It was a simple mammogram a decade ago that forever changed Lisa Swiney’s life, setting her on a course of courage and survival.
“I still mention that (mammogram) because it saved my life,” she said. “No one wants to do it because it’s not comfortable and it’s embarrassing; but it’s necessary.”
The St. Stephen native had just celebrated her 40th birthday, when—in obedience to the medical realm’s recommendation for women at that time—three months later set up an appointment for her very first mammogram, not knowing she’d receive the frightening diagnosis of the ‘Big C.’
Cancer was the last thing the mother of two had expected to hear. After all, she had a family to care for and her whole life ahead of her. The crushing news overwhelmed her; and her mind immediately flashed to her loved ones.
“(I thought) ‘What do I do? I have small children,’” Swiney said.
The date was February 2010.
After talking over treatment options with her husband, Swiney knew exactly what she had to do. She had no other option, she said, if she were to remain stress free and ensure she had a future filled with life and little worry over her health—she must undergo a double mastectomy.
“I chose to go super radical because I didn’t want any possibility of breast cancer being left in my body,” Swiney said. “The anxiety of knowing that I was going to have to go through (that) every year of doing a mammogram and worrying about whether they would find more cancer…I was not willing to do that.”
Swiney’s uncertainty of any less invasive treatment also stemmed slightly from the unforeseen changes made to her diagnosis. Medical experts first told her she had stage 0 cancer; they later up the severity to stage 1—though thankfully the cancer hadn’t invaded her lymph nodes.
“They didn’t get clear margins and wanted to do a second one, and I….decided it (didn’t) matter because I wanted (my breasts) gone; and thank goodness I did because they found cancer elsewhere in the same breast,” she said.
After genetic screening revealed she didn’t maintain the particular breast cancer-causing gene, she discovered the true culprit behind her illness was the daily hormone medication she had been taking since her hysterectomy three years earlier.
“That’s what caused my cancer to grow,” Swiney said.
Two months after her diagnosis, the determined Moncks Corner resident put her fate in the hands of a surgeon and a seasoned medical team. For more than 13 hours, they worked to remove her breasts then reconstruct them using her own body tissue. While Swiney let a part of her natural femininity go that memorable day, she gained more strength and character than she ever thought possible; she also gained valuable years of life.
After the surgery, Swiney also received four rounds of chemo—flocking to Roper St. Francis hospital in Mt. Pleasant every three weeks to inject her body with cancer-killing chemicals.
While she rarely experienced nausea from the treatment, Swiney often felt lethargic and said goodbye to her natural locks. However, she never reached for a wig during her days of hair loss. Instead, she used her new look as a teaching moment for friends and strangers to understand the importance of getting a routine mammogram.
“I used it as a, you know, if someone would say something to me I would say, ‘Be sure you get a mammogram,’” Swiney said.
In her 22nd year of teaching, the Berkeley Alternative Middle School science teacher now uses every opportunity to share her cancer story with her class—often baffling students who barely believe she went through such a harrowing health ordeal.
“If I get a chance, I tell my students…and they just find it unbelievable that I had cancer and I look like I’m normal,” Swiney said with a laugh—the pink cancer ribbon tattoo on her foot just one of the many reminders of her past.
Looking back on the last decade of her life, she shakes her head in disbelief. She never thought she’d make it to the other side of cancer.
“It seemed like it was ages away; I didn’t think I’d ever get there,” she said.
Looking back, again reliving every detail of her story, Swiney still maintains no regrets about her course of action during her season of sickness.
“If I had to do it all over again, I would l do the same thing,” she said, “but it has to be a personal choice, and not everyone is willing to do (a double mastectomy).”
However, ironically, it wasn’t the surgery or even the chemo that proved to be the most challenging part of Swiney’s cancer journey. It was the relinquishing her independence and letting go of the familiar.
“Having to rely on other people to help take care of me,” she said.
Yet, it was the very ones she leaned on for help that gave her the encouragement she needed to tackle each next step to recovery.
“Everybody was just—jumped right in to help,” Swiney said, also crediting her Christian faith and a positive mindset with keeping her focused and providing her hope.
“There was no other option; I knew I had to (get better),” she said, “and you hear of people saying, ‘Attitude is 80 percent,’ and that’s absolutely 100 percent accurate. I knew I was going to get through it because of my faith, my family and my friends—the three F’s—there was just never a doubt.”
In addition to another year of remission, Swiney celebrated another milestone moment this year. In June, her doctor told her she could stop taking an estrogen inhibitor she had been forced to ingest the last 10 years.
As for those still struggling with a recent cancer diagnosis or simply trying to fight the daily discouragement of a related treatment battle, Swiney offers sound advice: “Talk to other people that have walked in those shoes before; keep a positive attitude; pray, and don’t give up.”
