“Bolstering others — that’s how I see myself now.”

“I got the mammogram. They said, ‘This looks a little different. It’s kind of changed shape. We want to ultrasound it,’ and they did.” Then they said they wanted to do a biopsy. Two days later, she had a needle biopsy, which she watched on a screen. Afterward, the nurse, Morgan Ludwick, asked if Michelle would be willing for a student nurse to be present, and Michelle agreed.

“She said, ‘Michelle, this would be good for you to hear, too.’” Morgan then began to explain aspects of the procedure to the trainee, such as how “the shape has changed and blood doesn’t flow through it. She starts telling her all these little things, and I keep thinking, ‘Oh my, I possibly could have this.’ At that point it dawned on me that it was me that they were talking about. So, she was prepping me for things that could possibly come without scaring me.”

Michelle was diagnosed with the most common form of cancer, ductile carcinoma, with only a tiny cancer cell in one lymph node. Hers was stage 2 and found in one breast. “My husband Keith was there and a friend who came to write down stuff for us because once you hear the word cancer, your mind is gone. It’s important to have an advocate like that who can take notes that you can read and re-read.”

Michelle said the radiologist,

Dr. Kevin Pope, then presented her with surgical options, including a lumpectomy and a mastectomy.’ Thinking “I don’t want this thing to come back,” she decided to have a double mastectomy to give her the best survival rate, though she readily admitted that “nothing is guaranteed.”

Fortunately, results of her Oncotype tumor profiling test were low enough that her oncologist,

Dr. J. Thaddeus Beck at Highlands Oncology, “thought it would be best not to put me through chemo and radiation. I was thrilled with that. I really didn’t want chemo or radiation.”

On March 25, 2014, Michelle had both a mastectomy and reconstructive surgery. “They call it ‘the big surgery.’ Dr. Cross removed the tissue. Dr. Atwood put in the expanders that stretch the tissue. I didn’t have to have grafting.” Seven months later, she had a hysterectomy to stop production of estrogen, which stimulates cancer growth. “You lose parts of yourself. It’s your new normal.”

Throughout her cancer journey, support from friends and family was outstanding, as they provided meals, comfort and other practical help. “My husband was fantastic. I had some really great friends who pulled together and prayed for me and put me on prayer lists. I had prayed. Just a peace came over me that I knew I was going to be OK.”

One of her close friends sent her a card every day for 20 days, beginning with her first surgery. “They were dated so I got to open a card every day. She wrote things like, ‘You’re strong. You can do this,” and “God’s put this mountain in front of you to climb. You don’t know what you can do until it’s in front of you, and you will come out on the other side. You will bolster others.’ Bolstering others — that’s how I see myself now.”

Michelle has been active in Komen Ozark and helped with fundraising activities, though now her work schedule prevents her from being as involved. “I’ve met some really great pink sisters.” After learning that two of the women in a small group she and her husband joined from church were diagnosed with breast cancer, she sent them each cards every day.

Reflecting back on her experience with cancer, Michelle urges anyone going through breast cancer to reach out to others. “I held everything in at the very beginning. I was given names of people to call, but I didn’t do it. I was scared. I didn’t want to say that I had cancer. I wish I had reached out. I wish I had journaled this stuff, because when I’m helping others and they’re asking me questions, I wish I could go back and read what I was feeling that day, what happened that day. I think it would better help me help someone else. This wasn’t the path I would have chosen but God walked with me through it, got me through it and I’m here to help others.”