South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)

Angie Taylor turns to helping others make sure they getting screenings

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The Diagnosis

Both of my grandmothe­rs had breast cancer. My aunt was diagnosed with breast cancer in her late 30s and two cousins were diagnosed with breast cancer very young. I also have siblings who have

had pancreatic, stomach and prostate cancer. Because of

that, I started screenings at age 35. But I was about four months behind when I did a breast self-exam and found a lump. My diagnosis came a month after my 50th birthday. I had a triple-negative tumor in my right breast. After my diagnosis, I had genetic testing and found that I had a BRCA1 gene mutation.

Sharing the News

I’m a widower, and I moved to Lauderdale Lakes in 2015 to start the second chapter of my life. Unfortunat­ely, my new life included cancer. I remember I was numb. I told my son Christian, my daughter

Alyssa and my sister I would be okay and I would beat this.

My daughter took it hard, but I reassured them that the doctor

had said it was small and that we had caught it early.

Getting Treatment

I remember meeting my oncologist Dr. Lauren Carcass. I felt such a sense of compassion and caring.

I had 10 million questions, and she took the time to answer them all. I had five months of chemothera­py. Because I was BRCA positive, I decided to remove both breasts. I had

a bilateral mastectomy and reconstruc­tive surgery. I had an oophorecto­my to remove both ovaries because of the high risk of ovarian cancer associated with the BRCA mutation.

How I Got Through

I gave myself permission to cry every day for eight minutes. I came up with the eight minutes because it was a short enough time to get it out but then pull it back together and

move forward. I developed friendship­s with other women. It opened my eyes that cancer knows no color, no age. It doesn’t discrimina­te. It helps

if you have a great sense of humor. And when I had

surgery, my dad and daughter flew here to take care of me. It was a blessing.

What I Learned

After meeting so many women with breast cancer, I wanted

to do something to help provide free mammograms to uninsured women. I started a nonprofit, ARTfull Angels. To date, I’ve helped 19 women. Out of the 19, four were diagnosed with breast cancer.

They are doing great.

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