Jacqueline Grant’s ‘journey of experiences’

PRIOR to 2009, Jacqueline Grant lived a normal life. But after she detected a lump during a breast self-examination, what was a simple life soon became one that she had to fight hard to maintain.

Grant, who’s jovial and easy to get along with, told All Woman that after feeling the lump she decided to get it checked out but was deterred by the crowd she saw at a clinic. Later, a private doctor who did an ultrasound told her the lump would go away, but she was not convinced.

“I felt the lump in August 2009 and after the private doctor told me it would go away I felt something was wrong and went back to the clinic in September 2009 for a second opinion. The doctor there felt the lump, sent me to do an ultrasound and a biopsy, which proved it was malignant,” she said.

At the time, Grant, now 42, said she cried profusely and thought she wasn’t going to live. She said when she was told she would have to do a mastectomy by October she questioned everything. But after the doctor explained why it was best, she came to the conclusion that if the breast went and she remained alive, things wouldn’t be so bad.

In addition, Grant went through a period of chemotherapy which she described as a journey of experiences.

“I started chemo in December 2009 and a lot of people complain of being sick, but I just felt droopy and depressed. Food didn’t have taste but I had to eat. I had to change my total diet,” she said.

She said her family, friends and Reach to Recovery gave her the strength to survive.

“There were times when my mom would feel down and she said, ‘You can’t die now, because we don’t have enough money to bury you’, and I remember saying to her, ‘I’m not going to die,” she said.

Now, it’s been six years since Grant has been cancer-free and she said though she sometimes feels like it will return, she remains positive and places her trust in the ultimate healer — God.

“Most of all I stay positive and try to not think negatively,” she said.

She further encouraged women to do their mammograms and breast exams as early detection indeed saves lives.