When Terra was diagnosed with breast cancer, her life was moving at full speed.
She was working full time, coaching cheerleading, preparing her daughter for college, and caring for her mother, whose health was declining from small cell lung cancer.
“I was a little too busy to deal with cancer at the time,” Terra says.
Terra had always been proactive about her health. She had been getting annual breast exams since she was in her 30s, and one day at work, she realized it was time for her routine mammogram.
She didn’t have a lump. She wasn’t in pain. There were no obvious warning signs.
But at 44 years old, just three days after dropping her daughter off at school, Terra was diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma.
Terra immediately began preparing for every possible outcome — including the possibility that she might not survive. She wondered how she would tell her family. They had already been through so much.
She knew she needed support.
Terra reached out to Gateway to Hope. She still remembers the first thing her Patient Navigator, Faith, asked her.
“She said, ‘How are you?’” Terra says. “And I knew I needed her from that very first phone call. She was going to take care of me.”
Gateway’s financial assistance helped ease the burden on Terra’s family at a time when her income was reduced and her expenses were high. But for Terra, the emotional support made just as much of a difference.
Faith helped Terra navigate more than her cancer care. She became a sounding board and a source of comfort as Terra tried to stay strong for her family and keep them from worrying. She was there when Terra’s mother passed away. She reminded Terra that she didn’t have to be strong all the time.
Now, Terra is looking ahead to the moments she’ll be there for: the birth of her brother’s baby, her daughter’s graduation, and watching her son grow up.
Above all, she wants people to understand that breast cancer doesn’t always announce itself.
“Don’t wait for a lump,” she says. “Because if I would have waited, I might not be here. My son is eight. He might not have remembered me.”
And for anyone going through breast cancer treatment, Terra has one piece of advice: call Gateway to Hope.
“You need the support,” she says. “You need it just for yourself. It makes a difference.”
We believe that everyone should get the support they need when facing a breast cancer diagnosis. By getting involved with Campaign for Hope, you’re supporting personalized, 1-on-1 Patient Navigation services for Gateway to Hope patients like Terra. Learn more at gthmo.org/CampaignForHope.
