Bonnie Ng’s Early Diagnosis Saved her Life

THE DIAGNOSIS

I’ve had benign lymph nodes on both my breasts for a long time, but I’ve checked my breasts yearly. I’ve done two biopsies in the past and countless mammograms since I was 23 years old. I always had the same results until five years ago during my yearly check-in. My doctor at Memorial Hospital Miramar found an abnormality in my right breast. They did a third biopsy, and the result came back malignant.

SHARING THE NEWS

It was painful to accept that I had cancer. I cried and got depressed. Thankfully, my younger cousin had just lived through the same experience two years earlier. She was

I learned to always live my life as if it was my last day.

the first person I called for advice. She told me that everything would be OK. Then I called Connie Zarrillo, physician practice manager at Memorial Breast Cancer Center, and she was amazing! She helped me accept that this was OK and that I would get through it. She shared her friends’ past experiences, how they met their new challenges and how they moved on. She explained how detecting it early saved my life and that I would not have to go through the worst.

GETTING TREATMENT

I was treated at Memorial Hospital Miramar, with Aeisha Rivers, MD, breast surgical oncologist. I asked to have a double mastectomy. I had breast reconstruction three times. The first two were unsuccessful and painful. Aurelio Castrellon, MD,

Bonnie Ng

Medical Director, Breast Cancer Research Program, and medical oncologist, determined that based on my bloodwork and test results, I needed Tamoxifen for five years.

HOW I GOT THROUGH

My husband, my parents, my sister and brother-in-law and my parentsin-law helped me get through this. I wouldn’t have been able to go through any of the surgeries on my own. They helped me with my small kids, the house, school and everyday life.

WHAT I LEARNED

Don’t take everything too seriously in life, or stress about the small things! I’ve learned to live each day as if it was my last, and that eating healthy and exercising creates a better me.