BARRACKVILLE, W.Va. (AP) - Despite having multiple benign lumpectomies over the years, Debbie Shaver recognized in the late summer of 2005 a lump on her chest that was more painful than previous ones.
She put off getting it checked for a short time, but after meeting with a doctor who said the lump was once again benign, she persisted and went to another doctor. That’s where she got the news.
“I discovered the lump when we were on vacation; we were at the beach,” Shaver said. “I was 44, and I had found it myself. I had had a lot of benign lumpectomies, so I was used to the self exam, but this one hurt and I knew it was different.
“I put it off, which I shouldn’t have, but I did. When I finally went to the doctor who listened to me, it was the end of October, and Nov. 2 is when I found out I had cancer.”
At the time, Shaver had a young son and was also working as an administrative assistant at Barrackville United Methodist Church. Although she had responsibilities to tend to, she began radiation treatment soon after her diagnosis because she knew it was what she had to do.
“When the doctor came in and told me that it was malignant, I just sat there and cried,” Shaver said. “After that first day and the shock wore off, I just said, ‘Well, I’m going to have to do this.’”
Charlotte Soles, Shaver’s mom, was with her at the time of her diagnosis, and said the emotion that came over both of them felt similar to being hit with a blunt instrument.
“We were both in the doctor’s office, and he had already told her it was benign,” Soles said. “Then that day he came into the office and he actually had tears in his eyes, and he said, ‘I’m sorry it is cancer.’ Debbie just broke down completely, and I was beside her, and it was like somebody hit you in the face with a bat.”
Shaver would go on to have a total of 36 radiation therapy treatments at Fairmont General Hospital. Soles said she remembers that time, but the experience felt somewhat dreamlike.
“The whole thing was like we were floating through it,” Soles said. “She was taking care of her family, I just helped her all I could.”
Shaver also said she had to have a hysterectomy because of the progress the cancer had made in her body. Although these treatments were long and often, Shaver said she continued working and trying to live a normal life.
“The biggest challenge for me was keeping up my normal life,” Shaver said. “I never missed a day of work - I probably should have a couple times looking back - it was exhausting, and I pushed myself I think a little too hard after the hysterectomy.”
While her treatment took a toll on her body and her life, Shaver said she had support from many people around her, which helped her stay positive through the experience. She said a neighbor in Barrackville had visited her early on in the process, and since she was going through the same thing, had good advice which Shaver remembers to this day.
“I had a lot of support. Major support from my mother, my brother was still living at the time, my church family, my friends; everybody was very, very supportive,” Shaver said. “The day I found out, a wonderful person in Barrackville was going through breast cancer at the same time, and she came to see me. She had a bracelet for me and she said, ‘I want you to know that from this day forward, you’re a cancer survivor.’”
Eventually, Shaver would complete her necessary cancer treatments with radiation, and she was able to resume her normal life. However, she said she still frequently checks herself and gets tests, in order to ensure the cancer doesn’t return.
“I’m very, very blessed, because my cancer, they were able to get it all and I didn’t have to have chemo,” Shaver said. “They still watch me; I get blood work every six months, I get my mammogram every year and I still do my self-exam.”
It would take five more years, but since 2010, she has been officially cancer-free.
“I was never completely cleared until five years later,” Shaver said. “I had to go five years cancer-free, and then they said you’re cured.”
Shaver said she is the first in her family to have breast cancer, despite some other members of her family being diagnosed with other forms of cancer over the years. Soles said she does not know of anyone else in the family lineage who has had the disease.
“I have thought and thought and thought about this, read everything I could find on the history of the family, and I don’t know how that happened,” Soles said. “You never know what’s going to happen.”
Shaver said although hearing you have a breast cancer diagnosis is scary, those who get the news should keep their head up rather than give up. The advice she received from her Barrackville neighbor all those years ago has stuck with Shaver, and she said anyone who finds out they have breast cancer should know that they, too, are a survivor.
“Don’t paint yourself as a cancer patient,” Shaver said. “You are a cancer survivor. You are surviving cancer.”
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