Sisters LaTonia Teressa Whitehurst and Shamica Dixon have both been diagnosed with breast cancer, and they say their sisterhood and their mother were the reasons they made it through the fight.
Whitehurst, the older sister, received a phone call on Aug. 3, 2016, and learned she had breast cancer. She was officially diagnosed on Aug. 5, just days before her now 16-year-old daughter, Deja, was starting another school year.
“My initial thoughts went to my daughter,” Whitehurst said. “I’m a single parent, and my daughter is 16. When I cried, the only thing I remember saying was, ‘Oh my baby.’ I cried for her.”
Whitehurst was considering weight-loss surgery when her cancer was discovered.
“One of the requirements for the weight-loss surgery, or one of the prerequisites that I had to do, was to have a mammogram,” Whitehurst said. “I put it off, put it off, and put it off. In July (2016), I went in and had a mammogram. They called me back in.”
Whitehurst said her first mammogram was performed in 2010 after her sister was diagnosed with breast cancer. She said her later mammogram was compared to her first, which led the doctors to order more tests.
“We did more mammograms and an ultrasound, and then they asked me if I could come back in. They wanted to do a biopsy,” Whitehurst said.
The results of the biopsy showed that she had cancer.
“My biopsy was the first of August, and my mother and my sister both were here for the biopsy,” Whitehurst said. “My mother just so happened to stay after that. I don’t think I would have handled it as well if my mother had not been here.”
She chose to have a mastectomy and hormone therapy for treatment, which she will be going through for the next five years.
“It could be a lot worse,” Whitehurst said. “I could be hooked up to a machine and receive chemotherapy through a port, but I take it in a pill form.”
Whitehurst said she still plans to have weight-loss and reconstructive surgery.
“That’s how I look at it now. I’m excited for the next phase,” Whitehurst said.
Dixon, Whitehurst’s younger sister, has been diagnosed with breast cancer twice: in 2009 and 2013.
Dixon was first diagnosed with breast cancer in December 2009, after finding a lump in her left breast during a self-examination.
“I was in the shower,” Dixon said. “I had just started seeing a personal trainer, so I was working out. I thought, ‘That doesn’t feel like a muscle.’ I felt on the left side, and I felt on the right side. The one on the left side was a lot larger than the one on the right side, but it was in two different spots.”
On Dec. 15, she had a mammogram, ultrasound and a biopsy performed.
“When I went to have (the tests), the radiologist said he did not like the way the lump looked,” Dixon said. “He wanted me to speak with the surgeon the next day to have it removed even if it came back benign.”
The next day, she received her diagnosis.
“At the time, they didn’t know what kind,” Dixon said. “That took a couple of days before they actually figured out what kind it was. They eventually told me, on Dec. 23, that I had triple-negative bilateral breast cancer. At the time, they thought it was stage 4, according to the old diagnosis (standards). Then, they came back and told me that it was stage 3C.”
Right after the New Year began, she had her port put in and began chemotherapy followed by radiation treatments.
“I did chemo from January until June,” Dixon said. “In June, I had a double mastectomy and partial reconstruction. I then started radiation, which was probably about September 2010.”
In 2011, Dixon underwent Diep flap surgery, where tissue from her stomach was used to replace implants hardened by radiation during her first battle with cancer.
A little over two years passed before Dixon would have to fight cancer again.
Around March 2013, Dixon felt another lump under her left arm while performing a self-examination.
“I went in for a routine visit with my oncologist, and everyone said the same thing: it felt like scar tissue from all the surgeries that I had,” Dixon said. “Then, I went to see my surgeon for follow up, and I expressed my concerns to him. So, he did an ultrasound in the office, and he said, ‘Well, yeah. There’s something there.’”
She had another biopsy performed and learned that cancer was back and in the lymph nodes. She had surgery to remove the cancer, but the surgeon was unable to remove it all, because it had attached to her chest wall.
Once again, she had to undergo chemotherapy and radiation treatments. She said she never stopped working or living a normal life throughout the experience.
Her last radiation treatment was in 2013.
Both sisters were genetically tested when they were first diagnosed with breast cancer. Testing found that Dixon’s cancer was related to her father’s genetic line, while Whitehurst’s cancer has no clear relation to either side of her family.
Both sisters say their mother, Dell Hornsby, was an important part of their fight with breast cancer.
“My mother was here and has been with me through this entire medical journey, as she was with my sister,” Whitehurst said. “She happened to be here when I got the phone call. She came and put her hand on my chest, and she started praying. Immediately, there was this calm that came over me, and I heard a voice that said, ‘You’ve got this.’
“On Aug. 3, actually, was when I got the phone call, and that’s the last day that I’ve shed a tear or had a pity party. I believe it’s because I have that praying mother, and she put on her suit of armor. She was ready. She said, ‘Okay. It’s time to fight.’”
Dixon said her mother was “so strong” during both of her battles with breast cancer.
“I’m pretty sure when she first got the news she cried, but when she was talking to me, she was so strong,” Dixon said. “She never cried. She always said, ‘It’s okay.’ She would hold me, and she would sit up with me at night. She’s been awesome. She’s been the definition of a virtuous woman. She’s just been my everything.”
Hornsby, after Dixon’s 2009 diagnosis, has supported her daughters by wearing something pink throughout October every year.
Each sister also credits the other for providing support during her fight with the disease.
“She’s my go-to person,” Whitehurst said. “For her, I remember her telling me, when she was going through it, talking about it was therapeutic. It is, actually. It is.”
Whitehurst said she thought her sister “had a hard time” when she first told her she had cancer.
“She had a difficult time accepting it, and I think with me having such a positive attitude, I think it helped her,” Whitehurst said. “It’s ironic because it was exactly the other way around when she was diagnosed. I had a bad time.”
Dixon said she was filled with many different emotions when her sister told her she had cancer.
“I was filled with so many emotions when she first told me,” Dixon said. “I was shocked; I was angry, and I was upset.
“Her reaction to it was way different than my reaction to it. She said, ‘I’m okay. I’m good. I had my pity party for about 30 minutes; I cried, but I’m good.’ I guess that’s kind of how I was.”
When Dixon was fighting breast cancer, Whitehurst said she just wanted to fix everything for her sister.
“As a little girl coloring with crayons, she would break a crayon or something, bring it to me and say, ‘Fix it,’ Whitehurst said. “I told her that when she was diagnosed, I’ve always been able to fix it, and I feel helpless because this I can’t fix. So, (I was) just being supportive. We were there for every surgery. We were on speakerphone during doctor’s appointments.”
Dixon said she was happy to see how her family and friends supported her throughout her battles with breast cancer.
“I was just astounded at how many people around me really cared about me,” Dixon said. “It was a battle for everybody.”
For other women dealing with breast cancer, both sisters say having a positive attitude and a great support group is important.
“You have to think positive,” Whitehurst said. “Breast cancer is not a death sentence. This world of technology that we live in is amazing, but I think it will require you to think positive, maybe have a relationship with God and have a support group. You need to have someone that you’re able to talk to.”
“It’s all about your attitude,” Dixon said. “If you have an attitude that you’re going to fight, and you’re going to win, then you’re going to fight, and you’re going to win. If you sit down, and you give up and have a pity party, then it’s going to consume you.
“That’s one thing I was not going to allow to happen. I was going to live my life to the fullest and do what I could do.
“Definitely your attitude (is important) and then your support system. As long as you have a great support system, then you’ll definitely make it.”
Both sisters also say that women should have their annual mammogram and perform self-examinations.
“Do your self-exams,” Whitehurst said. “I never would have found mine this early, but it’s still important to do those self examinations. Cancer’s one of those things that you never think is going to happen to you. I never thought my sister would have been a two-time breast cancer survivor.
“(If there is) anybody that I can tell my story to, that helps bring awareness to this disease, then I’m going to tell my story. My mammogram caught my cancer. My sister discovered hers.”
“Definitely take care of yourself,” Dixon said. “Breast cancer, for one, does not discriminate. Do those self-checks. If you feel like something’s wrong, get it checked out. Watch what you eat and exercise. Take care of your body, and it’ll take care of you.”
Their fight with breast cancer, Whitehurst said, brought both her and her sister closer together.
“We talk everyday,” Whitehurst said. “We don’t know the reason behind God choosing us to put on our suits of armor and fight this, but there is some good that did come out of it. I didn’t think it was possible for us to be any closer than what we were before, but she is my best friend.”
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