Why Being Your Own Advocate Could Save Your Life

Dorothy: [00:00:00] Hi, I’m Dorothy Gibbons, CEO and co founder of The Rose. She didn’t know about The Rose when she was diagnosed, and this young woman thinks her life would have been a whole lot different if she had. LaTreace Price-Gistard joined an army that no one would want to be a part of, but it has been an army that is making a difference in the world.

Here’s another story of a young woman who was too young for a mammogram, but she sure wasn’t too young for breast cancer.

Let’s Talk About Your Breasts. A different kind of podcast presented to you by The Rose, the 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.

So LaTreace has been with us [00:01:00] for a long time actually as a volunteer. And one of our favorites when it comes to, to talking with her about her diagnosis, but you were pretty young when you were diagnosed. Tell us a little bit about that.

LaTreace: Yes, I was 36 years old and I discovered a lump in my right breast after taking a shower.

And, um, of course I immediately panicked because at that time, the first thing that popped in my mind was when I found a lump in my breast was cancer. And then that immediately went to death. At the time, I was a single mother of two, and so, um, so many thoughts ran through my mind, needless to say. And it was just even before even becoming diagnosed, I was already afraid, just initially right at the gate.

Dorothy: So LaTreace , were you doing your monthly, or was this just by accident?

LaTreace: It was by accident.

Dorothy: One of the things that I remember about your story is that for six months there, you really Had a misdiagnosis with whomever you were [00:02:00] going to at the time, but then how did that all come around?

LaTreace: Well after I found the lump I called my primary care physician at the time and she scheduled me to Have a mammogram and when the results came back to her And the radiologist, it just looked like a cyst.

And, um, they were factoring the fact that I was, um, just 36 years old at the time. Um, and, but they did not take into account that I do have a family history of breast cancer. And so, I was—

Dorothy: Had you shared that?

LaTreace: Yes, I did.

Dorothy: Oh, okay, so you already knew that. Okay.

LaTreace: Yes. And so I was really surprised at the reluctancy to move further with further testing, knowing that there was a family history of breast cancer and, and just going with just a mammogram and not seeking a biopsy for additional testing.

And so coincidentally, after I found, um, My lump in my [00:03:00] breast, my friend Melanie, who had been in the Air Force at the time, she had been stationed in Germany and I had not talked to her in, in years. She happened to call me that very next morning after I found it. And of course I was still really upset.

And so she told me to call her mother, Miss Acy, who happened to be a breast cancer survivor as well. And so I called her mother and, you know, she understood why I was really upset and everything. And she just told me, she says, um, Well, let’s just wait and see what, you know, the mammogram comes back saying, and if it is cancer, it’s going to be okay.

If it’s not cancer, it’ll be okay. And so then she invited me to some breast cancer support group meetings with her that she had been going to, and just being able to listen to those stories of survival and hearing about all the new technology and everything. I became more educated in breast cancer, but at the same time, I was still just really curious.

As to why, um, [00:04:00] just a mammogram was able to, um, determine that I just had a cyst.

Dorothy: Yeah, I think, I think that’s such a God thing that your friend called you the day after and—

LaTreace: Yes.

Dorothy: And here you already had this almost a knowing.

LaTreace: Yes.

Dorothy: When I hear you tell your story, it’s kinda like, nah, that can’t be right.

LaTreace: Yes.

Dorothy: But what a gift to go to the support group and to hear the, the different. perspectives and I know you were curious during that time.

LaTreace: Yes, I was curious and still afraid because during that time frame the cyst continued to just grow and get bigger and coincidentally that my left arm and head and wrist had like completely swollen up and I just had a lot of really strange things going on and I kept going back to my doctor and she I never did really have a good answer as to why things were happening.

And so I was just laying in bed one night [00:05:00] and I was just praying about it. And when I woke up the next morning, God put it on my heart to call a dear friend, Dr. Carl Lee. And, um, I, and I, and I just asked him, you know, if he knew of someone who could help me. He’s a gynecologist. So I knew that that was not really his expertise.

So I asked him, did he know anyone, and he referred me to someone that, you know, did go on ahead and take that extra step and do that biopsy and discover that it was breast cancer.

Dorothy: So, you know, you’ve touched on something that we preach around here. You’ve got to be your own advocate. You’ve got to keep insisting that.

Until you feel comfortable, until you have that final answer.

LaTreace: Yes.

Dorothy: So many women have, of course nobody wants to hear this answer.

LaTreace: Yes.

Dorothy: Nobody wants to hear that diagnosis.

LaTreace: Right.

Dorothy: But if we don’t, no one’s even going to know that, what’s going on. So that’s so important for everyone to hear. And [00:06:00] especially our young women.

LaTreace: Yes, yes, because it’s just looked at. Okay, you are at the time I was just 36. So it’s just a cyst. It’s not, you know, you’re just too young, right?

Dorothy: And how old were your children then?

LaTreace: At the time, my son was nine and my daughter was 15.

Dorothy: Ah, so yeah, you did have quite a bit of responsibility.

LaTreace: Yes, yes, I did. Yes, I did.

Dorothy: Critical times in their lives. Yes.

LaTreace: Yes. And so my, my take after, um, yeah. Getting properly diagnosed, I was, I just, I just prayed and just told God, I said, you know, um, I’m not afraid to die, but if you can keep me here for my children, you know, because they, they still need me.

Dorothy: But you were single at the time.

LaTreace: Yes.

Dorothy: So, besides your faith, where did your support come from?

LaTreace: Well, it came from friends, family, my coworkers at the time. I had a ton of, um, of support [00:07:00] when it came down to like helping me with my children. And I had some friends who did some fundraisers and also had some other friends who, um, helped me get my children back and forth to school.

So I had a nice support group when it came down to like the regular day to day.

Dorothy: And, and you know, you just touched upon something because you were insured at the time.

LaTreace: Yes.

Dorothy: But we forget how many other costs go along with any kind of treatment plan that are not covered by insurance or partially covered by insurance.

And women are always having to make the, the terrible decision on What do I not do? Or what do I give up? Or what are my kids going to have to give up for this? Did you, how did you handle that?

LaTreace: Well, by God’s grace, I didn’t really have to make too many difficult decisions because I had so many people that, that just reached out. I had people [00:08:00] that gave gift cards. So I ordered from restaurants. I had people that dropped off food. I mean, I had all kinds of support when it, when it came down to that and I didn’t qualify for a lot of the programs that are typically available. So that put me like in a, in a tough spot because I was like right in the middle of, you know, of, of the guidelines per se And where there was actually still a need that the help was just really was just not there.

Dorothy: Yeah, that, and that unfortunately is the way that it often works. But now tell us what your treatment was. What did, what did you have?

LaTreace: Well, I started out with a, um, mastectomy on the right breast where it was completely removed. And it also removed some lymph nodes in my right armpit. And then I moved over to doing 12 weeks of Taxol.

And then after that, I did, uh, four treatments of the Red Devil. I don’t remember the actual name, but it is good enough.

Dorothy: Anyone [00:09:00] in breast cancer knows what you’re talking about, and that’s just fine.

LaTreace: Yes. Yes. And then I did six weeks of radiation. And then shortly after that, I was able to start the reconstruction process.

Dorothy: So you really had the full gamut.

LaTreace: I did. It was a very long process.

Dorothy: Yeah. When did that, how old were you when all that finished?

LaTreace: I would say I was about, I was almost 38. Yes.

Dorothy: And that’s, that’s the other part of any diagnosis. It can be six months, it can be a year, it can be two years. And you know, everyone is different.

Everyone’s cancer is different.

LaTreace: Yes.

Dorothy: And I do think that You, you mentioned this and I thought, oh, we need to include that when you said people gave you gift cards to go and eat out or buy food or whatever.

LaTreace: Yes, it was both. It was to buy groceries at H E B, to order pizza for my kids or just [00:10:00] whatever. You know, I mean, it was, it was a, a number of things.

I even had someone who gave me some gift cards to marshals because I needed to get different shirts. You have the tubings after the surgery and I couldn’t like pull my shirts over. I have, I have some people who actually gave me shirts in addition to the, the gift cards. And so it was, I mean, you know, it was, everyone just kind of like thought of what could I possibly need.

And it was, and it was actually, you know. Delivered in so many ways, you know, not just in a monetary, but just spiritually and emotionally as well I had a ton of people praying and texting just to check on me. I mean it was it was It was a lot of support.

Dorothy: That is so, so fortunate. Yeah. And you remind all, all of us that we always think, well, what is it I can do? Or you know, they go to the patient and say, what do you need? Well, at that point you don’t have a clue what you need.

LaTreace: Yeah, I had no idea. Because everything is just coming at you.

Dorothy: [00:11:00] Yeah. And your mind is not on this. It’s, it’s on what you’ve got to do next to stay alive.

LaTreace: Yes.

Dorothy: Yeah. So what a great team you had around you. Great group of people.

LaTreace: Yes.

Dorothy: And I think, you know, I think that is something that we could, we almost need a cheat sheet that says, here’s the things you can do when your friend is, is diagnosed here, you know, here’s what you can go get. Here’s that would, that would probably be a benefit to most of us because we never know.

Now you didn’t come to The Rose during that time. How did you learn about The Rose?

LaTreace: I learned about The Rose years later I was invited to an event at the African American Museum by Elizabeth. She does she’s one who did the cast to empower.

Dorothy: Mm hmm.

LaTreace: Project that she did. I was one of her models.

Dorothy: Oh, now stop right there.

Tell us what that is all about.

LaTreace: Oh, that was a great project that she did. She [00:12:00] gathered a lot of breast cancer survivors and she casted our abdomens.

Dorothy: Uh huh.

LaTreace: And, um, well, our, you know, our breasts as well.

Dorothy: Right.

LaTreace: And then she decorated them, um, according to our personality or our journey. And she decorated my cast, uh, she named it “I Heart Imani.”

And the reason why she named it “I Heart Imani” was because when I was going through, um, treatment, I was told that I could not have any more children. I was going to be infertile. Well, I had my third child after treatment, so she made my cast according to the, you know, one of the biggest blessings that came out of my survival.

And that was, um, my daughter, Imani.

Dorothy: Oh, that is so sweet.

LaTreace: And it’s beautiful. I love my cast. I have it. It’s in my home.

Dorothy: I was going to ask you, what did you do with it?

LaTreace: I have it. I still have it.

Dorothy: I remember she did a tour once with them and actually had everybody on display [00:13:00] and That was such a unique project.

LaTreace: It was. It was. It was very heart touching. She did a, um, a exhibit at a, at the Bisong Museum, I believe is the name of it. And, uh, she had us all go out and, um, stand next to our Our cast and they were up for auction to be purchased and those that were not purchased, you know We just pretty much still have them.

Dorothy: So let’s go back to how you met us.

LaTreace: Okay at that event with Elizabeth, Chris Noble She came and she made an announcement that she needed to start her army and when she was talking more about The Rose and you know what the mission of The Rose and then She also introduced, um, Kim Roxie and told, you know, the story of, of her mother.

And I was just really inspired, um, to become a part of that because I know what it, what it feels like to have a need, you know, and to experience a diagnosis like that. And so I just wanted to, [00:14:00] you know, first learn, what can I do to give back to them— to the mission of The Rose. And so I signed up for her army, and the rest is history.

I love Chris Noble. I love all that she does, and she’s just, she’s just contagious in a great way, you know?

Dorothy: And you know, Chris has worked for us over 10 years now, I believe, and I’ve known her for many, many years. But until I was, you know, talking with you, I didn’t know that she Actually went out and said I need an army.

I mean, I think if I had known that I might have said, uh, “Chris Let’s be a little careful here.” But you know, Chris just goes out and does what she wants, but that that outreach Increased awareness.

LaTreace: Yes, it did.

Dorothy: I cannot tell you how many people we diagnosed and and the interesting thing was with her outreach and and the awareness program that she was doing in the churches or Anywhere that she could go talk, we saw this 19 [00:15:00] percent increase in, uh, black women coming to us.

LaTreace: That’s awesome.

Dorothy: But the odd thing was over 90 percent of them were insured. You know, our message truly is to the uninsured and says, you know, if you need a mammogram, call us, let’s see if we can help. But that just reinforced to me, there’s not enough awareness and there’s not enough trust out there.

LaTreace: Yes.

Dorothy: It’s, it’s still one of those diseases that’s not talked about.

LaTreace: Yes, it’s not talked about and unfortunately, as you mentioned, there’s not enough trust. We don’t really know what to believe because in my particular situation, had I stuck with what was originally diagnosed, I would have not survived . Because by the time I was actually diagnosed, I was stage three and I actually had two kinds of breast cancer.

Dorothy: Which ones?

LaTreace: I had ductal carcinoma in my breast. Then I had metastatic septuamicoid breast cancer in the lymph [00:16:00] nodes.

Dorothy: Ah.

LaTreace: Yes, and so it was ready to just take over.

Dorothy: Oh yeah.

LaTreace: Basically by the point, you know, by the time I made it to actually having surgery and having, you know, the mastectomy done.

Dorothy: How long ago was that?

LaTreace: That was in 2009.

Dorothy: Okay.

LaTreace: Yes. August 2009. I found the lump in February 2009, sometime like early, early February, and then I was diagnosed late August. Yes.

Dorothy: So when did you feel like, “okay, I’m out of the woods with this?”

LaTreace: I don’t think I’ve ever taken that stance.

Dorothy: Okay.

LaTreace: Yes. I still get my scans every year.

Whenever I feel like something doesn’t feel right, I go in. You know, I, I am a, um, Survival patient at MD Anderson, so I still go to the survivor side, but treated as a preventive patient.

Dorothy: Right.

LaTreace: Yes.

Dorothy: Right. Well that, and I think that’s another important message, you [00:17:00] never really feel like you are out of the woods.

No. No. But you have to be very, um, diligent and, and keep in mind that taking care of yourself is the first. thing you have to do.

LaTreace: Yes, ma’am. Yes, that is true.

Dorothy: So I know that you’ve already told us one of your gifts was your daughter, your third child, that you’d been told, oh no, you’ll never have another child.

LaTreace: Yes.

Dorothy: Uh, and she’s how old now?

LaTreace: Ten.

Dorothy: Ten, oh my goodness.

LaTreace: She’s about to be eleven in August.

Dorothy: So what other gift came to you from having breast cancer.

LaTreace: Oh, there’s a whole new outlook. Um, with my Children, especially my two oldest Children. Um, coincidentally, um, they became very close after the diagnosis. You know, they shared a lot with me.

Um, they I didn’t You know, there were a few things I didn’t even know that they were even dealing with, like one of the things that they shared was that they were always [00:18:00] afraid that I might not wake up one day, you know, and so that increased their connection. They have such a big age gap. And so I was always really surprised that they would argue like they did prior to, you know, but after that, you know, they, they really became close. Um—

Dorothy: so the connection was with each other or with you or?

LaTreace: Each other. Yes. With each other.

Dorothy: They became each other’s support.

LaTreace: Yes. They became each other’s support. My, my oldest daughter, she was, she was a— played a very big part in, in, in as far as, you know, as far as like supporting my son with, with helping him to understand everything, you know, she turned 16 during the whole process and she was at support group with him and his friends, um, because at the time for some reason they didn’t have a, um, support group for her age group at that time at MD Anderson.

I’m not sure if they ever, um. Change that or not, [00:19:00] but at the time, they, they didn’t have one for her, so she would just sit in with him and listen in with, you know, and kind of help with him.

Dorothy: You know, there’s a, there’s a way of thinking out there that it’s the younger children that need that, uh, counseling or that support or that, you know, here’s what’s happening to mommy.

But I tell you what, when it’s mommy, it doesn’t matter what age you are—

LaTreace: Exactly.

Dorothy: Need it when it’s, yeah.

LaTreace: When she had her— yes, she had her concerns and her fears as well.

Dorothy: Mm-Hmm.

LaTreace: You know. And so I would say that, um, the blessing out of all of that was, you know, was, was their connection, you know, to each other.

And um, I have so many blessings. I’m sitting here trying to think what did I, you know, Imani, the connection with my children, learning how to overcome fear, you know, learning how to really, really rely on my faith. That was definitely a time in my life where I really had to lean on my faith because you really have no control.

You know, you, you [00:20:00] know, you don’t. And so that was a time where I really, really leaned in on my faith.

Dorothy: And uh, um, when you talk about the gifts, certainly you’ve gifted The Rose because you’ve been one of our lead volunteers in this “Chris’s Army.” So, and, and how, what do you do when you’re out there with her and helping?

LaTreace: Well, I’ve done commercials with her for Chick fil A. I have participated in exhibits. I have attended the church. I guess what you would say that where she goes to recruit at the churches or just the informative, sorry, informative meetings at the church, I have attended a number of events with her, just spreading their awareness, you know, with—

Dorothy: And telling your story.

LaTreace: Yes, and sharing my story for sure.

Dorothy: Because the one message we’ve got to get [00:21:00] across is about the young woman having breast cancer. Absolutely. Cancer, we all know, is a family disease. It’s something everybody has some experience with, no matter who it is that’s diagnosed. And are your children extra, uh, sensitive when it comes time for you to have your annual screenings or do you ever pick that up?

LaTreace: They have gotten better with that, I guess because the time has gone by. Um, but, but they do still have their concerns.

Dorothy: What about you?

LaTreace: Well, as time has gone by, the scans have increased into other things, you know, and that’s mainly because I’m getting older, whereas before, you know, before it was just mainly just focusing on my breasts.

Now I have, you know, the colon screenings and

Dorothy: Believe me.

LaTreace: Yes.

Dorothy: I wish our listeners were right here looking at you because you do not look like you need to be on that age list at all. My goodness.

LaTreace: Thank you. Because it’s been, it’s been a while. [00:22:00] I’m going on, um, 14 years.

Dorothy: Oh yeah.

LaTreace: Yes.

Dorothy: So now you have everything else to, to consider.

LaTreace: Yes.

Dorothy: Yes. So what are, what are your special dreams for your children?

LaTreace: Oh, um, well primarily would be for them to, to live happy, healthy lives, you know, according to God’s purpose for them. Um, my oldest daughter, she is a, um, Certified Behavior Analyst, and that is definitely a, um, a calling for her. She, she does that naturally.

I mean, she just gravitate to children and they gravitate to her and that, um, her specialty is, is really more involved with like working with autistic children and it just comes so natural for her. Um, my son, um, he just graduated from UTSA with a public policy degree. He is still kind of, you know, testing the waters a little bit just to try to see what direction he wants to go with that.

And so, I mean, he just literally just graduated. And so, um, he’s still kind of working through [00:23:00] that. And then Imani, you know, she’s, you know, she loves her dancing and everything. And so. That’s, that’s her happy place at the moment, so.

Dorothy: And so do you ever worry that you might not be here for them?

LaTreace: Yes, I do.

Dorothy: Still?

LaTreace: Still, yes. And it’s still a prayer for me to still be here. I know at the end of the day, God, you know, will take care of them if I’m not here. But I still, you know, would like to be here for them.

Dorothy: Absolutely. And I don’t want to put any words in your mouth, but were you concerned about Your body image or anything like that.

LaTreace: Yes, I was, originally. But once it all started to happen, it didn’t really bother me. I was worried about my hair. I was wondering how I was going to handle that. But I didn’t cut it. I just let it fall out. And, um, I think that was probably easier to deal with that way versus just cutting it off.

Dorothy: LaTreace, you did remarry.

LaTreace: Yes.

Dorothy: And that had to be during the time of your treatment and diagnosis. I mean, [00:24:00] tell us about that because it’s very hard to, to deal with what’s going on with your body and still be in a relationship.

LaTreace: Yes, I was in a relationship with my current husband during all of this, but we got married years after, you know, after the diagnosis and everything.

Yes, and he played a huge part in the support, I mean, um, he always had words of encouragement. Um, he was Helping me financially, um, I mean he pulled through quite a bit, you know, for me during that time and he was actually one of the ones that was like, you know, encouraging me to continue to ask questions and, and find out more about what was happening because he didn’t, you know, feel like I had the right answers either.

Dorothy: Oh, that’s interesting. Yes. So LaTreace , if you had two things that you could put on billboards all over the city. What would they be?

LaTreace: Be your own advocate and listen to your body.

Dorothy: What would you say to [00:25:00] someone who had the pushback that you had that, when your doctor kept saying, it’s a cyst?

LaTreace: Listen to your body and just, just keep pushing because my body was definitely letting me know that it was not just a cyst.

Dorothy: And it was telling you that how?

LaTreace: Um, by the swelling, um, the cyst just kept getting bigger. It was really warm to touch. And it was just, my whole body itself just felt really, really bad. I was always fatigued, just really forgetful, just, I mean, I just, I knew something was just not right.

Dorothy: So when you know something’s just not right, keep finding someone else to go to.

LaTreace: Yes.

Dorothy: Until you get an answer that you feel comfortable with. It doesn’t mean it has to be different, but that you feel comfortable with.

LaTreace: Yes.

Dorothy: Yes. Well, thank you so much for being with us today. Thank you for being a part of “Chris’s army.” Thank you for helping us get this word out. And I think what you said is probably the most important thing we could ever end any of our [00:26:00] episodes with.

Take care of yourself. Listen to yourself. Listen to your body. Be your own advocate.

LaTreace: Yes. Yes, ma’am.

Dorothy: Thank you again.

LaTreace: It was a pleasure being here.

Post-Credits: Thank you for joining us today on Let’s Talk About Your Breasts. This podcast is brought to you by The Rose. Visit therose.org to learn more about our organization.

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