By Joe Southern editor@sealynews.com<\/div>\n
While most people will relate 2020 with COVID-19, Kelly Harrell will remember it for an entirely different disease.<\/p>\n
Harrell, 31, was diagnosed in March with breast cancer.<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring spring break a change in my right breast was really bothering me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She didn\u2019t think it was anything serious enough to see the doctor for, but her husband and mother insisted. So, she called her OB\/GYN.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe saw me the next day and that same day she wanted me to get a mammogram,\u201d Harrell said.<\/p>\n
She said she could tell by the small talk the technician made that something was wrong.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew something was there when the ultrasound tech asked me if cancer runs in my family,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Three days later she had a biopsy and that confirmed two spots in her breast and a third in the lymph nodes under her arm. It was an invasive ductal carcinoma, a kind that can spread rapidly.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was scary at first,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
On April 6 she had her first oncology appointment at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Treatment Center. By April 13 was beginning her first round of chemotherapy treatments \u2013 a 20-week process. She was given Adriamycin, also known as Red Devil medicine. It made her sick and her hair fell out.<\/p>\n
Although the treatment was rough, it worked.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were very pleased that it was shrinking,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
For her second round of chemo, Harrell was given Taxol. They had to stop it a short time later when she developed neuropathy in her feet.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey moved my surgery up to Sept. 4. I had a double mastectomy,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
On Oct. 12 Harrell underwent the knife again.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey took some stomach fat and reconstructed my breasts \u2026 and I got a tummy tuck,\u201d she said by phone while recovering in her room at MD Anderson.<\/p>\n
There are several types of breast cancer and they affect women (and some men) differently.<\/p>\n
Noah Hankins of San Felipe has battled it twice. She was first diagnosed in 2005 while she was working as a teacher\u2019s aide at O\u2019Bryant Intermediate School in Bellville. She had surgery and six months of chemo, all while continuing to work. She had the dreaded Red Devil medication and went bald.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never wore a wig. I didn\u2019t feel comfortable wearing a wig,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Hankins was cancer free for 13 years.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn Good Friday in 2018 I found a lump. I had cancer again, this time in the opposite breast,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
This time she underwent six weeks of radiation treatment.<\/p>\n
\u201cRadiation was very tough on me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She had surgery again. This time they removed the other breast, five lymph nodes, and the implant she had from her first bout with cancer.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey took the implant out because it had an infection in it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
This time she opted not to have new implants or reconstructive surgery.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m cancer free and I\u2019m feeling good,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She isn\u2019t the only one in her family to be a double cancer survivor. Her husband Terry had hairy cell leukemia in 1999 and in 2010 had prostate cancer. He said it was harder helping his wife go through her cancers than his own.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a rough road, very trying at times,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Hankins had her treatment at Houston Methodist West Hospital in Katy. She praised her doctors and everyone who helped her through it.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou just put your faith in the Lord and he helped us through it, made us stronger,\u201d Terry Hankins said.<\/p>\n
Noah Hankins said the toughest part for her was telling their four children about her cancer.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was hard to see my kids,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m supposed to be the strong one.\u201d<\/p>\n
Their children are adults now. The youngest was in college when Noah had her first bout with cancer.<\/p>\n
One of the unfortunate side effects of her treatment was damage in her eye due to the chemo. Unknown to her at the time, she had an eye infection. As a result, she can only see half an image out of one eye.<\/p>\n
The couple, who attend Trinity Lutheran Church, relied on their faith and the prayers and support of family and friends to get them through. Even her doctors prayed with her before surgery.<\/p>\n
\u201cGod doesn\u2019t give it to you, he\u2019s just seeing how you\u2019ll handle it and grow,\u201d Noah Hankins said.<\/p>\n
Faith also played a major role in Kelly Harrell\u2019s recovery.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy children were praying that mommy\u2019s treatments would go well,\u201d Harrell said.<\/p>\n
She said a lot of people were praying for her and offering support to her family. She had help from the school where she works as well as her church, Hope City in Houston.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was an amazing outpouring of love that has blown me away,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Her husband Chase and children Hunter and Hailey have been her biggest supporters. He mother retired a couple months earlier than planned so she could help out at home.<\/p>\n
Harrell is a third grade teacher at Sealy Elementary School and plans to return to the classroom in January. She said she was \u201csuper quarantined\u201d at home during the summer but feels safe returning to the school despite the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will have masks and face shields \u2026 I\u2019m not worried about it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Both Harrell and Hankins are doing what they can to help others. Hankins does breast cancer walks and often talks with women going through treatment. Harrell said she is trying to \u201cpay it forward for other people as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOur emphasis is on the positive,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
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