Suzanne Leblanc can’t say enough praise about Breast Self-Examination (BSE). After all, she credits it for saving her life.
She was 42 years old when she found a lump in her breast through BSE. A mammogram showed fat tissue but no cancer. But six months later, the lump was bigger, so Suzanne went to her family doctor, who ordered a CT scan and then sent her to a specialist for a biopsy. She waited for eight gruelling days before she received the diagnosis. It was Stage II breast cancer.
She decided to have a lumpectomy initially. But after an extremely painful infection set in, causing fears of inflammatory breast cancer, Suzanne opted for a mastectomy. During that surgery, the surgeon discovered a second cancer that, had it not been found, would surely have metastasized. He told her that her vigilance in performing BSE had caught the cancer in time.
Suzanne went on to endure six chemotherapy treatments that landed her in the hospital four times with severe neutropenia. “I was very sick,” she says.
Next came six weeks of radiation therapy that left burn marks on her chest, followed by 18 treatments with Herceptin.
Suzanne then decided that she didn’t want to go through this experience again, and so she had a second mastectomy, as well as breast reconstruction with tissue expanders and implants.
Her treatments meant that she was away from her job as a nurse for one year. Her family survived on her 15 weeks of Employment Insurance sickness benefits, plus her husband’s salary from a teaching job. “You’re sick and you’re afraid you’re going to die and you have no income. It’s very emotional and stressful,” she says of that time.
During that difficult year, Suzanne’s spirituality and her family gave her hope. She also got support from a local group of breast cancer survivors. They helped her get through treatment and the ensuing fear of recurrence, especially during the first few years.
It’s been seven years since Suzanne was diagnosed. She is back at work as a nurse. She also enjoys her work with the CBCN Board of Directors and sees a lot of positive developments in the breast cancer community. “We’ve come a long way already,” she says. “There is lots of support. There are drugs for metastatic cancer patients, and they’re living longer.”
For the future, Suzanne would like to see the government extend Employment Insurance sickness benefits beyond 15 weeks. As well, she would like to have more education and awareness among young women about BSE and breast cancer prevention, to give them the same benefit as she herself had.