Meet Michelle
September 28, 2009 by Robin Beckett
Editor’s Note: The following is an excerpt from an article that appeared in the Oct/Nov 2009 issue of Playdate Magazine featuring three Yakima-area moms who had been diagnosed with breast cancer before age 40. While the other two mothers are in remission, Michelle Berthon’s battle with cancer is ongoing. This blog is designed to keep you updated on her story. To start, please meet Michelle:
Michelle Berthon, diagnosed at 39
Just this summer, the last week of June, Michelle and husband Todd celebrated their 11th wedding anniversary with a cruise to Alaska.
“It was the best vacation we’ve ever had,” Michelle says, enthusiastically ticking off a list off the couple’s adventures: Rock climbing, sea kayaking, riding a zip line.
Aboard the ship, Michelle also performed a breast self-exam, a precautionary task she’d been through roughly once a month for years. This time, she felt a lump.
“I was not nervous or worried,” recalls Michelle, who’d had two benign fibroadenomas removed in the past. Still, the stay-at-home mom to Alex, 5, and Madeleine, 3, arranged for a mammogram as soon as she got back to Yakima.
When she was called back for a biopsy, Michelle still wasn’t worried about cancer. After all, she reasoned, she eats well and works out at least four times a week. “I feel great.”
So, it caught Michelle by surprise when she learned in July that she had a Stage II Invasive Ductal Carcinoma in her right breast. The tumor was fast-growing, but Michelle found it early, before it had spread into her lymph nodes or other tissues.
Nine days after her diagnosis, and just three weeks after she found the lump, Michelle had surgery to remove the tumor. A month later, she had a second surgery so doctors could make sure they’d removed all of the cancerous cells; test results indicated the surgeries were a success.
Dreading the sickness and hair loss caused by the cancer-fighting drugs, Michelle began chemotherapy in mid-September. She remains confident that early detection, aggressive treatment and prayers of support will help her win this battle.
“I have no doubt I’ll make it to the five-year mark,” Michelle says. “I’ve never had any doubt.”
– Sara Bristol
Filed under Michelle's Story
I’m Michelle’s Grandmother on her paternal side of the family. In September of 1994 Michelle was in a major automobile accident. She was rushed to the hospital, put on life saving equipment and given a slim chance of survival. She did survive and later upon emerging from a coma she was found by the doctors to be suffering from severe congnitive and physical impairment that would require total nursing and therapy care for many long months/years ahead. Michelle was determined to overcome her disabilities and did indeed prove that she could do it! Family support, plus many friends and prayers have always been a part of Michelle’s life and will continue to be as she faces this current crisis of dealing with breast cancer. I love Michelle very much and know in my heart that she will be a survivor – just give her time!
I know michelle through mops so just want to say keep up what your doing God is with you!
Tara
My daughter is doing a pageant for breast cancer this weekend so I will add to my prayers Michelle your a real trooper!