Karen's Story
In the late summer of 1999, at the age of 25, I started my career as a Medical Radiation Technologist in the Diagnostic Imaging Department of Kemptville District Hospital (KDH). I had just become engaged and although my fiancé and I were living in separate parts of the province, a plan had come together to eventually make Kemptville home. Everything seemed to be falling into place nicely. But that was all about to change. After a chance reading of an article on a plane about a young woman from Cornwall with breast cancer, I found a lump in my breast with characteristic malignant skin changes. Shortly after that I saw a doctor in Kemptville during my first week of work at KDH.
After an ultrasound-guided needle biopsy gave us the bad news, I underwent surgeries, chemotherapy and tamoxifen therapy over the next three years. Luckily the cancer hadn’t spread. Tamoxifen can put you into menopause, which at the age of 25 was unthinkable. Again, we were lucky: that didn’t happen.
A dozen years later I still live in Kemptville and things did turn out the way we wanted after all. The cancer diagnosis was just one of life’s little detours. Chris and I got married less than a year after my diagnosis and my hair grew back just in time for the wedding. I still have my job in Kemptville and I am so lucky to now have two great kids and a supportive husband.
I am grateful to all the staff at the various places I have gained experience and to my friends and family who have gone through this with me. I would also like to thank the many great people I met working with cancer patients and finding new treatments. And thanks to all of you who have fundraised and walked and shaved your heads and stayed up all night! I am so lucky to have all of you!
For me, I am fortunate to be able to give back by working in breast cancer screening, doing mammograms at Kemptville District Hospital. If you are considering donating money to breast cancer, please consider donating to the Kemptville District Hospital MamCam campaign. Breast cancer will always be around in our lifetime, but detecting it early before it has a chance to spread, like I did, can make it just a detour on your journey.
If you need a mammogram, call your doctor today and get a referral. Even if you think you are too young, do a breast exam, and see your doctor if you find a lump. I did and as a result I am here today, and so are my children, to share my story with you.
Karen Finner