SILVER SPRING, Md. -- Sheila Marshall was on a family vacation in 2015. Marshall, who routinely performs self-breast exams on herself, was care free.
In fact, just a month before her vacation she had a mammogram that came back clear.
On her vacation, just as she would on any other night, she performed a self-breast exam, expecting to continue her vacation the next day worry-free. But this time she found something. She had a bad feeling about it right away. When she got back from her vacation, she had it checked right away.
“At that point I’m 99.9 percent sure I have breast cancer,” said Marshall.
A week later, the doctor confirmed her worst fear. She was at work when she heard the news: It was breast cancer.
She immediately went to her car. Her mind was racing and she didn't know what to do. She knew telling her husband David Marshall and daughter Brittany would be the hardest part.
“Losing her would be like losing a piece of me. It was just sadness when I heard, complete sadness,” said Brittany.
Marshall started an aggressive treatment to attempt to get rid of the cancer. She went through a lumpectomy, chemotherapy and radiation.
During her chemotherapy, her hair fell out, and most days she was too weak to even walk down the stairs herself.
Her treatment combined was successful. Today she is a survivor of breast cancer who believes it is important to share her story with others.
“It is extremely important for everyone to do a self-breast exam. It saved my life,” she said.
If it were not for her self-breast exam, Marshall said there really is no telling how far along her cancer would have been before doctors caught it.
Marshall documented through the entire process. Her friend, a school teacher, recommended she find a therapeutic way to deal with the wave of emotions that come with cancer. She decided to keep a journal. In that journal, she wrote about that awful day she was diagnosed.
She wrote down her emotions after her first treatment. The journal holds everything from her fears to her favorite foods she liked to eat while going through treatment. The memories during the toughest time in her life, now only live on in the pages of her journal.
