctors told me that I could not do any hard training due to the seriousness of my condition. After many years in the hospital, I focused on my education. I completed my PhD in the field of cancer epigenetics.
Sport fairies knocked on my door after my 30s. I started crossfit and pole dancing. Besides my research in the genome center of the hospital, I started working as a pole dance instructor in my spare time.
In January 2022, I started feeling bad during a workout and learned that I was COVID-positive. I needed mechanical ventilation in ICU. I lost some of my mechanical activities due to neurological attacks. As a result of my 3.5 month hospital adventure, I was discharged with many side effects. Unfortunately, my father passed away a few weeks later because of lung cancer. After many months, I got rid of my mental and physical fatigue and quit my job at the hospital. I started working as an instructor and studio coordinator at the studio where I learned pole dance. I was happier.
Just as things were getting better for me, at the end of 2022 (at the age of 39), there was a noticeable difference in my left breast. Because of my family history, I had been under control for many years. I had been tested for some breast specific genes, neither me nor my family members with breast cancer have BRCA mutation. Since I am an epigeneticist who has been doing cancer research for many years, I wasn’t worried about cancer, worried about what I would experience. It scared me to take another break from my life. Two of my aunts passed away due to breast cancer during my journey.
After several examinations, I had my mastectomy and lymph node dissection in February 2023. No metastasis was detected. After the surgery, I had blood clots developed in my leg and arm. That's why I had a longer hospital stay. I struggled with axillary web syndrome for many months after discharging from hospital. My doctors told me not to do crossfit and pole dance due to lymph dissection. I disagreed with them. I researched athletes who had these operations and still doing crossfit and pole dance. I had the opportunity to talk with few of them. And I believed that I could start again. After 6 months, I started pole dancing training. I started crossfit a few months ago. Even though I still feel bad that I can't do the things I used to do, sometimes I push myself too far and end up in the hospital again, I know that as long as I continue, I will get better every day.
I want more people to hear my story, to be the voice of those who want to push their limits and just say no to the sentences such as, "You can't do this anymore" or, "What if you do this." I want to show everyone how we can normalize the process for ourselves as a cancer expert and a patient.
