New Balance Survivor knew family history was not working in her favor
“My initial thought was, ‘I don’t deserve this,’ But if I can share my story and encourage other survivors and other women, I’ll do it. I just want to use my story to help.”
—Melanie Jenkins
Melanie Jenkins knows a thing or two about facing her fears.
With a family history of breast cancer, Jenkins, 43, has always been proactive about breast health. She’d had a mammogram every year since she was 20 and did regular self-exams.
“Because of my family history of breast cancer … they’ve kept a good eye on me,” Jenkins said. “I felt like I had been vigilant, but in the fall of 2013, I had a knot come up, but that was not unusual, because I’ve always had cysts that would flare up and hurt.”
It was almost time for her annual mammogram, so she told them about the lump she’d found when she went in for the test.
“Within two weeks, I got a letter back saying they’d found a suspicious spot. I wasn’t worried. I’d had one or two in the past that had come back as suspicious,” Jenkins said. “They didn’t think it was anything, but just to be sure, I had a biopsy in December. Even then, the radiologist thought it was normal tissue.”
The test results came back, and Jenkins heard the words she never wanted to hear.
“When he told me I had cancer, I didn’t hear anything else he said. That’s all I heard. … You go into instant shock. I was probably in shock for two or three weeks,” Jenkins said.
Because of her mother’s experience, Jenkins decided to be very aggressive treating her early stage cancer. Diagnosed at 41, Jenkins’ mother fought cancer on and off for 13 years until she succumbed at age 54.
“I had decided after my mom went through all her stuff, I would have a double mastectomy. I wanted them gone,” Jenkins said.
She also opted for chemotherapy and is taking an estrogen blocker to prevent recurrence.
“The one thing I could tell women is not to be scared of learning about what they have. You need to know everything you can know about what you’re facing. I read all about my cancer. Ultimately, you are in charge of you,” she said.
Jenkins’ grandmother was also diagnosed with breast cancer.
“She was diagnosed in her 60s. She’s still living. She did have a double mastectomy and went through chemo. She’s sort of my inspiration,” Jenkins said.
Komen Texarkana recently chose Jenkins as the New Balance Survivor. She will represent other breast cancer survivors at Race for the Cure 2015.
“The New Balance Survivor is considered an outstanding representative of Komen Texarkana and Susan G. Komen. Our New Balance Survivor spends her year helping us raise awareness in the community and sharing his or her story,” said Amber Lawrence, executive director of Komen Texarkana. “We chose Melanie because of her story and her courage and attitude throughout her fight.”
Jenkins was excited and humbled by the honor.
“I was so shocked. I was really surprised. My initial thought was, ‘I don’t deserve this,’” she said. “But if I can share my story and encourage other survivors and other women, I’ll do it. I just want to use my story to help.”
Cancer is life-changing, and Jenkins has been able to find the positives in her experience.
“I learned not to take one day for granted. What you fear the most happening to you may not be as bad as you think it is. … Once you’ve stared it down and come face-to-face with death and come out on the other side, you feel empowered or stronger. It’s not that I feel invincible, but I’m going to grab life by the horns and take more chances, do some things on my bucket list. It breathes some new life in you. Once you face that great fear, all other fears subside,” she said.
Jenkins already checked one thing off her bucket list. Before she was diagnosed, she and husband Craig Jenkins, senior pastor at Beech Street Baptist Church, were training for a marathon. The doctors scheduled surgery as soon as they could, which would have prevented them from running the marathon they’d been training for.
“I really wanted to run the marathon, but if I’d pushed my surgery back, I would have had to take all these drugs, and I didn’t want to do that. So I said we’ll run our own marathon, and we worked out a path 26 miles long that ended up in our neighborhood. Turns out, long story short, all my friends rented a finish line, and for the last 6 miles, all of my running friends joined me. It was one of the highlights of my whole life,” Jenkins said.
She’s training for another marathon in November.
“I’d like to run a marathon every year in celebration of life and coming out on the other side of cancer,” Jenkins said.