When expecting mother Deana Jean noticed something unusual in her breast, her doctors told her not to worry.
Jean was five and a half months pregnant with her third child in 2016. Her OB/GYN, who delivered her other two children, assured her that the feeling was related to her milk ducts and the changes caused by pregnancy.
But Jean remained uneasy despite her doctor’s reassurance during weekly check ups over the next six weeks.
“I know that you don’t want to image me because of the radiation and the potential risk to the baby, but I need you to give me some other alternatives,” Jean recalled telling her doctor. “And to document inside of my file that you’re refusing to image me.”
That conversation changed the course of her diagnosis.
Her doctor agreed to a sonogram. When Jean was initially told she would have to wait six weeks for an appointment, she went directly to the radiology site, explained her situation and was able to get an immediate appointment..
She had the imaging done on a Wednesday. Doctors performed a biopsy the following day.
The day after, Jean was diagnosed with Stage 2B invasive ductal carcinoma.
“I knew that this wasn’t going away,” she said.
At 34 years old, Jean was facing cancer while pregnant, raising two young sons and leading a sales team in the tech industry. Her husband was also active-duty in the military.
The diagnosis brought shock and fear. Jean said that before her diagnosis, she associated cancer with something incurable. She worried that she would not live to see her children grow up or meet the baby she was carrying.
But she also felt anger.
She thought about what could have happened if she had accepted her doctor’s initial assessment and stopped pushing for further testing.
“I immediately thought about the number of women who have been in similar situations, and maybe they didn’t advocate for themselves,” Jean said.
Her insistence on getting answers was rooted in advice she had received years earlier from the mother of a close friend who worked in the C-suite of a major health care system, and like Jean, was also a Black woman.
“She would say, ‘You know, you are growing up as a woman, you’re well educated, you’re going to have a lot of privilege and opportunities that maybe a lot of other girls don’t have,” Jean recalled her saying.
“Just remember that when you walk into a doctor’s office, that you’re always going to be your best advocate,” Jean said. “If you ever feel uncomfortable or if you ever feel like you’re not being listened to, whatever your request is, make sure that it’s documented.”
That advice came back to Jean when she felt her concerns weren’t being heard.
“You know your body better than anyone else,” Jean said. “What might seem like a minor inconvenience to that doctor or to that health care system at the time … could literally be something that saves your life or saves the life of another person.”
After her diagnosis, Jean sought additional opinions. One of her doctors initially told her she would have to terminate her pregnancy because she could not undergo chemotherapy while pregnant.
Through her professional network, however, Jean was connected with specialists at major cancer centers and ultimately found an oncologist who presented her with another option.
Jean began low-dose chemotherapy while pregnant, with plans to continue treatment after delivering her daughter.
The plan changed when her daughter’s heart rate dropped during an induction, requiring an emergency C-section. Her daughter was born healthy.
Jean’s cancer responded well to treatment, allowing her to undergo a lumpectomy rather than a mastectomy, along with a lymph node dissection. She later completed additional chemotherapy, radiation and began hormone therapy.
Even after the C-section, Jean pushed to keep her treatment on schedule.
The treatment was physically demanding, but Jean was also balancing motherhood, her career and her son’s autism therapies.
Her husband, family, church community, caregivers and colleagues all stepped in to help take care of her children while she underwent chemotherapy, and her colleagues organized a meal train that lasted for months.
After surgery, Jean learned that doctors had removed all of the cancer. She continued with radiation before eventually receiving confirmation that she was in remission.
Today, Jean remains in remission and her daughter is now 10 and healthy. She continues to receive hormone therapy and yearly mammograms and oncology appointments.
Jean encourages women who are concerned about their risk to not let the fear of finding out keep them from getting checked.
“The anxiety that you feel around knowing is temporary. And that anxiety will continue to persist the longer you don’t know.”
“If I would have waited until after the baby was born, or until I was less busy at work … my outcome would have been very, very, very different,” she said.
For women currently undergoing treatment, Jean has another message: Accept help.
“There’s so many resources … whether it is therapy, community, resources to help you get around, resources to help supplement your income while you’re going through treatment.”
Nearly a decade after her diagnosis, Jean’s message remains the same: trust your instincts, ask questions and advocate for yourself.
“Always advocate,” she said.
Reach Marina Samuel at msamuel@schnepsmedia.com. For more coverage, subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram!
