“It grew very fast. It doubled in size in one month,” she said.
Hayn shared her story with the Valley Sun last October but did not want to reveal her identity. She said she was nervous about letting people know that she was sick and was concerned how her illness would affect her teenage daughter, Amanda. Now she is ready to have her name known and she wants her story told because of the number of women she has met who have either had breast cancer or know someone who was diagnosed.
“I couldn’t believe how many people have been [affected] by this type of cancer,” Hayn said.
Prior to her own diagnosis, Hayn’s family dealt with a grandmother who died of breast cancer. That memory was still fresh and her children and husband couldn’t help but compare that tragedy with her newly-discovered cancer.
“I had missed my mammogram the year before. I discovered some small lumps on my right breast but thought they were caused by too much caffeine. By the time I got to the doctors, they were gone. Then he checked the left breast and found the lump,” she said.
She was surprised that she had missed it. Because of her mother-in-law’s breast cancer, Hayn was more cautious and always did self examinations.
“My doctor told me because I did them so often I got used to the lump being there,” she said. “I was doing them in the shower, but I have since found that lying down on the bed and checking is the best way.”
Hayn had a mammogram after the lump was found, followed by an ultrasound and biopsies which revealed that it was malignant.
“You know, I just kept thinking positive. I said, ‘OK, there is a lump, but it won’t be malignant,’” she recalled. “Then when it was, I thought, ‘OK, well I won’t have to do chemo and radiation.’”
