By Andrea Stevens
AFRO Staff Writer
astevens@afro.com
Two breast cancer survivors from very different walks of life are sharing their deeply personal journeys of surviving mastectomies and the long, emotional road toward healing. Their stories highlight the importance of faith, support and self-acceptance for women facing one of the most difficult health battles of their lives.
Clorie Tildon, 84, was first diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer in 2003. A widow living independently, she went into remission but faced a second diagnosis just 18 months later.
“The second diagnosis followed with a mastectomy. That was my choice,” she said. Her decision to undergo a mastectomy came from a place of clarity.
Tildon credits her unwavering faith as the foundation of her strength.
“My faith in God helped me to realize that this is just my time to deal with this problem and to seek the Lord’s help and strength to get me through,” she said.
Her advice to others is simple but powerful.
“You have to be in sync with your body. Your body does give you symptoms many times, you just need to be more aware of what to do in order to zero in on those symptoms,” she said. “I would certainly urge others to walk with faith. The oncologist said to me, being positive about dealing with this illness is the best medicine he could recommend,”
Tildon acknowledges that mastectomies carry emotional weight, especially for women, but she sees the surgery as a necessary step toward health.
“It’s her body, and her understanding has to be clear that that doesn’t make or break her. It’s just something that needed to happen, and it doesn’t diminish her in any way,” she said.
Her trust in her medical team also played a key role in her recovery. She encourages women to seek the best care possible.
“You want the best doctor you can get. Think would your mother use these doctors? You want a doctor who has done it often and does good work,” Tildon said.
According to The National Library of Medicine, after women got mastectomies “the rate of depression, anxiety, and stress were 27.8 percent, 31.5 percent and 24.8 percent, respectively. Most patients (92 percent) experienced body image disturbances, and BC (breast cancer) survivors who completed treatment within 12 months were more likely to have body image disturbances than women who had a long time since completion of treatment.”
Millena Smith, 49, was diagnosed with breast cancer at 41 and underwent eight surgeries on one breast. Then doctors discovered cancer in the other breast. It was then that she decided to move forward with a double mastectomy.
Smith’s journey was marked by emotional turmoil and addiction. She found herself on a self-destructive path. She walked away from her marriage, her children and lived on the streets by choice during her lowest point mentally, although she was in remission physically.
“I couldn’t take the fact that it felt as if they took my womanhood. My breasts made me a woman, and I didn’t handle that loss well and began to self medicate,” she said. “I lost everything during my battle with addiction. But I got past it. I went to treatment, got myself together, and it’s been almost 10 years,” she said.
Her path to self-acceptance was hard-fought.
“For years I felt like I was a phony or a fake because I didn’t have real breasts. But now I throw my shirt on and keep it moving,” she said.
For Smith, healing began with faith.
“Pray, be still and listen. That’s what I took from my journey” she said. “I learned most of the negative thoughts or emotions are just passing feelings. It’s not eternity. I control my emotions, I no longer let them control me.”
Now, she sees her struggle as part of a larger calling.
“I would ask God ‘why did I have to go through all of that just to learn.’ Then I realized there’s a lot of people who didn’t get the opportunity to snap out of addiction. They’re still stuck, because of their trauma or negative thoughts,” she said. “By serving God, I realized advocating is my purpose.”