Giving it My Breast Shot!

Hello everyone my name is Shekita Wilkins and I'm a 36 year old female from Wilmington, NC. I wanted to share my story with you all so..... here it is!

I've always been most comfortable sleeping on my stomach so when my breasts would hurt I was sure that was the cause. Early 2019 the pain in my breast continued but there was also a very hard spot in my lower right breast. It was very large and circular. I was afraid and was worried that it was cancer. It was even scarier because I lost an Aunt to cancer just 2 years prior. I told my Mom and Grandmom that I thought I had breast Cancer and my mom told me to see my Dr. I'm too young to get a mammogram as apart of my annual check up so I had to get a referral from my Doctor. Well, I did just that.

After getting a mammogram...they wanted to do more testing and did a biopsy. On day 3 of waiting for results, my Dr. called me around 9:00am to tell me that the tests came back positive for breast cancer. I broke down and cried. This was definitely NOT what I hoped to hear. What would happen to me? What would happen to my son? Why me?!

I was afraid and because this mass was huge and growing fast my Oncologist knew we

needed to act fast so within a couple of weeks a day before my 36th birthday I started my first chemo treatment. We would do 12 weeks of a very aggressive treatment and then 4 more bi -weekly treatments with two different medicines. In hopes that they could shrink the tumor and then remove it. Thankfully only after 2 treatments, the tumor had shrank almost 60% so we knew that the treatments were working.

I went through a lot of long nights struggling with anxiety, pain, and not knowing how

things would turn out for me but what kept me going was the love of GOD, family, and the nurses where I got treatment. My anxiety was out of control and I would worry them crazy but we'd always get a laugh out of it. We joked about all of them avoiding me after they gave me treatment once...lol they were all very sweet though and I'm thankful for all of them.

As I write this, I have only one chemo treatment left which will be in 2 days. We've scheduled surgery, and then afterwards I will do some radiation treatments. I got an ultrasound last week and the tumor is completely gone. PRAISE GOD!!! So, surgery will be them removing tissue where the mass used to be. I am so thankful.

The advice that I would give to anyone who has this road ahead of them. Stay strong.... even when you feel like you're falling apart. Keep yourself busy so you don't have time to worry. Pray...if you have faith....Let GOD walk with you on this journey because it's a lot to handle alone. I pray for anyone who has gone through or who is going through this. It is not an easy fight but give it your best anyways...even if it means your breast.

Love to all!