The Piece of Paper That Saved Her Life

Dorothy: [00:00:00] Today you’re gonna hear from Marisol Guerrero, and you’re gonna learn her story about how a single piece of paper from miles away saved her life. Your contribution can help us continue to bring hope, support, and resources to those in need. Your contribution can help us help another woman, just like Marisol.

Let’s Talk About Your Breast, a different kind of podcast presented to you by the Rose, Breast Center of Excellence and a Texas treasure. You’re going to hear frank discussions about tough topics, and you’re going to learn why knowing about your breast could save your life. Join us as we hear another story, and we answer those tough questions that you may have.[00:01:00]

Let’s go back now to when you were, what, 24 years old?

Marisol: My story started when I was 19 years old.

Dorothy: Oh, okay.

Marisol: I had, I guess, like an annual exam. And my doctor, you know, they do the, the, they check your breasts, and they found multiple lumps on the sides. So when I was 19, I had my first surgery, um, bilateral lumpectomies, but they were, they were all Fibroadenoma. As far as I know, there was like nine on one side, seven on one side.

Dorothy: Oh my gosh, your breasts were certainly creating a lot of extra things in there. Yes.

Marisol: Yes, since I was young. So that was my first surgery and after that, that’s when I started doing my monthly self exams.

So, I guess the next time I found anything was January 2005. And I noticed a little tiny, like BB sized lump in my breast. And I knew, because I, I knew my breasts, you have to know your breasts, Um, I knew that it wasn’t there before. [00:02:00]

Dorothy: So you’ve just touched upon something that is so important for our listeners to hear.

You really do have to do your self breast exam. You can’t wait for a doctor to find it. You can’t wait for a machine to find it or a mammogram. If you know your breast, you’re going to know it so much earlier than anyone else. And, and did they teach you how to do this? Did you, or did you learn to do your self exam on your own?

Marisol: Um, I think it’s just one of those things you kind of learn a little bit in P. E. class in high school. And then you, I guess, well, because I had a breast surgeon at age 19, I’m sure they told me what to do.

Dorothy: Age 19. All right, now fast forward, you found this little bead.

Marisol: So it was, um, 2005, I was 24 years old.

Um, I, like I said, I knew my breast. So I knew that little BB, which scared the heck out of me, didn’t belong there. I knew it wasn’t there the month before and it was so tiny. I could have easily just said, Oh, it’s nothing. But I told my [00:03:00] mom about it and we kind of waited a couple months, like through menstrual cycles to see if it was going to change.

And I believe it was March before we saw our doctor, um, in Warren, Texas. And he said, Oh, well, I think it’s, you know, it may be a little something or other. Let’s watch it for a couple more months. So by then it was like April, the end of April. And we saw him and it had grown tremendously. So it went from this little baby size to the size of a lemon, um, which was, I think it was 5.5 centimeters across by the time we took it out. And for our

Dorothy: listeners, that is pretty big.

Marisol: It’s pretty large and scary because it grew so fast. It could have easily taken over my breast. Yeah, so in, I had it excised in June of that year and after the surgery, that’s when I got my, um, diagnosis of Cystosarcoma Phyllodes, which is a rare, rare, rare, fast growing breast tumor.

They cut into it and some parts were [00:04:00] benign, some parts were acting malignant, so they called it borderline because not the whole thing was malignant.

Dorothy: And that happens so often with this particular type of, of tumor. Here you were, a young girl who’s already knows that her breasts are subject to creating these little places, but you knew something was different about that one.

And so then what was your next step?

Marisol: Well, I guess I have to fast back, go backwards a little bit. So when we got the preliminary diagnosis, I guess it was April of that year, the doctor said, look, you need surgery to take this out. We’ll schedule you for June. So he, he told me that day, my parents were there in the, in the doctor’s office with me.

And it was a scary day. I was young, 24. I was a single mom at the time. My son was like 3. 5 and he said, Look, you’re gonna have to have the surgery. It’s growing way too fast. It can overtake your breast easily. We don’t know how it’s going to act. So [00:05:00] let’s take it out. And he said the surgery was about $20,000.

And I remember looking at my parents and, you know, my parents have worked their entire lives for the very little that we have. We never went on vacations, never went on to Disney cruise or anything like that. So they worked very hard, very, very hard working people. And so whatever they had in their bank accounts, I didn’t want to take that for myself for, for surgery for one day.

I didn’t want to. So I didn’t want to be a burden on them. So I was very sad to hear that the surgery was $20,000. And I remember the doctor, I remember like, gosh, like it was yesterday. I looked at my parents and they look sad. I felt sad. I felt their sadness inside. And I looked at the doctor and he said, look, we have this piece of paper and it’s from The Rose and all you have to do is fill it out.

And, um, let’s see if you qualify. They can, they can offer a grant for your surgery. They do things like this. They [00:06:00] offer, you know, grants for women with no insurance who otherwise can’t pay for surgery. So fill this out. He literally gave me that piece of paper. And let me tell you the miracle that was. So the Rose here in Houston is probably 45 minutes from my house.

And then you drive another 45 minutes South to Wharton. That’s an hour and a half away. How did that piece of paper get into his hands? I have no idea. That, that to me is a miracle. That a doctor that isn’t primarily associated with The Rose, knew of The Rose, had that piece of paper, and that was the beginning of Just a big miracle.

Dorothy: Because this is 18 years ago.

Marisol: Yes, almost 18 years ago.

Dorothy: 18 years survivor now. That is, that’s something to celebrate. But 18 years ago, we were very small. We had our programs, but we certainly weren’t that known. And, uh, yeah. I always liked that part of the story, that he actually had it. And he handed it to you.[00:07:00]

Marisol: But now when I tell this story, I always say that you, it feels like you handed that, that, that piece of paper to me. Yeah. And it’s funny because I didn’t actually meet you until maybe Eight, ten years later, after that. Mm hmm. So I finally got to put a, a face to that piece of paper.

Dorothy: Back at that time, I was doing a lot of, I did some of the, of the patient intake, because I did some of everything, you know, but, uh, I didn’t always get to have a chance to really know our sponsored ladies.

Still don’t. And when I get to meet someone. Who’s benefited from one of our programs. It’s like, it’s like a affirmation. It’s like God says you’ve gotta keep doing this. This is important. And I’m always amazed at how breast cancer can interrupt a life that is on a certain course. So you are in college?

Marisol: Mm-Hmm. . Um, in 2004 I was in college. I actually, I was in grad school.

Dorothy: Mm.

Marisol: The years are blurred.

Dorothy: [00:08:00] Blurred, right.

Marisol: Yeah.

Dorothy: Right.

So you were going to some pretty impressive colleges, Baylor, and then you transferred into, uh, St. Thomas. So I’m reading all this stuff about you and going, Oh my gosh, this woman has some of the best education around.

And yet here you were at 24 and all of that could have stopped.

Marisol: Definitely. I’m a lifelong learner. And even then, after this all happened. Um, I put my, I put a lot of time and research into this diagnosis and back then there was really nothing and still, I mean, I say back then, still there’s not a lot of research on Cystosarcoma Phyllodes or phyllodes tumor.

Dorothy: Cause it’s really only 1 percent of all the cancers that are breast cancers that are found. There’s a lot of different kinds of breast cancers. You know, we talk about that sometimes there’s 17 different types. But yours was really one of the [00:09:00] rare, one of the very, very few. And it seems to happen in younger women who are often told they’re too young for a mammogram, but they’re not too young for breast cancer. So you filled out your paper and then what happened?

Marisol: So I filled it out. I gave it to the nurse that day and that was in May. So a couple of weeks later we had the surgery and I actually got, I don’t remember if it was a phone call, I believe it was a phone call rather than a letter, but the Rose offered a grant of I believe it was $19,000 and all I had to pay out of pocket was $1,000 which is something I could afford as a single mom.

So that was.

Dorothy: But that was a lot of money back then. Anyway. You go.

Marisol: Yeah, a lot. I was very blessed. Otherwise I couldn’t get that surgery. I wasn’t going to ask my parents.

Dorothy: Like you said, hardworking, invested a lot. So what would you say to that 24-year-old today? I mean, you had to be upset, you had to be a little afraid.

Marisol: I [00:10:00] was definitely scared. I didn’t know what it meant. I didn’t know. What it meant for me or my body, knowing that I had the history of other lumps, I was like, Oh, it can’t be anything. It’s not going to be anything. And yeah, the, the. The way that it grew so fast scared the heck out of me.

Dorothy: Oh yeah.

Marisol: It did.

Dorothy: And that’s an important point too, Marisol, because people say, oh, I’ve had this before, or it’s just another Fibroadenoma, or it’s just a cyst, or whatever, but you knew your breast and your body well enough to know this wasn’t quite right, and then it started to grow.

Marisol: So that in itself is scary.

Dorothy: Were you worried that you wouldn’t be around after this surgery? Were you…

Marisol: Well, I, I was worried once I heard the word cancer, like it could be cancer. It was borderline. It could be malignant, things like that. You, you tend to think, Oh gosh, what’s going to happen to my son?

What’s going to happen to my parents? I was in school [00:11:00] to do better for all of us to help them. So yeah, I was scared. I didn’t know what was going to happen, but you kind of just have to take things, you know, go with the flow. And I’ve always been that kind of girl, go with the flow, see what happens. and pray for a miracle.

Yeah.

Dorothy: So you did have your family support. They were with you through this whole thing.

Marisol: I did. I remember and actually I had my future husband with me at that time, the surgery.

Dorothy: He know about your diagnosis?

Marisol: He did. We were dating.

Dorothy: Oh.

Marisol: Let me see. October. We were probably dating six months when I got the diagnosis.

So he was there. He’s still there. He’s, he’s always been by my side. He was there with my at my surgery. He’s the best. He takes such good care of me. Um, and, and all the kids. Now we have kids.

Dorothy: And how many?

Marisol: We have four kids.

Dorothy: Yes, yes. The one thing that I think young women sometimes hear is this isn’t a woman’s disease.

Or this is just your body changing. And I, I [00:12:00] think it was very interesting you went through two periods. Then you knew that you had to go and get it checked. So, you know, you were very proactive and now, I mean, now you’re an old hand at knowing these kind of things. But back then, 24 years old, you couldn’t have known.

Very much about that.

Marisol: No, not at all. Everything I learned was kind of being thrown at me. You know, I had to learn a little bit about every part of it. And, you know, being a young mom, I was, I was so busy at that time. I was in college, working, being a young mom, and also dating, trying to date. Oh my gosh, that’s all just way too much.

It takes, it takes too much time. And then on top of that, doing the research of this rare tumor. Which, it was so frustrating back then, because I couldn’t find anything.

Dorothy: There was almost nothing out about it then, yes. And that’s, That is something that we are so grateful for now. There’s so much on the internet, [00:13:00] but now you have to be very careful about what you’re reading on the internet and get it verified.

Marisol: Right.

Dorothy: But still, there’s a lot more information out there, probably because, and I know, primarily because women are talking about it. So, a lot of people are a little concerned about taking help or receiving help. and especially at these kind of critical times. You’re such a self made person and self reliant. So what was that like?

Marisol: You know, that was so long ago. I, I do remember I didn’t feel bad about, about taking the help. I knew I had to. It was like my only choice, really. But ever since the Rose covered that, most of the surgery, I’ve always been so, so, uh, I feel blessed. I feel grateful. And that’s why I come back years later and I want to help the roses as much as I can.

Um, I love, I love everything about The Rose and the [00:14:00] fact that they’re still helping women that are uninsured, that don’t have money. To get the best breast care ever is truly amazing. And I feel like I was one of those, you know, a long time ago, one of those women. Yeah.

Dorothy: Yeah. Yeah. And of course you’ve supported us, our Shrimp Boil.

You’ve been there, I don’t know how many years now. I love the Shrimp Boil. Helping us. And in case folks don’t know this, our Shrimp Boil usually happens in June and it is our largest, uh, fundraiser. And it’s kind of like going to a big family reunion with 800 people. Folks just know each other and it’s a very reasonable price.

I believe 30 to for a great shrimp dinner, but most of all, it’s a way to be a part of the Rose community and to hear other stories to just have fun lay back. So we do appreciate all of the help that you’ve given us that way and appreciate it. I, I really can’t stress enough about this being an ambassador.

When we [00:15:00] have people who are still, look how, I mean you’re still young, talking about breast cancer and it happened to you so many years ago, that, that says something very definite to the younger woman. We can’t say, we can talk all day long about it. Words don’t educate. When we see you. That’s when we know, hey, something good happened here and something can happen when you’re that young.

So now, since then, what has What’s happened in your, in your life with your breast?

Marisol: Every time I have a new lump, I have to have it excised. Um, the last one was, um, what is it called? A partial mastectomy in 2001. I had another Cystosarcoma Phyllodes diagnosed by Dr. Dixie Melillo. And we had watched it, it grew, but grew slowly over like a year and a half.

And I told her, like, I’m tired of surgeries. I’m tired of mammograms. I, I have them twice a year. It’s, it’s a lot. You get [00:16:00] frustrated eventually.

Dorothy: Oh yeah. Yeah.

Marisol: But Dr. Melillo was amazing and she said, look, we’ll watch it. She, she listens to her patients. She listened to me and she knew that I was tired. So we waited instead of seeing the, the growing lump and taking it out, we waited a whole year and a half and it did grow over that time.

It was very small, um, but it still grew and so she’s like, okay, let’s go ahead and take it out. And this was, um, I think July 2001. Had that taken out, but besides that I’ve had probably five surgeries now.

Dorothy: And are you scared every time you find one of these?

Marisol: I’m actually not. Like you said, I’m an old hand at this.

I, I’m like, Oh, great. Another one. Let’s take it out. Call the doctor, call the surgeon. Let’s take it out. I’m so ready now. And so with that, I tell my husband, I’m like, well, one of these days I’m not going to have these. I’m going to have a, I’m going to have to have a, you know, mastectomy or something. So, I’m preparing him, preparing myself, just in case I do get another one because, you know, I, I [00:17:00] still do a lot of research on the phyllodes tumor.

And now, a little bit of the research has changed. It says if you get a recurrence, you have to have radiation. That scares me. I don’t want to have to have radiation. Just take it out. Take my breasts. I don’t care.

Dorothy: So, what’s the one thing you wish didn’t happen as an after effect of your surgeries?

Marisol: The one thing that I hate that happened after Being cut up so many times, I can’t tell you how many scars I have, is not being able to breastfeed my kids.

Yeah, that was the worst, and forgive me, I’m going to get very emotional.

Dorothy: That’s okay.

Marisol: So with my son, I gave birth to him before my first, before the Cystosarcoma Phyllodes. I had milk galore. And then, I had surgeries, my daughters were born, I have three of them, more surgeries, and then my last daughter was born.

And so, all this time, I didn’t know how it was going to affect me. And so when she was born, my goodness, I remember she was about a week old and I [00:18:00] could not breastfeed. And I told my husband, like the whole month or two before, I’m going to breastfeed. I’m going to breastfeed. That’s my goal. That’s, that’s like the first thing that God gives you as a mother.

That’s your job. Feed your children. And I remember she was a week old and she was crying and I was I was trying to breastfeed, I was pumping at the same time, and there was very little coming out, very little. And, she was crying, and we were both very frustrated. And I remember, my parents, um, They came over to the house.

You know, they don’t call before. They just kind of show up. You have a newborn. They’re just going to show up and I made myself stuck in my bedroom and my husband went and answered the door and came back. He said that your parents are here. They want to see the baby. I said, not right now. I’m, I’m focused.

I’m, I’m going to breastfeed. She’s really hungry. He said, okay. So he walks out. Okay. to go to my parents and comes back in like two minutes later. He’s like, look, you need a break. Your mom’s here. She wants to feed the baby. And I was so mad. I was so frustrated, angry, not at him, not at my [00:19:00] parents, but myself.

And I said, okay, here, here’s the baby. Take her.

Dorothy: So were you able to Breastfeed the other two children?

Marisol: Very little.

Dorothy: Oh, for each of the pregnancies you had this experience. So you’d built up yourself saying, this is going to be different.

Marisol: Yes, and I remember he took the baby to my parents and within 30 seconds she was quiet.

My mom already made her a warm bottle and I just broke down. And I was so mad at myself. I was so mad at my body for not being able to do that. At that point I was mad.

Dorothy: Mm hmm.

Marisol: At having all these scars.

Dorothy: This is one of the things that several of our patients have talked about on this podcast about the things that you don’t expect.

Folks say, oh, you had cancer. Or, oh, you had surgery. Or, now it’s gone. But it’s that kind of thing that you really had your heart set on it.

Marisol: I prayed for it. I did. And I worked so hard and it [00:20:00] just didn’t happen. It wasn’t in the cards for me. Not that time.

Dorothy: Have you done the BRCA testing? The gene testing?

Marisol: I have not.

I haven’t looked into it. Um, I know what it’s all about, but.

Dorothy: This truly is not, at this point in time, related to that, but the type of cancer you had, yeah. But would you want your daughter to?

Marisol: I think so. I think I’ve put it off for myself because I don’t want to know if my girls would have that.

Dorothy: You know, inclination to have, you know, it’s a tough piece of knowledge to know because what do you do?

It increases surveillance. You certainly know what surveillance means after going through 18 years and how many surgeries and all of that for, yeah. It is a, it’s a big deal, but it is one of the factors we have, one of the clues we have, and it does help as we move forward. It, it’s, for many women, it really gave them a sense of comfort. For others.

It wasn’t there.

Marisol: Yeah, [00:21:00] it’s definitely in my future and in my girl’s future. Um, I just don’t know when.

Dorothy: But you found out something very interesting about your family history that really was out of the blue.

Marisol: I did actually. My dad’s always told me the story, um, from, you know, 18 years ago when I found my my lump, he’s like, Oh, maybe Maybe it’s kind of like the lump that I had and I never asked questions.

I never, he’s my dad. He’s, you know, he has, he keeps his privacy to himself, you know? And so I didn’t ask until recently and over the years I always heard, well, maybe it’s like the lump that I had. And so I finally asked him, I said, okay, tell me about this lump. How old were you? What was it? Do you have records?

And I knew all the answers. He was, except for his age, he said he was about my age. He was about 24 years old in the United States because he’s from Mexico. He came over, I think, when he was 14 and [00:22:00] he, and he was, he had just married my mom, was 24 years old and he felt a lump in his chest, like Superficial, I guess like mine and he said he took it out and he didn’t know what it was, but it’s gone He has a scar and to this day.

I haven’t even checked Seen that scar. I don’t even know I’m gonna I’m gonna drive over to his house today Let me see that scar.

Dorothy: But, so we you really don’t know if it had any connection it could have Certainly. This, this particular type of cancer has many characteristics unlike other cancers, so that’s, that is so, uh, fascinating.

You know, your son’s almost that age. Do you, do you ever think about him having to go through this?

Marisol: No, I honestly haven’t.

Dorothy: Were you ever as young as he is right now?

Marisol: Yeah. My son is 22. I’m about to graduate college in December. Yeah, I was a single mom at his age and two years later [00:23:00] I had a lump and you know, I guess I should start thinking about that.

Dorothy: Well, I’m not saying that, I’m just thinking when we look at our children we go, oh, that could never happen to them, but we were that child, I mean we were that young and, and sometimes it’s a great awakening about what you really had to do to get through this. There’s no way around it, Marisol. You, you know, you filled out the application, you went to the doctor, you did what you were supposed to, and you continue to do that.

That’s a, that’s a burden a lot of women don’t appreciate or understand. But you are 100 percent taking care of yourself, from your point of view.

Marisol: I think so. I hope so.

Dorothy: And how, and that’s important. That’s a message we want to send to our listeners. You know, if you don’t take care of yourself, who is?

Marisol: Right.

Dorothy: And, and even if it means doing things that you didn’t want to, are, [00:24:00] but in your case, you, you knew. You had to do this,

Marisol: right? And that’s why I like sharing my story because a lot of people nowadays, they, they think, oh, that’ll never happen to me. Oh, that’s somebody else. You know, I’m, I’m young or Hispanic or a male and never happened to me.

Well, yeah, it can.

Dorothy: It can.

Marisol: It does. We’ve seen it. You’ve seen it, Dorothy.

Dorothy: Oh yeah.

Marisol: Yeah.

Dorothy: Yeah. And do you, do your, all of your children know your story?

Marisol: They do. They’re very proud. They run the, um, the Susan G. Komen Race with me whenever we can.

Dorothy: What is it that you most want to share with someone who is that age, going through something like this?

What would you say to them?

Marisol: Um, the first thing I always tell my friends is listen to your body. You have to know what your body is telling you. Do your monthly exams if you find a lump, if you see, um, dimpling or redness or a rash or something. Don’t just leave it. You cannot leave it. Because it’s not just you that you’re thinking of, it’s, [00:25:00] it’s your family, how they would react if, if, you know, God forbid you, you passed away or something, you have to be proactive and get it checked out, go see a doctor, and if you have to have surgery, if you’re scared, you know, we’re all scared, but I’ll go with you.

I’ll hold your hand. I tell my friends, I get a lot of Facebook messages. Hey, my friend or myself, I found a lump. What do I do? What do I go? Go to The Rose. I send the link. I send the phone number. If you need help, I’ll go with you. I’ll hold your hand if you’re scared. Most of them have never had a mammogram because they’re young, but that’s that’s the way I’d like to tell young people, you know, just Be proactive, take care of yourself.

Dorothy: And again, you got married after that lump, but you had four kids. You’ve had this really full life. You went on to get your MBA and now you’re executive assistant to big company that is doing some great things in the world. It’s just amazing to me how much of that, all that you’ve given out and all that you’ve done, all of [00:26:00] that could have been gone except for a piece of paper.

Marisol: Right. I might not be here if I. Didn’t care about my body, didn’t care about what I was feeling in my breast. Because, you know, like, like I said, over three or four months it grew so fast, I could have just let it go. I’ve seen stories, if you Google it, I’ve seen what they can grow into, and it’s very scary.

Dorothy: Oh yeah, and in the end it metastasized, and in the end it’s just not a, an ending anyone would want, for sure. Marisol, you’ve been a great, great ambassador for the Rose, and I want to thank you, because I know a lot of women have heard your story, we’ve shared it. We’ve shared it at Shrimp Bowl and other events.

And you’re about to be on this episode. Here you are again, doing this for, for our listeners. And that message to the young women is so important.

Marisol: I have to tell you, Dorothy, for the longest time, I didn’t think I was a member of the Breast Cancer Club.

Dorothy: [00:27:00] Oh!

Marisol: A long, long time. Like I kind of had like, what is it called?

Imposter syndrome. Yeah. I was like, I don’t belong there. I don’t like I didn’t have to have. Radiation or chemo and so many other women that have had breast cancer because it’s this, you know, the phyllodes tumor is 1%. The other 99 percent have such a big different story than I do. And I always felt like I don’t belong here.

I don’t think I’m part of the same club. I didn’t have, I don’t have a radiation or chemo story. So I kind of just like fall into my shell. So this is really the only. The only way I can share my stories is through The Rose, not on my own. Does that make sense?

Dorothy: I do know what you’re talking about because you didn’t have to go through those things.

But Marisol, you went through multiple surgeries. I mean, you may face a mastectomy, bilateral, in the future. That’s That’s fact. So, did you ever feel a part of the, of the community?

Marisol: I do [00:28:00] now. I do now. Especially being able to come here and, and share my story on different platforms and to attend different, um, events like the, the shrimp boil.

I feel like that’s home. I, I feel like now, I feel like I’m part of the, the family.

Dorothy: And you don’t have any problem going up to the front and being recognized and

Marisol: I don’t like to be center of attention. You’ll have to drag me there. Kicking and screaming.

Dorothy: We definitely know that about you. You’re, you’re always talking about the rose, seldom talking about marisol.

That’s why I’m always surprised when I find out something else that you’ve accomplished or that you’re doing. And I think that’s the other message we need to send is, you know, there is life after cancer. And it really doesn’t matter what kind of cancer you have. There is a way that you can go on. You didn’t stop dreaming.

You didn’t stop. your aspirations. You didn’t stop going to school. I think that part of you that said, I’m a [00:29:00] lifelong learner is another key to really making it through any tough time. You have to keep learning. You have to be willing to to explore and have that curiosity. Not always easy when you just prefer it go away.

Marisol: Right.

Dorothy: Right.

Marisol: You have to be open to change. Definitely.

Dorothy: Is there any part of your story that You haven’t shared today that you think would make a difference with someone needing help.

Marisol: The main part is just being young and Hispanic. When it did happen, a lot of women don’t want to get mammograms or scared.

That’s why I love your mobile mammogram bus because it goes to the women. They’re, a lot of women are so scared. They’re not going to go to a place like the Rose or, or their doctor to get a mammogram. But if they see that mobile mammogram bus and they’re, you know, in the parking lot in their building.

They’ll think about it and I think they should. They should go for it and definitely check, [00:30:00] check, um, your breasts to see if they’re healthy because you never know when it’s going to happen to you. You never know what, what your body’s hiding from you.

Dorothy: I’m so glad you brought up the mobile mammography because that, that is one of the things we’re very, very proud of.

And we do cover now 43 counties like when you were diagnosed, I’m, I’m, I am surprised that your doctor even knew about the Rose because we had not really done a lot in that county at that time. So that is another service of the Rose that anyone can take advantage of. And, you know, it doesn’t matter whether you’re insured or uninsured.

That is the one thing that. That we can do at the Rose to make it more convenient to make it easier for women, 75 percent of the women tell us that they would have skipped their mammogram that year if it hadn’t been for the mobile coach and it doesn’t matter, insured doesn’t matter, uninsured. I just think that’s, that’s so, uh, telling of women, you know, let me put this off.

It’s going to take 15 minutes, [00:31:00] you know, let me. I mean, that’s just how we are sometimes. We put ourselves last. Yeah. And as you’ve shared, we’ve got to take care of ourselves.

Marisol: Yeah. And not just in October. I think once October 1st comes around, you think, Oh, it’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I need to go.

Well, no, you don’t have to wait till October.

Dorothy: No.

Marisol: You can go anytime.

Dorothy: Anytime. Anytime. It happens. Every day of the year, that’s for sure. And you want to find it early. You don’t, you don’t want to, you don’t want to find it late. And that’s the other message you keep saying about, Yep, I went right in. Got it out.

Marisol: I’ll tell you something else. You don’t know about me.

Dorothy: Okay.

Marisol: So there’s different contests Susan G Komen when you’re had a contest I believe it was 2013. I could be wrong about the year. Um They had a contest for the United States Bowling League or something like that And so if you were a breast cancer survivor you turn in your story And they go through those essays and find four winners and they’re called the Fab [00:32:00] Four and I was chosen one year.

Yeah, it was amazing.

Dorothy: Oh my gosh, and you’re a bowler.

Marisol: I wasn’t, no.

Dorothy: Oh, it was just the platform they were using to get it out. I got it.

Marisol: Yeah. That year I was chosen as one of the Fabulous 4 contest winners. It was 2013 and I got to meet three other amazing breast cancer survivors who I’m still friends with, except I wanted to tell you one of my friends, um, she was one of the Fab 4 and she did pass away from, from metastatic breast cancer.

She fought and fought and fought and, um, she just passed away like two years ago. So a good eight years after I met her. Yeah, but it was, um, It was a really cool journey. They, they flew me to Dallas and we had hair and makeup. We have like a whole room full of people listening to our stories. I was at a podium speaking.

I was like, Oh my gosh, I don’t want to speak. Yeah. So they kind of put you. Front and center. Yeah. And then [00:33:00] we, we got to join the U. S. Bowling Congress for, um, a week in Las Vegas or no, it was like three days in Las Vegas, but we got to bowl and it was really fun. They gave me my own bowling ball with my name on it.

Yeah. So really cool stuff.

Dorothy: Oh my goodness. Yeah. And, and another opportunity for you to share and get it out. Tell people why it’s so important, but I didn’t know that now. I know you’re a star on top of everything else. Well, we at the Rose are very grateful for all that you do for us now And that’s the other thing at one time you needed help now.

You’re helping us help other women so many of our Patients that have to use our sponsorship program are working on You know, just have hit a place in their life that they need that help. And we always encourage everybody, we’re not, you know, this is what we do. You’re not going to feel bad about filling out that piece of paper.

You’re, you know, this is, this is what we do. And we want women [00:34:00] to not hesitate to come in if they don’t have the money. No one should die of breast cancer because they can’t afford a mammogram.

Marisol: And as an insured woman now, I make it a point to get all my breast care done at the Rose. Because how many, I think for every three insured women, you help one uninsured woman?

Dorothy: We do the screening, it covers the screening for one uninsured woman. And most of our uninsured women, as you remember, They need more than just a screening mammogram because a lot of them have problems and it’s just one extra thing that we can do and yes, if you come to The Rose, you’re helping us help another woman.

Marisol: And it doesn’t stop there. I walk in and people know who I am because I share my story, but it doesn’t stop there because I think The Rose, they don’t just give you that breast health care. They follow up. They call you. They remember your name. They, they want to know more about you after the fact. And I think that’s wonderful.

Oh, yeah. It makes it [00:35:00] feel like, um, you know, a small family, but it’s a big family. It really is.

Dorothy: It really is. Serving 40, 000 women a year, yes, we’re getting a little big and we’re happy, happy to do that. That is, uh, like you said, it’s part of this family. And we do feel like our patients are part of our family.

Well, thank you so much for being our ambassador, for telling your story, for helping us to reach young women, and congratulations again on your 18 years of being a survivor.

Marisol: Thank you so much. Thank you for having me. This is amazing. I love your podcast. I listen to them every week.

Dorothy: Oh!

Marisol: I’m obsessed.

Dorothy: Thank you.

Thank you.

Post-Credits: Thank you for joining us today on Let’s Talk About Your Breasts. This podcast is produced by Speke Podcasting and brought to you by the Rose. Visit therose.org to learn more about our organization. Subscribe to our podcast, share episodes with friends, and join the conversation. on social media using hashtag #Let’sTalkAboutYourBreasts. We welcome your feedback and [00:36:00] suggestions. Consider supporting The Rose. Your gift can make the difference to a person in need. And remember, self care is not selfish. It’s essential.