Many people only go to the doctor when they notice something is wrong. The story I am about to share is the perfect example of why that’s not a good idea. Yearly checkups could make a bad diagnosis easier to fix and could even save your life. Like with journalist Ali Meyer, with KFOR in Oklahoma City, who was diagnosed with breast cancer early enough to keep her life and the skin and nipple of her breast.
Having just turned 40 and wanting to do something to raise awareness during breast cancer awareness month, she agreed to film herself undergoing a health screening. The plan was to share the video on Facebook live to remind women to make their annual mammogram appointment. It was the first mammogram of her life, and she expected it would be a piece of cake, in-out, no problem at all.
Nobody in her family had breast cancer; she had no lumps and was feeling great. However, the on-air mammogram ended up being a live-stream of her being diagnosed with the disease.
At the beginning of the video, she’s happy and relaxed, going through the routine screening at the Stephenson Cancer Center in Oklahoma City, merely sharing the process. Then, just minutes later, after the procedure was done, she’s in a room telling viewers with tears in her eyes:
Alright, so I was hoping for a routine little mammogram, and that’s not how this went. I was just sure we’d have nothing today, but here we are… I have breast cancer and I don’t have a tonne of answers yet. But I’m going to have an MRI next week to confirm exactly what we’re dealing with and get a plan of action in place.
It’s been hard and shocking. It does kind of rock you to your core. This is not the news I was hoping to tell you about to raise breast cancer awareness, but it’s what I got.
Fortunately for Ali, she was diagnosed with one of the most survivable forms of the disease – non-invasive ductile breast cancer. It was only in her right breast. The video follows her even through the mastectomy and breast reconstruction surgery. She wanted to spread awareness of the survivability of the disease.
They had to remove all of the tissue from her right breast. Although, since they found the tumor very early on, she was able to keep her nipple and skin, so the reconstructive surgery results were more natural-looking. Nevertheless, she still felt like a part of her was being taken against her will. She said:
It felt like forced mutilation, like cancer was stealing away part of my body.
In the end, Dr. Oscar Masters’ reconstruction surgery went as planned. Everything turned out OK, and she was pleased with the outcome.
A year later, she filmed herself going in for her second mammogram, and there was nothing out of the ordinary. She said she’ll never miss a screening ever!
She explained:
My outcome was better because my mammogram found the cancer before I even knew it was there.
She makes that appointment every year and urges all women to do the same.
