New perspective
Young Conway woman battles breast cancer for her family and future
For Ashley Gipson-Morris of Conway, life at 25 was meant for floating the river with friends, going to Arkansas Razorbacks games with her husband and taking care of her 1-year-old daughter. Concerns such as breast cancer were never at the forefront of her mind, but all that changed when Morris felt an odd pain in her breast while getting into the shower one evening. Morris’ husband, who works as a nuclear-medicine specialist, thought it could be a cyst, and two weeks later, when Morris went to see her doctor, the doctor agreed. “She said, ‘Oh, you’re 25 years old. I’m sure it’s a cyst,’ but we also had to keep on the safe side and get it checked out,” said Morris, now 27. After being unable to find anything in an ultrasound, the doctor went on to do a biopsy. “When I heard the word ‘biopsy,’ that scared me. I thought, ‘Something really is wrong,’” Morris said. However, she was still reassured that it was highly unlikely that she had cancer and was told by a radiologist that she was more likely to be struck by lightning on a sunny day than to have cancer. “Then I got the call, and was bad,” Morris said. The tests confirmed Morris’ new greatest fear: At the age of 25, she was diagnosed with stage 2B invasive ductal carcinoma, and it had spread from her left breast to six of her lymph nodes. “My first thought was of my daughter and my husband,” Morris said. “Immediately, I was like, ‘I’m not going to be here to watch her grow up.’ She was 1, about to turn 2.” Morris said that initially, she could think only of the worst-case scenario, and she feared she wouldn’t be alive much longer. “The first question I asked my breast specialist was, ‘Am I going to die?’” Morris said. She told her husband and said that since he works in the medical field and had seen some of the effects firsthand, his biggest worry was the struggles she would have to go through in battling cancer. Morris also told her mom and dad, who were both devastated by the news. “My dad took it really hard because he felt like he couldn’t fix it, and dads are supposed to be able to fix things for their daughters,” Morris said. Her brother-in-law had to tell her sister, who she says is her best friend, because it was too painful to do it herself. “I called my brother-in-law and told him that I didn’t know how to tell her. I told him, ‘I can’t find the words. I just, I don’t know,’” Morris said. That evening, her family gathered for comfort and support. “Everybody came to our house that night, and we basically, just kind of … just, honestly, not a lot was said that night,” Morris said. After the first night, though, Morris said the family quickly moved forward in figuring out what to do next. “I think we all had our good cry session for a day; then we kind of flipped it over and said, ‘OK, what do we do next?’” Morris said. Altogether, Morris underwent six rounds of chemo, 35 rounds of radiation, a double mastectomy, lymph-node removals, then six months of a chemo pill. “Oh, and then I had reconstruction,” Morris added, “so I’ve had a lot going on in the past year and a half.” For Morris, the treatments played a large role in shifting her day-to-day life. “Radiation basically burns your skin, so it hurt to even put on clothes sometimes,” Morris said. The small things Morris never thought would come up ended up being some of the biggest struggles she faced during her breast-cancer treatment. As a result of chemo affecting her immune system, there were some days when she couldn’t even go grocery shopping at Walmart or attend the Arkansas Razorbacks games that she and her husband were avid fans of because the health risks were too high. “I couldn’t even just go get a pedicure. I had to see what my counts were like in case I got an infection,” Morris said. “It was a constant thing.” Morris also had a port placed in her chest but had complications with it, and one of the bigger impacts of it was that she wasn’t allowed to swim. “We’re big summer people, and we love going to the lake and floating the river, but that was one more thing we couldn’t do,” Morris said, adding that she and her husband weren’t able to go on the annual float trip that her friends take together every summer. “I was out of commission for a long time, which is extremely hard with a 1-year-old who doesn’t really get what’s going on,” Morris said. While there were major adjustments made to accommodate Morris, many aspects of life had to otherwise seem as normal as possible. “With such a young daughter, you almost have to go on about life pretty normal, or as normal as you can, because they don’t understand,” Morris said. If it hadn’t been for family, friends, church and workplace, Morris is unsure how she would have made it through the experience. Whether it was raising money or taking care of her daughter, Morris had a strong support system by her side. “My friends would bring us dinner if I wasn’t feeling well,” Morris said, adding that they also put on a 5K race as a fundraiser to help pay her medical bills and other expenses that come along with breast cancer, such as gas to drive to treatments. “You don’t realize how expensive everything is until you go through it. One round of chemo treatment is around 30 grand. But there are a lot of other little things, too, like making sure everyone has food and the people who are there supporting you are taken care of, too,” Morris said. Morris’ workplace, Crum & Forster of Conway, hosted a bake sale to raise money for her, while also allowing her to work when she felt well enough and to stay home and rest when needed. “They’ve been so supportive,” Morris said.“I work for an amazing company.” She said the pastor of the church that she grew up attending in Morrilton and is still a member of was very helpful in the process and even came to some of her surgeries for support. Family members helped take care of Morris’ daughter on what Morris referred to as her “sick days” of chemo — the few days following a chemo treatment when she was so sick that her husband had to walk her to the bathroom. “I didn’t want her to see me like that,” Morris said of her daughter. While Morris’ daughter knew her mom was sick, she didn’t know the severity. Morris said her daughter was able to tell when Morris was having a bad day because she would often want to cuddle more and would bring Morris blankets and pillows to rest with. “Now she’ll see my scars and point and ask, ‘Is that from when you were sick, Mommy?’” Morris said. In July 2018, Morris finished all of her cancer treatments but still has scans every three months. Morris said the effects of the treatments didn’t go away immediately, but her daily habits have now almost gone back to normal. “I’m not as tired anymore, and I have a lot more energy. I’m not sick all the time,” Morris said. Moving forward, Morris’ plans include “hopefully being cancer-free forever,” and sharing her story to help others. “A lot of people my age just don’t think about it,” Morris said. “They think, ‘Oh well, I’ll deal with that later,’ because it doesn’t cross your mind when you’re in your 20s. But since this has happened to me, my friends are getting their mammograms and having more regular checkups. I think hearing someone’s story who relates to you in age and lifestyle helps. I hope it helps.” Morris’ outlook on the future has shifted dramatically after her long-fought battle with cancer. “I would never want to do this again, but this journey has showed me just how blessed and lucky I am with the people who care about me, and it’s brought me closer to God, so for that, I am thankful,” Morris said.“I don’t know how to thank my husband enough, and my daughter, just for being here, as well as the rest of my family and the friends I have. “I have such a renewed perspective on everything. I’m just happy, and that sounds cheesy, but I am kind of just happy to be here.”
I was out of commission for a long time, which is extremely hard with a 1-year-old who doesn’t really get what’s going on.”
ASHLEY GIPSON-MORRIS Conway