Sue Johnson

In 2019 the Dr. Noble Irwin Regional Healthcare Foundation hosted a Kick-Off Breakfast for the Close to the Heart Digital Mammogram Campaign. We invited Sue Johnson, a breast cancer survivor to speak on the importance of early detection and to share her journey with us. Sue this to share:

“This is really emotional for me; I realize that it brought back lots of feelings for me. I am just going to have to take a deep breath and share my journey with you. I want to start by saying that I am Sue Johnson, and I am a Cancer survivor. I want to say good morning and I want to thank everyone for being here this morning it’s such an important event. I want to thank Jim Dekowny, and the Dr. Noble Irwin Healthcare Foundation for having us here today. When Jim left a message on my phone, he had mentioned that they were having a fundraiser and organizing an event and they wanted some people to be part of it and have our opinion and he said it might be something that was close to my heart and that it might be something that I was passionate about and if I was interested in helping just to get back to him. It didn’t take me long to phone him back and let him know that this is definitely something that is very close to my heart, something I’m very passionate about. Ever since I had my cancer diagnosis anytime anyone asked me a question, I was willing to answer it and just talk about it, so that’s what I’m here for today.

If you had asked me six years ago if I would be diagnosed with breast cancer, my answer was no. I have no family history, I have no risk factors, I was healthy and I was active. Would I do know is that cancer doesn’t discriminate, it doesn’t matter what type of cancer it is. I do know that the earlier that they can catch cancer, detect cancer in the earlier stages, the better the prognosis, maybe less treatment and the better that you may do in your journey with cancer. I was diagnosed with cancer in the fall of 2014, they found cancer in both of my breasts. In the winter and spring of 2015, I had my surgery, I had both of my breasts removed and I went through four rounds of chemotherapy. I considered myself to be extremely lucky to have only four rounds, I have talked to people that had six; I have talked to people who had both chemo and radiation. I also consider myself to be really lucky in the fact that I had realistically other than the loss of my hair due to alopecia, no side effects or very few side effects from the chemotherapy. I bounced back over the years and I’m back to my life and I enjoy myself every day.

People asked me how did you discover the cancer? How did you find it? Did you find a lump? Were you not feeling well? My answer is simple, when I turned 50, I received that same letter about screening for breast cancer. Mammography wasn’t new to me, I had my first mammography in my early 20’s, I had cystic breast (lumpy breasts). I was lucky for the rest of the time, until about 2009 I never had any issues, then in 2009 I felt a lump being diligent and being a healthcare professional, I went into my physician and she sent me for mammography and at that same time, they did an ultrasound. Anybody that hasn’t been through any kind of screening you’ll learn that everybody is different, it’s very individual, but I had the mammography, and I had the ultrasound done that same day. I sat there looking in my gown, at the walls waiting and they brought me back for the ultrasound and when I saw my physician, she said that they have seen something, “your lump” and they want to watch it. I called it a ‘watch’, so for that whole year they watched it and at the end of the year it was fine, I was given a clean bill of health and I went on about my life.

When that letter came when I was 50, I had no qualms about it, I made my appointment, and I went, and I had the mammography done then I waited, and they called me back for an ultrasound. Right away in my mind I knew that they had seen something, when I went in to see my physician, she’d said that “yes they had”, I pretty much knew they had like I said because of the ultrasound. What she said was that they needed to watch it, so I had that screening and at six months I went back, and when I went back to see my doctor again, she said “They are going to watch you again and if they see something, if what’s there hasn’t changed or resolved by a year, you’ll have to go for a biopsy.” When I went in to make my appointment for the mammography with my physician, she said “You know what we are just going to send you to Regina to have the mammography and do the biopsy there” because it’s like a one-stop shop. Being as positive as I am because I’m a very positive person, I hoped in the truck on my own and I took off and I went and I had the biopsy done, well the mammography and the ultrasound and then they said that you need the biopsy, so I had the biopsy done and I left, and I came back, and I told my husband and we actually ended up going on a trip that year. Three days after my biopsy we went on our trip and three days after we came back from our three-week vacation, I saw my physician and right up to that morning Keith kept saying to me “I’ll come with you for the results if you want” and I said, “No, I’m fine, I’m fine”. That morning he said to me “I’ve booked the morning off so if you want to come, I’ll come” and I said, “you know maybe you should” and thank god he did. When we got there my physician the same always supportive all the time said to me “You have cancer” and it does it gits you like a brick wall and it changes your life. For me, life has been good since then, the toughest part for me I’ve found was sharing it with my family, my kids, my friends, but I did find the more I talked about it the better I felt about it.

What I know for certain is that had I not gone in for that screening at that time, I would not have had that mammography done, and they would not have found that cancer in my one breast. I know for certain in my heart that the cancer, invasive cancer that I had in the other breast, the staging would have been much different if I had more time without being diagnosed, without being screened. I know that this (mammography close to the heart campaign) is extremely close to my heart, I am very passionate about it and I know that early detection is just so important in that staging, treatment, and prognosis of how you can manage and how your journey might be with cancer.

That is my story and I just want to thank you all for being here and thank you for your support. Be diligent, don’t be shy, if you have a lump get it checked out don’t sit on it the sooner that you get in and the sooner you get things checked out the better things may be. Life is good and it continues to be good. With that, I just want to thank you.”

Thank you Sue for sharing your experience.