Hi, I am Cynthia Landin and I am 31 yrs old, active duty Army and May 11th will mark the one year "anniversary" of the day that changed my life. I was 6 months into my 9 month deployment in Afghanistan, when I noticed a heaviness in my chest on the right side. I had been doing self exams every month since as long as I can remember and never had a lump. I had a day to myself and I was able to do my check and found a huge lump in my right breast and automatically knew it was cancer. My best friend and roommate convinced me to go to the hospital to get seen but I didn't want a clinical diagnoses. I wasn't ready to leave Afghanistan, as crazy as that sounds. I finally went and I had to be sent to Germany for further testing via a core needle biopsy. I was then sent to my home base of Fort Hood, TX to be around my husband and kids and await results. Mid June rendered Stage III Invasive Ductal Carcinoma, with four of ten lymph nodes testing positive. I had a right side bilateral mastectomy with total lymph node removal of my right arm in July of 2013. I had six months of chemo that ended in January and six weeks (monday-friday) of radiation that ended in March. I got the genetics testing done and that came back negative. It has been a heck of a journey but I have to thank my husband, kids, family, friends and of course my best friend Taylor for all the support.
Stay positive ladies and love the skin you're in!!!!
Fort Hood, TX
