With the cool breeze of October bringing along scents of pumpkin spice and everything nice, Americans have transitioned into a new Autumn season. This month has brought lots of fresh exciting events including National Boyfriends’ Day, National Hispanic Heritage Month, Sweetest Day and, of course, Halloween. With this whirlwind of events, it’s easy to forget the importance of taking care of your own health. Among all of the aforementioned fall festivities, October is also known as Breast Cancer Awareness Month. This provides a wonderful opportunity to recognize the incredible breast cancer survivors in your life and consider getting checked out yourself. 

Breast cancer is an illness that affects countless women, men, and their families every year. Sometimes people develop it genetically while other times it has more to do with their environment and the way they take care of themselves. Regardless of physical health and presence of a cancerous family history, it’s important for everyone to be taking steps to ensure their continued health. That being said, it’s often hard to know what the best ways to do so are. For more insight, local breast cancer survivor Kathy Smith shared her experience with the illness.

Smith first learned that she was positive for breast cancer in 2003. During her annual checkup, her doctor noticed something unusual, so she was sent to a breast surgeon for a biopsy. The surgeon assured her that at her age of 34—young for breast cancer at the time—it was unlikely Smith had anything to worry about. However, it was not her lucky day. The biopsy came back positive for cancer which she later found out was stage one. 

Though testing positive for cancer is an earth-shattering experience for anybody, Smith was lucky she found out before it was too late, considering she almost didn’t. Due to her low level insurance policy which didn’t cover general doctors visits, Smith was debating whether she should go in for a regular checkup at all. She reflected that she “had to pay for it out of pocket, but it could’ve cost me my life.” For her, it was absolutely imperative that she prioritize her health over her finances at the time. 

After four rounds of chemotherapy, Smith was finally declared cancer-free. However, six short years later, she found cancer had again invaded her body. Fortunately, this second occurrence of breast cancer was caught much earlier than the first and was removed with minimal surgery. Even the second time it was caught because of Smith’s dedication to her health. Since she had cancer the first time Smith started having annual MRIs which allowed her and her doctors to be sure she was cancer-free—until she wasn’t. 

Smith recounted a valuable lesson from her experience—that nothing is more important than one’s health. She warned others “34 was young at the time [I had cancer]—today they’re finding it in teenagers, so you’re never too young.” That being said, Smith maintains a hopeful attitude about the future of cancer research stating, “don’t lose hope because advancements are being made every day.”

Though still heartbreaking, successful cases like hers really are a source of hope for the greater cancer community. The more people prioritize their health and wellness by going to doctors appointments and being aware of family history the more common happy endings like Smith’s will be. 

For those who don’t know where to start on the journey to prioritizing their health or supporting those in need, Smith gave some pointers for the various situations people may find themselves in:

As October comes to a close, make sure to show some extra care to the breast cancer survivors in your life, make an appointment with your general doctor if you haven’t done so in a while, and remember, in Kathy Smith’s wise words, “don’t put your health on the back burner!”