Tawnya
Stage 1, Canada
Learn Look Locate Ambassador
I married my high school best friend September 8th, 2018. Sometime in January 2020, I asked him randomly to do a breast exam, a question I’d never asked him before.
Instagram: @relentlesslyresilient
Email: tawnyah.14@hotmail.com
We laid in bed while he moved his index and middle finger in circular motions feeling the dense tissues all around my chest and under my armpit. His finger landed on a spot on the top portion of my right breast. It wasn’t tender or sore but we could both feel a small lump just below my skin. It felt similar to a peanut or small marble.
He told me to keep an eye on it and get it checked out if it didn’t go away.
Fast forward to March 2020, my last week of work before the pandemic literally shut everything down. I had an odd instinct while I was at work, I knew I shouldn’t wait anymore I needed to have this lump looked at asap.
The last Thursday before I was laid off. I went to a walk-in clinic and was referred for an ultrasound and a week later a biopsy. A week later I was diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer, I had my genes tested and recently discovered I am BRCA1 positive. If I had not gone to get the lump looked at that day I may very well be sitting here right now waiting for a pandemic to end while my breast cancer grows in my body.
I’ll never forget the nurse that looked me into my eyes and told me “your husband saved your life” – yet if you were to talk to my husband today, he’ll tell you I saved his.