A mother of two finds out she has cancer while she is 8 months pregnant with her third child.
In a piece with Insider, Jennifer Deus shares her story of battling breast cancer and making the risky choice to get an early c-section to get the proper care.
Deus explains how happy she was at her baby shower and that she was excited to introduce her new baby girl to her other two daughters. But after her baby shower, a lump on her breast caused her to get nervous.
“But a week after the shower, I noticed that the tissue in my left breast had gotten harder, she says in her essay to Insider. “My armpit had started to swell and hurt.”
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Disparities between the rate that Black women and white women dying from Breast cancer have long been existing. Some medical researchers like this lack of access to adequate healthcare, getting diagnosed late, and overall issues surrounding institutional racism.
Luckily Deus’s doctor was receptive to her wanting to get checked for breast cancer when she did as many Black women often are ignored.
Upon her doctor recommending her to get an ultrasound and then later a biopsy of the lumps in her breast, her worst fear became real.
“The biopsy proved me right; I got the results on October 5, 2021. It felt like my whole world had crashed down. I thought, ‘What’s going to happen to my children?’”
After telling the heartbreaking news to her family she gathered up the strength to fight for herself and her baby-to-be.
With a prognosis of stage two breast cancer, she was recommended by her doctor to give birth to her daughter four weeks early. As the hormones were contributing to cancer growing faster.
“Ishbel was born via C-section on October 15, 2021, around a month before her due date,” says Deus. “I felt a surge of energy when they laid her on my chest.”
After starting chemotherapy last November, she had to undergo six treatments and a double breast mastectomy to go into full remission. As of May of this year, she has been in remission from breast cancer but did have radiation therapy just to be sure.
Since enduring and overcoming this life-changing journey, she feels more grateful for her life and her family.
“I’ve never felt more alive”, she says on her journey with breast cancer. “My experience with cancer has made me a better, stronger person. I love and appreciate my family more than ever. I’m blessed because Patrick [my husband] and I can raise our kids the way we’d always planned.”