Through candid conversations, two survivors reveal the challenges, treatments, and triumphs that shaped their journey beyond breast cancer.After facing breast cancer, Luciana Martins discovered that survival is not just about living; it’s about reclaiming yourself.She had faced many challenges in her life, but on October 3, 2023, one of the biggest battles of her life began.
Six months earlier, she had decided to leave her health insurance plan, thinking she was healthy, and had decided to conduct one last check to confirm everything was okay. “I made an appointment with a general practitioner, and he asked me to get some tests done that I hadn’t had in a while, one of which was a mammogram. Mammograms hurt like hell and are uncomfortable, so I didn’t go. At another appointment, I was asked to have the mammogram again, and on my birthday, I went to have it done. I didn’t have an appointment scheduled.”
But after the mammogram, her doctor recommended that she see a breast cancer specialist, as there was something wrong with one of her breasts, but she couldn’t say what it was yet. At that point, all she could do was go to the doctor and wait for the results.
luciana’s diagnosis
“On October 11th, I was able to make an appointment with my doctor. I went into the room alone; my sister, who had come with me, stayed outside. When he said there was a high chance it was cancer… it was like being punched in the gut. I went in alone, and when he told me that, I cried in the office. When I left the hospital, I sat on the curb and cried“, she recalls.
With the diagnosis in hand, she decided that she would go through with it and try her best to overcome this disease. During her life, many people close to her had died of cancer, not only relatives but friends as well, so the first thing that crossed her mind was fear. After crying for a long time, the next step was fighting.
“The doctor explained that the tumor, compared to the size of my breast, was not large; he even palpated it and could not feel it, but it was not imperceptible either. The tumor was two centimeters; it is not a small tumor, but it is still a fight, right?”
The treatment
The tumor did not respond to any medication, so it was necessary to schedule a surgery. It was a very quick process. After the procedure, one of the things on her mind was that if something went wrong, she would not be able to finish the series The Big Bang Theory. “I was afraid I wouldn’t finish it, but before the surgery, I really couldn’t finish it. When I woke up from the surgery, I said, ‘Whew, I’m still alive.’ My fear was dying during it.”
When she realized she was still alive, a secondary mission began, which was to finish the series…and she did!
On January 4, 2024, the chemotherapy began. It was done on Thursdays, once every two weeks. At first, it was only four sessions, but after a while, her doctor gave her two more.
Relationships during cancer
“When you receive a cancer diagnosis, many interesting things happen around you. Some people drift away, others get closer, and it’s a surprise. Then there were people I thought would be on my side who weren’t.”
In some parts of her life, Luciana had a somewhat troubled relationship with her biological parents. Her biological mother came to stay with her during the process, but sometimes forced support is not what is needed. So there were times when living together was hard, but her help was very important.
Her adoptive mother had cancer and passed away in 2002. As for her biological mother, when she came to spend time with Luciana, she was not as well as she had imagined, and it was later discovered that she had intestinal cancer, which was already quite advanced. She has since been treated and is better.
Another surprise was her husband, who began to have jealous outbursts over an old friend who had been in her life for over thirty years. At the same time that she was fighting for her life, she had to fight to keep her relationship stable.
While her body was in pain, with the chemo causing extreme pain in her thighs that forced her to remain lying down, she looked at her phone and received accusatory messages and calls about an alleged betrayal that never occurred. The cancer was difficult, but her life did not ease up to allow her to focus all her strength on surviving the disease.
Her sister, who is not blood-related, had lived with her since 2014 and had become a great support during her cancer treatment. During this period, she cooked, helped around the house, cleaned, and was her companion on walks on both easy and difficult days.
Second Chances
The cure was like a second chance for her. She saw it as God giving her a chance to change what was wrong. Before cancer, she didn’t have a good life; she was depressed, which led to a sedentary lifestyle and poor eating habits. Today, she has changed several factors in her life, exercises, and tries her best not to eat fatty or unhealthy foods.
Cancer changed several aspects of her life, the way she saw the world, her appearance, and perceptions that were once so simple, and today can become an eternal experience. There is not only today for her, because tomorrow will always come.
Ana Maria’s discovery
Nearly two decades after her diagnosis, Ana Maria still carries the quiet strength that got her through the darkest days.
Nearly two decades after her diagnosis, Ana Maria still carries the quiet strength that got her through the darkest days. Her story with cancer took longer: it all started in January 2006.
During a series of routine medical exams, she was not concerned, as she was visibly healthy. In February, when she was due to return for some tests, she felt an itch on her nipple, and when she started scratching, she felt a lump.“I started scratching and felt it. I called my husband, and he felt it, and I told him there was something there”, she recalls.
At the time, she was being treated at the Hospital das Clínicas, and during a follow-up exam with her gynecologist, her doctor said that everything was fine with the tests. But still, Ana mentioned that there was something she wanted the doctor to examine, because there was something in her breast.
“My mother died of breast cancer, so after she felt it, she said that there really was something there, and we went for more tests. After a week, I had a test where it showed up, and after another week, I had a biopsy, and it took 20 days to get the results. I did everything alone. When I received the diagnosis, I was alone.”
It took a while for Ana to start telling people, even her husband, who was taking her to the exams, and her sister, with whom she is really close.
“When I had my first exam, I needed someone to accompany me. I had spoken to my husband beforehand and told him I had a suspicion, but when we arrived at the Hospital das Clínicas, the doctors there spoke openly…so they told him, and he was scared. When we received this news, it felt like a hole had been opened in us.”
At that time, she heard that everyone who had cancer died. And then the doubts began… whether she would make it out of this, whether she would die. The doctors at the time did not talk about a cure, but rather about treatment, but never a cure. Thus began her battle.
Surgeries, chemotherapies, and support.
When the doctor said he would take out her breasts, it was a shock.
“That doesn’t happen anymore. Now, when you have cancer, they remove the tumor and do a restoration, all at once, except in severe cases, where you have to wait. But in my case, I didn’t have the restoration, and after some time, the doctor called me. I started to shake, and he asked me why I hadn’t had the restoration, and I replied that I didn’t want it because everyone who had it done said it was very painful.”
The doctor convinced her to go to the plastic surgery hospital, and she went for a year, always being measured, but she only had one session and didn’t complete it yet. A month after the surgery, she started chemotherapy, with a session every 21 days. She would go at 7 a.m. and leave at 2 p.m., and by the end of the week, she would vomit as a consequence.
“When I started chemotherapy, my hair fell out… It’s hard to be without hair. Then my hair started to fall out, and I had to shave it because I didn’t have any left. Whenever I lay down, I was covered in hair. It wasn’t horrible, well, in fact it was, but it was also funny. I just talked to God. If he wants me to learn something, if he wants to teach me, then just tell me, guide me, let me learn what I need to learn.”
With the unconditional support of her family, her husband always by her side, her sister-in-law taking over her house, and her sister doing the shopping. They created a support network where each one had a silent caregiving role.
“I had to eat because I couldn’t lose weight, but it was hard because nothing stayed in my stomach. So I was vomiting constantly, then I felt better and got better.”
She felt very weak and spent a lot of time in bed. At the same time as the difficult treatment she was undergoing, there was a problem with the house where she lived, and she had to renovate it.
After some time, she had eight chemotherapy sessions, four red and four white. Then she had a break until January of the following year, when she started radiotherapy, having 25 sessions from Monday to Friday. During that time, she saw a psychologist, underwent occupational therapy, and engaged in other activities that she doesn’t remember.
A new beginning
After a year and a half of treatment in search of remission, she still spent five years taking oral chemotherapy.
One of her most vivid memories was when she was already bald and her whole family came to spend Christmas with her, as December 24 is her birthday. Relatives she hadn’t seen in a long time showed up and gave her the feeling that she was going to die, that she really wouldn’t make it through.
Even though she is now cured, the fear still returns from time to time. Whenever she feels even slightly ill, her heart races and her mind remembers everything she has been through. She says that sometimes, when she feels awful, the smell of her skin from the chemotherapy returns, because everything changes when treatment begins, not only her body but also her mind.
The cure was a second chance for her, allowing her to see her children grow up, witness the birth of her granddaughter, and live a better life. “I think God gave me this victory; I think I deserved it.”
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The article above was edited by Beatriz Gatz.
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