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Editor’s note: This is part of a monthlong series on the battle against cancer in Butler County.
As Katrina Hyde lay on a machine for a medical test she prayed:
“God, no matter what comes out of this, good or bad, I love you and I know that you have always been there for me...’’
Days later her doctor called. She told Hyde, a wife and mother of two small children, to bring someone with her to hear the results of a biopsy performed on a breast lump she discovered during a self-exam in July 2007.
Seated with her mother, Hyde learned she had an aggressive form of advanced (Stage III) breast cancer.
“It was pretty devastating ... The first thing you think of is ‘what did I do to deserve this?,’’’ Hyde said.
Nationwide, one in three Americans has a chance of developing an invasive form of cancer in their lifetime. Breast cancer is the most common form in women, affecting 29 percent nationwide.
Scientists point to risk factors such as an inherited predisposition, age (40 and older), race (its more common in white females), radiation exposure and not having had children.
Hyde is a white female and only 34 when she was diagnosed.
At least three family members died of cancer: her grandparents of lung cancer, a great aunt of cervical cancer.
None had breast cancer and recent tests for the breast cancer genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 were negative.
The bilateral cancer in her left breast had yet to spread to her right or lymph nodes, but it was growing quickly.
Doctors advised surgery, chemotherapy and radiation.
“I needed to decide quickly whether to have one or both breasts removed,’’ Hyde said. “... I knew this was going to change my life. I wondered what was next. How do I come back from this? I was having a part of my body cut off. It was like chopping off my right arm.’’
Hyde prayed. Then she sought the advice of a plastic surgeon and learned it would be better to have both breasts removed in case she ever decided to get reconstructive surgery.
On Oct. 31, doctors sliced open her chest from her right underarm to her left and performed a double mastectomy, removing her breasts.
She began chemotherapy a week after Thanksgiving.
A stay-at-home mother, Hyde still got up at 5 a.m. to get her children, then ages 5 and 8, ready for school. She also cleaned the house and prepared meals.
Chemo was rough, she said.
“By the time you start to feel OK and think you can handle it, it’s time for another round,’’ Hyde said.
“You get so tired you can barely lift your head up. It’s frustrating because you know that even if you take a nap that it’s not going away.’’
Radiation treatments began in April. She had five sessions a week for six weeks.
“At that point I just tried to deal with what was happening at the moment. I didn’t have time to think. I just never stopped.’’
Surgery removed most of the cancer and chemo and radiation destroyed the remaining cancer cells.
She’s been cancer free for nearly three years and is praying that it never returns.
Doctors say early detection was key to her survival; Hyde gives more credit to God.
Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2180 or tlatta@coxohio.com.
The Pink Paper
Join the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk on Saturday, Oct. 15 at Fifth Third Field. > Find out how to participate
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