Surviving Breast Cancer, Embracing Life

The following is an Editorial Resource from YourTotalHealth.

10 Years Later

Heather Jose, 36
Years since diagnosis: 10

In 1998, when she was 26 years old, Heather Jose, a mom with a 14-month-old daughter Sydney, went to see her family doctor for a routine annual checkup. That led to testing and the discovery of a 5-centimeter tumor in her left breast. The cancer had also spread to multiple spots in her bones, including her spine, sternum and ribs. She was diagnosed with Stage IV breast cancer. She didn’t have a single risk factor, including family history.

At first it scared Jose that her daughter was so young. It was even worse when people would say that her daughter wouldn’t remember. Jose caught herself thinking, “If she won’t remember this, she won’t remember me.” The hardest part for Jose was not being able to pick up her daughter, who weighed 20 pounds, after her double mastectomy because of her 10-pound weight restriction. But Jose now considers it “a blessing” that her daughter was so young. “It bothered me more when she realized what was going on. Very early on, she picked up a bottle, said, ‘Mommy, medicine?’”

Jose underwent chemotherapy, a double stem cell transplant, double mastectomy and three rounds of radiation. She currently takes fulvestrant (Faslodex), a bone strengthener (Zometa), and trastuzumab (Herceptin). Jose counts her mom, husband and people in the community for their support while undergoing treatment. Regarding her treatment plan, “I did what felt right to me,” she says. “My mom was a fantastic researcher and knew what was going on. I was not hesitant to make a phone call and ask, ‘Would this work for me?’”

Killing cancer
One of the biggest lifestyle changes Jose made was to take time for herself. During the first year of treatment, she kept a schedule that included exercise, prayer and visualization every morning. She made changes to her diet almost immediately, giving up meat, dairy and sugar and eating whole grains, fruits, vegetables and fish. For Jose, it was important to eat well and keep her body as strong as possible before going into treatment. Even now she says, “Am I eating well? Am I exercising? I still think about what I’ve done for myself. Every day I want to be doing something that kills cancer. It’s not a negative connotation but we all have cancer cells in our body and we want to fight them off and kill them before they multiply.”

Today Jose is the author of a book about her breast cancer journey, Letters to Sydney: Every Day I am Killing Cancer, a contributing writer for Breast Cancer Wellness Magazine, and a motivational speaker who speaks to patients about being actively involved in obtaining wellness and encourages open communication with healthcare providers. She also speaks to healthcare providers about the impact of their actions and words on patients. “Every diagnosis is a person and she has a life,” she says. “It makes a huge difference to have health care providers engaged and treat you in a human way.”

Thankful for each day
Recently she got back the test results for an abnormal cell, which turned out to be noncancerous. While watching and waiting does not come easy to her, she makes the most of every day, including spending time at home in Michigan with her husband, Larry, daughter Sydney and adopted son Ty. “I choose to be thankful most of the time,” she says. Her Web site, “Go Beyond Treatment,” is full of positive words, including her “Thankful Thursday” posts, which list everything she is thankful for each week. “You don’t see the positive all the time. But it does a lot of good to be positive. I can’t change what has happened to me, but I can realize because of what has happened to me, I can appreciate what I have in life. Any healthy day is a good day.”

What's Next: Your Stories: Diagnosis

• Your Stories: Treatment
• Your Stories: After Cancer