Joni Hunter with her scooter, Little Pinkie

By Joni Hunter

I started getting mammograms when I turned 40 and have had one ever year. Six years later during a routine mammogram, the radiologist came into the exam room with X-rays in hand. He wanted to know my family history regarding cancer. I had an aunt on my father’s side that died from breast cancer, my sister had anal cancer and my father died four months earlier from leukemia. He showed me the pictures and the area of concern. I had a needle biopsy a day or two later, and it was positive. Since it was the Christmas season (Christmas Eve to be exact), we decided to do a lumpectomy the first week of the new year.

Telling my mother was the hardest thing I ever had to do. It was worse than me dealing with the fact that I had breast cancer. My mom and dad had been married for 50 years, and my family was still missing him. I had the lumpectomy, and it was a few days before I was to get my stitches out when my doctor called and informed me that the margins were not clear enough and had to reschedule another surgery. After that, plus eight weeks of radiation, I was on the road to physical recovery.

The best thing about my story is that soon I will be 55 and celebrating 10 years of being a survivor. I owe it all to getting mammograms every year and early detection. My tumor was up against my rib cage and was the size of a pea. The doctors told me it would have taken 10 years for it to be found during a breast exam. I think about how my life would be now if I never got a mammogram. The thing about it is once they have a picture, they have a base line to go by and can tell if there is something unusual happening. Before it gets big.

I tell everyone I know “early detection and mammograms saved me.” I do Denver Race for the Cure every year with my sisters. It’s an awesome thing.