{"id":12233,"date":"2019-09-13T18:42:33","date_gmt":"2019-09-13T18:42:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cmshub.wpengine.com\/?p=275425"},"modified":"2024-11-03T15:17:08","modified_gmt":"2024-11-03T15:17:08","slug":"mom-fights-second-round-of-breast-cancer-weeks-later-her-daughter-gets-aggressive-diagnosis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/mom-fights-second-round-of-breast-cancer-weeks-later-her-daughter-gets-aggressive-diagnosis\/","title":{"rendered":"Mom Fights Second Round Of Breast Cancer \u2014 Weeks Later, Her Daughter Gets Aggressive Diagnosis"},"content":{"rendered":"

A mom and daughter initially fought breast cancer side-by-side after being diagnosed only weeks apart. Then the daughter\u2019s cancer kept growing.<\/span>Heather Colson had already fought breast cancer in her lifetime. But after ten years of being cancer-free, a routine mammogram in her 60\u2019s found that the cancer had returned.<\/span>\u201cListening to that second diagnosis of my mum\u2019s \u2013 it hit me too this could be my fate,\u201d Debit told The Mirror<\/a>. \u201cI was 32 at the time and had thoughts of sitting in the same chair in my 50s maybe \u2013 being given the same shocking news.<\/span>\u201cI had no idea that moment was just a few weeks away.\u201d<\/span>\"\"<\/span>Photo: Facebook\/Heather Colson<\/a><\/span>
\n<\/span>Only 10 weeks later, Debi felt a golf-ball-sized lump<\/a> in her breast while showering.<\/span>She kept the news to herself for a few days, not wanting to worry her mom, who was currently going through radiation. But Debi was wracked with worry, so she finally went to her GP, and soon the young mom of three got a breast cancer diagnosis of her own.<\/span>The cancer was aggressive: Debi had grade 3<\/a> triple-negative breast cancer.<\/span>\"\"<\/span>Photo: Facebook\/Debi Griffin<\/a><\/span>
\n<\/span>\u201cIt all became a bit of a blur when they told me it was cancer,\u201d she told the Lancashire Post<\/a>. \u201cI just went into shock and my husband Brett listened to all the details.<\/span>\u201cThe worst thing was the day before I got the news we\u2019d lost my grandmother to cancer, so it was such a chain reaction of bad news.\u201d<\/span>\"\"<\/span>Photo: Facebook\/Brett Griffin<\/a><\/span>She told her mom about her diagnosis, and her reaction was just what Debi needed.<\/span>\u201cMum was obviously shocked, but she instantly flung her arms around me, gave me a huge squeeze and said, \u2018Debi \u2013 we will win,’\u201d Debi said<\/a>. \u201cShe was calm and in that moment and I thought to myself, \u2018Yes, I will fight this, and I will win \u2013 we\u2019ll both win.’\u201d<\/span>
\n<\/span>\"\"<\/span>Photo: Cancer Research UK<\/a><\/span>Heather fought back the disease successfully for a second time, and was declared cancer-free just a few short months after her second diagnosis.<\/span>Debi had a longer journey ahead, however.<\/span>First she underwent chemotherapy, in the hopes that it would shrink the tumor and she could get a lumpectomy. Chemo was incredibly hard on the young mom. Still, only a week after she began treatment, Debi began classes toward a degree in Children and Young People Services at Preston College. She wasn\u2019t going to let cancer get in the way of her goals.<\/span>
\n<\/span>\"\"<\/span>Photo: Cancer Research UK<\/span>Then Debi\u2019s chemo regimen became more aggressive. She went from a session every three weeks to a session every week, with a double dose every third week.<\/span>She was exhausted, nauseous, and battled fierce headaches.<\/span>\u201cI remember leaving hospital after one double dose session and saying to my friend, \u2018I think I\u2019m ready to die now,’\u201d Debi said.<\/span>\"\"<\/span>Photo: Facebook\/Brett Griffin<\/span>
\n<\/span>Her mom was there to lift her spirits and help her through those draining times.<\/span>\u201cWhile the chemo and its effects were crippling me, mum and I found times to laugh and spent lots of quality time together,\u201d Debi said<\/a>. \u201cWe\u2019d giggle through our experiences about the small things \u2013 like when mum turned to me one day and said, \u2018come on, let\u2019s go out and buy you a new hat for that bald head.’\u201d<\/span>\"\"<\/span>Photo: Facebook\/Debi Griffin<\/span>\u201cShe stopped me spending all day on the sofa in my dressing gown and helped me know what was coming in the next stage of my battle,\u201d Debi said.<\/span>Despite the chemo treatments, the cancer remained aggressive. After several sessions, Debi was told the tumor had actually grown<\/a> in size and that she had to get a double mastectomy instead of the planned lumpectomy.<\/span>Debi had the mastectomy, and then went on to have 15 rounds of radiation. As the chemo drugs left her body, her hair began to grow back, and eventually Debi got a clear scan \u2014 she was cancer-free.<\/span>
\n<\/span>\"\"<\/span>Photo: Facebook\/Debi Griffin<\/span>\u201cI felt so strong and now both me and mum have a new definition of \u2018normal,’\u201d Debi said<\/a>.<\/span>\u201cBattling the disease alongside mum was both horrible and wonderful at the same time,\u201d Debi said<\/a>. \u201cThe worry for one another was awful, but we were there to hold each other\u2019s hand. Her strength helped me stay level-headed and witnessing mum fight cancer not once, but twice, helped me think \u2013 \u2018I have to do exactly the same.’\u201d<\/span>Source<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A mom and daughter initially fought breast cancer side-by-side after being diagnosed only weeks apart. Then the daughter\u2019s cancer kept growing.Heather Colson had already fought breast cancer in her lifetime. But after ten years of being cancer-free, a routine mammogram in her 60\u2019s found that the cancer had returned.\u201cListening to that second diagnosis of my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12234,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5137],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12233"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12233\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44436,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12233\/revisions\/44436"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}