Survivor finds cancer doesn't have to be faced alone

By CHRISTY SWIFT | Highlands Today correspondent
Published: September 30, 2012 Updated: September 30, 2012 - 12:00 AM

SEBRING --

Carol Byrum was 55 years old and working as an endoscopy technician at Florida Hospital Heartland Medical Center. In June 2011, she went in for a routine mammogram.

She hadn't noticed any lumps. She had no family history of breast cancer. Still, her results came back as "suspicious."

A vacuum needle biopsy was performed, and her worst fears were confirmed: She had breast cancer.

"I went back into my department with my nurse manager, Deanna Reed," Byrum said. "I was just hysterical. She drove me home and she said, 'Carol, you are not going to be alone through this. We're going to all go through this with you.'"

And they did. Wherever she turned, Byrum said she found such an outpouring of support that it was almost overwhelming.

"What's weird to me is, it's not really about my cancer," said Byrum. "I had no choice but to get the cancer and deal with the cancer. It's the people who came out of nowhere to help me get through. They had a choice to help or walk away."

Then more tragedy struck. Only three days after her diagnosis, Byrum's mother passed away.

It was almost too much to cope with, but Byrum faced her new reality with courage. She told herself: "My old 'me' died, and my mom died. Then it was time to start a new 'me.'"

Byrum's cancer was not typical. It was a rare and aggressive type of breast cancer known as triple negative invasive ductal carcinoma. Unrelated to estrogen or genetics, hers was an environmental cancer, although experts cannot pinpoint exactly what triggers it.

Byrum was lucky that it was caught early enough and had not spread to her lymph glands, but she was still in for some aggressive treatments.

"Within a week I had a lumpectomy," said Byrum. After that, she endured four chemotherapy treatments over the next twelve weeks. The day she arrived for her first chemo treatment, she was terrified.

"I felt like I was going for a lethal injection," she said. The chemo didn't make her sick, but the immune system booster, Neulasta, made her bones ache so much, her husband had to help her walk. She decided that if she was going to lose her hair, it would be on her own terms, and she had her head shaved.

"Twelve people shaved their head with me," Byrum said with a smile.

Everywhere she turned, she found support. Friends at work took photos of colleagues wearing pink T-shirts and posing with pink pom poms. People donated their vacation time to her. Facebook friends from her high school took a picture of themselves with pink bras on the outside of their shirts. Family and friends made "Hail Mary" blankets, where they said a prayer for her each time they tied a knot in the fleece.

One co-worker made her a scrapbook. Another sewed 50 scrub hats made with pink ribbon material. One day she walked in to a banquet of pink food. Tim Cook, the hospital's CEO, was one of her biggest supporters on Facebook, she said.

Byrum was so moved by the support she had received, she had the words "I am not alone" tattooed on her arm above the picture of a butterfly. A few co-workers got similar tattoos in her honor.

After chemo, Byrum underwent 33 radiation treatments, experiencing only minor sunburn-like side effects. Now, a year and two months after her diagnosis, Byrum is cancer-free.

Her hair has grown back, but her work badge still sports a picture of her bald head. She wants patients to know that she understands what they are going through, and that they don't have to be alone either.

"I know what it's like to be scared," Byrum said. "It's scary, but you've got to do what they tell you if you want to live."

Source: http://www2.highlandstoday.com/news/news/2012/sep/30/l4newso2-survivor-finds-cancer-doesnt-have-to-be-f-ar-514340/

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