Mai-Lynn Williams

A few weeks ago I was diagnosed with breast cancer. At the age of 45 I thought this couldn’t be real but it was. 80-90% of lumps discovered in women’s breast are just lumps. I thought I wouldn’t fall in the 10-20% and was blindsided when they said you have breast cancer. OMG what was I going to do? I’m a single mother of two wonderful young ladies; how was I going to explain this to them without losing my sh*t in front of them? How can I answer their questions when I have so many myself? I was left with just tell them. So I had dinner with my sister and afterwards we all sat in the living room and we explained what we knew to the kids. Since my sister just went through this last year, she was able to answer many of their questions. I am so grateful for that.

I had my port put in the following week and was already to start Chemo but was still waiting on a second opinion. Well that came on a Friday and chemo was scheduled to start on Monday. To my surprise the diagnosis was different. I still had breast cancer but the treatment plan was different. WHAT??? I had to cancel my first Chemo appointment until I got my third opinion. As I met with the third oncologist, he was very straight forward. He said both opinions where correct but it came down to what I wanted. He asked me what I wanted; to save as much of my own breast tissue as possible. It was clear from there which treatment route I would take.

I have my first round of chemo to go through but I decided at the beginning of my journey that I would not let myself be a victim of my circumstance but to be a women warrior. I know I will have good days and hard days but I will persevere through this. Each day is a new day with renewed hope. I’m not going through this alone as I have my village, family, and friends by my side.

Your generous gift will help with covering medical costs including copays and prescriptions not covered by insurance. All donations of any size are much appreciated, thank you.