OCCUPATION: Semi-retired nursing assistant
DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT: July 7, 2010; chemotherapy, mastectomy and radiation
HER STORY: Jones, 62, discovered a strange-feeling lump in her right breast shortly before the Fourth of July. She had a mammogram as soon as she could after the holiday, and the oncologist confirmed she did have cancer.
“I was not really believing it because I didn’t have a history in my family,” Jones said.
Jones, a widow, waited until after her daughter celebrated her wedding anniversary to tell her family.
Her daughter and other family members went with her to treatment appointments.
Jones finished chemotherapy and had surgery Dec. 1.
“The holidays were exciting. I was just so blessed to be successful in going through it and to be alive,” she said.
HER ADVICE: “Take time to exhale and reflect on yourself,” she said. “Discover yourself again.” Jones found the importance of taking walks, reading and reaching out to others, rather than centering her life on work.
– Compiled by Meg Mirshak and Galan Lewis, staff writers
