By Victoria Mejicanos
AFRO Staff Writer
vmejicanos@afro.com
Lisa Settles’ life changed forever one July day. The year was 2012 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer following a routine mammogram. At the time she was the only Black female partner at a regional law firm.
More than a decade later, she still remembers how on the day of her diagnosis, she went to a quiet place in her home to journal, and talk to God.
“ I asked him, in that journal entry, to allow me to be a showcase of his glory,” said Settles. “I didn’t know what that meant. I didn’t know how that was going to turn out, but I wanted at some point to be able to say, though I went through this, this is how God allowed me to deal with it.”
According to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, even though Black women and White women get breast cancer at similar rates, death rates are higher for Black women, especially those under 50. Settles was in her mid-40s when she was diagnosed.
After a lumpectomy, chemotherapy became a part of her treatment plan.
For Settles, a key component of coping with diagnosis, was keeping as normal a schedule as possible. This included hair appointments every Saturday. When she was told her hair would fall out within 10 days of her first chemotherapy treatment, it was a shock, and another adjustment she coped through with faith and community.
She also kept a photojournal chronicling the entire experience.
“As much as I could, I tried to smile through the whole thing, and I did,” said Settles. “It was hard, but it was what I needed to get through it mentally.”
Although she was initially private about her diagnosis, family and friends helped her through the changes. She shared that her younger brother is the person who helped her shave her head completely. She also leaned on her mother, who had received a different cancer diagnosis prior to hers. She had close friends accompany her to infusions whenever she felt comfortable.
Her infusions were several hours long with symptoms and side effects like nausea, loss of appetite and general body weakness that she described as “10 times worse than a bad flu.”
Through it all, she prioritized having a plan.
“I would take things that I knew would make me comfortable,” Settles said. “I’d have something to drink, maybe a snack, or something to read.”
Even through the pain, her routine and faith held her steady.
“I kept doing the things that brought me joy,” said Settles. She continued to work as normal a schedule as possible, and kept participating in her church choir.
For Settles, cancer was never a death sentence, and she hopes others facing breast cancer and chemotherapy can carry that same sentiment.
“Nobody can put an expiration date on you,” Settles told the AFRO. “Only God knows your beginning date and your end date.” On surviving cancer she says, “It’s merely a comma in the paragraph of my story.”