Courtney's Story: It Wasn't Breastfeeding, It Was Breast Cancer
Courtney Parker is a Breastcancer.org Community member in Fort Worth, Texas, USA.
I’m a high school teacher and gymnastics coach. In April 2017, while at the state championships I noticed a pea-sized lump in my left breast. I thought it was mastitis and had a round of antibiotics. But it didn’t go away, and in May I went to the doctor. They told me it was changes in my breasts due to breastfeeding and come back in two months. I went back in July and the lump was now the size of a softball. They did an ultrasound, a mammogram, and then a biopsy. I was angry at myself for not advocating for myself back in May.
As all the results came back over the next two weeks, they found a HER2+ tumor in my left breast and would eventually find a triple-negative tumor in my right breast. During the early days of my diagnosis, I thought I’d have a lumpectomy and go back to breastfeeding my 13-month-old. It took a while for me to fully understand what was about to happen.
I completed 18 rounds of chemotherapy, missing several weeks due to blood counts being too low. I had my double mastectomy in January 2018. Six weeks after surgery, I ended up in the hospital due to septic shock. This pushed the start of radiation back. After 28 radiation treatments, I thought I was done forever. Little did I know that it was only the beginning. Radiation tightened up my reconstruction, so I had to have another surgery. I have side effects from chemotherapy, so it’s appointment after appointment. It’s hard. I want to be past it and forget about it, but I’m still in the thick of it. Due to my BRCA1 status, I had a complete hysterectomy in June 2020. There’s the fear of it coming back. Whenever I have a headache or joint pains, it goes straight to my head – what is it?
I’ve found purpose in sharing my story with others. I’ve spoken with AYA [Adolescent and Young Adult] groups, oncologists, survivors, and others hoping that my story can help others going through cancer currently or others who have already gone through it find purpose. Looking back and thinking about why I didn’t push for a mammogram in May of 2017, I think I just wanted to believe it couldn’t be cancer. I wanted to believe it was breastfeeding causing the changes to my breasts. I wanted to believe that breast cancer couldn’t happen to someone who was only 32.
I started a scholarship in 2018 for graduating high school seniors who had experiences and first-hand knowledge of what cancer can do to a family. Today Stage 3 has awarded four scholarships with funds over $6,000.
