Finding Life in the Middle of Cancer

Jes­si­ca B. thought it was just anoth­er lump. She had been through this before, but this time, the rou­tine check that seemed so ordi­nary would turn her world upside down.

A few years ear­li­er, Jes­si­ca, a moth­er of two from North­east Mis­souri had dis­cov­ered a lump in her left breast. Tests con­firmed it was benign, and she and her doc­tor kept a close eye on it over the years.

“After three years, we real­ized it was grow­ing, so we decid­ed to remove it. Pathol­o­gy came back neg­a­tive, and we moved on,” she said.

Then, in the spring of this year, Jes­si­ca felt a lump on her right side. Hav­ing been through this before, she assumed it would be the same sto­ry. ​“I wasn’t con­cerned at first because it felt like the last one,” Jes­si­ca recalled. ​“I had my year­ly appoint­ment with my OBG­YN com­ing up, so I got it checked out.”

Her OBG­YN rec­om­mend­ed fur­ther test­ing. A mam­mo­gram and ultra­sound again sug­gest­ed a benign mass, but she and her sur­geon decid­ed to remove it as a pre­cau­tion. The pathol­o­gy report revealed a dif­fer­ent out­come — triple-neg­a­tive inva­sive breast cancer.

Find­ing the Right Team

Faced with the diag­no­sis, Jes­si­ca pri­or­i­tized find­ing a care team she could trust. She sought a sec­ond opin­ion with M. Amjad Ali, MD, med­ical oncol­o­gist at the Quin­cy Med­ical Group (QMG) Can­cer Insti­tute—a deci­sion that would change everything.

“He was thor­ough, used a white­board to explain things, and didn’t make us feel stu­pid for ask­ing ques­tions,” Jes­si­ca shared. Dur­ing his exam, Dr. Ali noticed a swollen lymph node Jes­si­ca hadn’t felt her­self. That atten­tion to detail gave her con­fi­dence she was exact­ly where she need­ed to be.

The QMG team act­ed swift­ly. With­in a week and a half, Dr. Ali’s office arranged a con­sul­ta­tion and port place­ment with QMG Breast Sur­geon Chris­t­ian Zwick, DO ensur­ing Jes­si­ca could begin treat­ment with­out delay.

Sup­port That Makes a Difference

Jes­si­ca recent­ly com­plet­ed her first 12 week­ly chemother­a­py treat­ments and is prepar­ing for her next round: one treat­ment every three weeks for four cycles. Fol­low­ing that, she will under­go a dou­ble mas­tec­to­my. Through it all, she has leaned on her QMG team, includ­ing Dr. Ali, Dr. Zwick, and nurse nav­i­ga­tor Lau­ren K.

“They take the time to talk, answer ques­tions, and make you feel like a per­son, not a num­ber,” Jes­si­ca said. ​“The team com­mu­ni­cat­ed open­ly. They told me what would take longer and what wouldn’t, and results came quick­ly. They were proac­tive in sched­ul­ing tests and treat­ments, which helped me feel secure.”

Stay­ing Ground­ed Through Treatment

Even as she faces treat­ment, Jes­si­ca con­tin­ues to work from home and stay active with her kids. Main­tain­ing a sense of nor­mal­cy, she says, is part of what keeps her grounded.

“You still have to be able to live your life and you can’t let can­cer con­trol your life and just sit at home all day long and think about it,” she said. ​“You have to keep some nor­mal­cy in there so that you can see what you’re fight­ing for.”

That same open­ness car­ries into her fam­i­ly life. ​“I’ve made it a point to be upfront with my kids,” she said. ​“The same goes for fam­i­ly — they’re scared too. Being will­ing to talk, answer ques­tions, and build a vil­lage behind you is one of the best things you can do when first diagnosed.”

Lis­ten­ing to Your Body

Jes­si­ca hopes oth­ers learn from her sto­ry and stay in tune with their bod­ies, speak­ing with health­care providers about screenings.

“Even if you don’t have a fam­i­ly his­to­ry or aren’t 40, get things checked,” she said. ​“Be proac­tive — you know your body best.”

Ready to take charge of your breast health? Sched­ule your screen­ing today.