This story was originally published Oct. 18, 2017 in The Saline Courier, 140 (291), and can be viewed HERE.
patsy james: 'life goes on and god protects you'
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arly one morning, Patsy James woke to a sharp pain in her left breast. She felt a lump, but her husband Jerry James reassured her that she was OK, and told her to go back to sleep.
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She went to three doctors who all believed it was nothing to worry about.
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Still, she wanted to continue looking into it, so her doctors supported her and recommended other physicians.
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The day before she was to have her first biopsy, James read in a pamphlet that one of the signs of breast cancer is dimpling above the lump.
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“I had gotten out of the shower, and I was standing in the mirror, thinking, ‘If this [lump] is something serious, your physical look is going to change,’” James said. “I looked, and I saw the dimpling. That's the day I knew it was cancer, without anyone telling me.”
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In September 1993, she had a biopsy which revealed what she had feared -- it was breast cancer. She underwent a lumpectomy, and a week later, a mastectomy and six months of chemotherapy.
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Out of everything she was about to endure and had already undergone, James dreaded the radiation the most.
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Troubled about the treatments to come, she crouched on her knees in the hospital bathroom. But she could no longer avoid it, her husband came to the door and said “Patsy, they’ve called you.”
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Four doctors stood around her, along with her husband and her parents. The head doctor told James that they could not explain it, but they did not believe she needed radiation.
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“I knew exactly where that miracle came from,” Patsy said. “I had never felt God answer a prayer, but when you do, you go, ‘Oh, you were there, too.’”
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It took James a long time to accept the position she was in, and she found herself wondering why -- at the age of 39 -- she had to have cancer. One day she told her dad, who had pancreatic cancer, that she had to have cancer so that she could help him.
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“He and I could talk and share,” James said. “I wouldn't give anything for those days I had with him.”
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Because her cancer was fast growing, for more than 18 years she had to regularly undergo CT scans and bone scans. Five years after her treatment had ended, she and her mother dressed in their “nice clothes” as they had started doing for every doctor's appointment where in the past they had received good reports. This time it was different. The doctor found satellites in her right breast. Soon after, she had to have the breast removed.
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Every doctor James saw would tell her that the one pain she felt that morning saved her life. She warns women that they must pay attention to their body, because they know it better than anyone else.
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“I was anxious every time I got those tests back,” James said. “But then the years start to pass, and the next thing you know, they sell you a cancer policy, and you go, ‘Wow, I must really not have cancer.’ You’re just happy. You know God’s not finished with you.”
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She received an outpouring of support throughout the entire process. It came in the form of the teaching staff at Ringgold Elementary School who called a meeting to pray for her when they first heard the news.
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It was her class of fifth graders pushing her to “walk that wall” as a physical therapy exercise. It was her husband, who was always with her, and who brought her a milkshake home every day.
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“I’m just thankful, looking back 24 years,” James said. “Family, friends and those talks with God helped. It’s always nice to hear a voice. Everybody does text and email, but those personal things like letters, and phone calls and visits, that’s what helps somebody pass a day.”
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James wants to show her support for the women who are just now beginning their journey, and remind them that “There will come a time when you won't get up and think about having breast cancer every day. There's a time when you don’t have to dress in the dark anymore, don't have to shower in the dark anymore. Life goes on and God protects you.”