‘Breast cancer saved my life’

IT has been 15 years since 50-year-old aesthetician and barber Sandra Samuels, founder and CEO of Totally Male, got the shocking news that she had breast cancer.

However, while acknowledging the devastation of her diagnosis, the breast cancer survivor said being diagnosed with the disease actually saved her life.

“I tell people all the time that breast cancer literally saved my life, because it helped me to slow down somewhat; it helped me to take stock of my life, it helped me to live my life to the fullest,” Samuels shared while speaking at the launch for the Consolidated Bakeries Limited’s Support Life, Fight Breast Cancer campaign, which will see part proceeds of the sale of its Purity Hearty Goodness 100% Whole Wheat Bread being donated to the Jamaica Cancer Society in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. “There is not one day that I would consider wasted.”

She told the audience that life is about balance, and it was after being diagnosed with breast cancer that she really accepted this.

“It is about being a proactive person, putting you first, making sure that you are sharing your life with your family, keeping healthy, eating right… everything in moderation,” Samuels continued.

She recounted that she first felt a lump in her breast in 1999, but the result of a mammogram came back negative. Samuels shared that it was because she knew her body that she was concerned that something was different.

“When I was diagnosed in 1999, I found the lump pretty much myself because I had removed a lump from my breast in 1991, it was benign. Once I found the lump I went to the doctor, I did a mammogram, which came back negative, but because I was one of those persons who continuously did my self-examination, I was absolutely certain that there was a change in my breast,” shared Samuels.

She explained that the mass was in her chest wall, which was confirmed by an ultrasound. This was followed by a needle biopsy that arrived at the diagnosis of cancer. Samuels shared that she went in fighting.

“Since I had a chance at survival, I decided to take it on with everything I had in my body,” said Samuels. “I went and I did my surgery, I removed my left breast, which is where the lump was, and I did chemotherapy, (and) I did radiotherapy.”

Before being diagnosed with breast cancer, Samuels told the Jamaica Observer that she was a workaholic. But since being diagnosed, she has decided to always achieve that work-life balance, with her happiness being central to it all.

“What breast cancer showed me was that life is really about balance, it has to be about work and play, family comes first… love yourself, spend time with yourself, do things that make you happy,” she told the Sunday Observer. “It is all about keeping yourself happy, keeping your body healthy, keeping your immune system in (good shape).

“Keep yourself healthy, maintain a positive attitude, I took up meditation, which I found to be extremely helpful,” said Samuels.

Today, she does marathons and 5K races as well as daily workouts in the gym. She admitted that she only recently changed her diet, which is largely due to the fact that she has high cholesterol and hypertension, but she is now more focused on herself.

Samuels wants to encourage people to do regular self-examinations and to get to know their bodies.

“Life does not end [with a cancer diagnosis], I think it begins when you realise that your life is very precious,” Samuels insisted. “I am living a full life.”