Testimonial: Christina Pearson, Breast Cancer Survivor

Read this member story about Christina, who was strong enough to beat breast cancer with an active lifestyle and a disciplined diet.

I looked in the mirror as I did every day, March the 7, 2008; except this day was a day that would dramaticaly change my life and the lives around me forever. On my left breast there was a small nodule right below the surface of my skin, it had not been there the night before. In ran my fingers over it beginning to panic trying to identify this foriegn growth that had mysteriously appeared.

I reassured myself that thirty your old athletic women who kept a healthy diet and exercise regiment were not at high risk for breast cancer and that it was probably just a cyst. With new found confidence, I made the necessary appointments to follow up. I continued to repeat the words “you are too young, you are too healthy, you are too active” as if the words themselves, if said enough times, would protect me from the diagnosis that I feared. The words and prayers were not enough. I did, in fact, have breast cancer.

I was diagnosed with aggressive invasive breast cancer at age thirty and I realized that I had been entered in a fight that had been won and lost by many and that my own outcome would depend on God and myself. There was multiple steps to recovery surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. Due to the fact that I was only thirty, they chose the most aggressive of each of these to increase my odds of survival. The treatments no longer terrified me – only the possibility that there was a chance that everything they would do might not be enough. I was a Christian and a competitive gymnastics coach. I had been a high level competitive gymnast. So I did what I knew to do: I trained, and I prayed.

I sailed through my first proceedure, a lumpectemy, and prepared for the upcomming chemotherapy by eating. I ate all the fruits and vegetables that I could swallow, and I blended fruits and vegetables, drinking when I wasnt’t hungry. I continued to work out, but I lowered my intensity. I increased my protein intake with fish and chicken and kept a dedicated sleep schedule. I continued to work, because it was a healthy outlet for me and became a way for me to remain grounded. Gymnastics has always been a huge part of my life and continuing seemed necessary for me to keep amintain my identity. My status as a coach reminded me I was more than just a patient, and my athletes became my biggest fan club outside of my family.

My first chemotherapy treatment was the scariest, because I didn’t know how I woud react. They had given me prescriptions for anti-diarrhea, anti-nausea, pain relief, anti-anxiety, sleep aids and steroids, so I expected the worst. The hours crept by, as I watched the bags of poison empty into my arm. We left, and we returned home and I am blessed to say the only adverse effect I had was feeling tired followed by my hair falling out in devestating clumps.

It was more painful to watch my hair fall out, little by little, so I had my head shaved before my next scheduled chemotherapy treatment. My eye lashes and eye brows fell out after my second treatment, and I was amazed that I look so much worse than I felt. I kept on going to the gym to work out. I kept on going to work and I kept on eating. My doctors marveled at how well I was able to endure chemotherapy. I completed four treatments, and was able to return many dosages of unused medications for nausea, diarehea, pain, sleep, and anxiety.

I prepared myself for radiation, and it was explained to me that I would go everyday for six weeks – the levels of radiation I would receive would result in burns, and damage to my heart and lung tissues. They also said that as a side effect I would be exhausted and have flu like symptoms. After six weeks my skin was itchy and irritated, but I had managed to avoid the burns and blisters that they had warned of.

After completing my treatments I had a double mastectemy because there was a high chance that my cancer would return, due to the aggressive nature and type of cancer that I had. The surgeries proved to be more difficult than the chemotherapy and the radiation combined, because first you have the demolition, then you have the reconstruction which was complicated by small stature. I had surgery every three months for 16 months from the mastectemy to the final reconstruction. I relied heavily on the skill of my plastic surgeon, my body’s overall ability to heal and God. I am happy to say all of the players involved were on their A game.

On November 30, I will celebrate my 34th Birthday with my husband and my best friend, and I have had an amazing year. My husband and I renewd our vows in August, and I got to have the Big Wedding that we skipped the first time around. My best friend KT was my Maid of Honor. I got to see Paul MCCartney live in concert. I have finsihed my prerequisites and applied to Nursing School. Also, we are closing on our first house Dec 1. It has been a good year, and I have to say that until there is a cure I will always have a fight, and so will everyone else who has ever had to live with or love anyone with Breast Cancer. My life has been forever changed, and I realize how blessed I have been. I am so thankfull to God to give me a second chance and I pray that I make a difference with my life.