Hello, my name is Sharon Cole and this is my son Stacy. My story began in October 1997. I found a lump in my breast while doing a self-breast exam in the shower that morning before I went to school. I had a biopsy done and it came back as cancer. I had to drop out of the nursing program at Wilkes Community College. I had my first of four doses of chemotherapy (Adriamycin and Cytoxan) two weeks later. I suffered with the nausea and vomiting, my hair falling out and the days of feeling bad. I did not let that stop me.
I registered for classes in December that I would use towards the Bachelor of Science degree I plan on getting and started in January. I had a radial left mastectomy with lymph node removal in March 1998. The pathology report came back and there was no lymph node involvement. In May I started radiation treatments. I had to have 37 of those, which burned my skin that I had to have treated as well. In July I had to have four more doses of chemotherapy (Taxol). I had a rough time with this round because it made my legs very sore and this made it hard to walk.
I still managed to go to school, go to church on Sunday, take my daughter to her Monday night Girl Scout meetings, her Tuesday night dance class, Wednesday to church, Thursday to her gymnastics class and Friday to Boone to get her hair done.
I started the nursing program again in September 1998 where I left off the previous year. In January 1999 I found out I was pregnant and I was devastated. Not because I was pregnant but because of the damage the chemotherapy may have done to my eggs. May 1999 was a special month. The results of the amniocentesis showed no signs of any problems and I graduated from the nursing program.
September 23,1999 Stacy was born healthy and happy, but I got some disturbing news. There was a cyst on each ovary, so for three days I worried if it was cancer. The doctor also told me that medically speaking the pregnancy should have been impossible. So I call Stacy my miracle boy because I believe that God rewarded me for believing in Him and for not giving up on a life long goal.
I am now a practicing Registered Nurse at Watauga Medical Center with the hopes of working at the Seby Jones Cancer Center in the future. I would like to thank God, my family, my friends and all those that helped me and gave me the strength to go on.
Sharon Cole, Watauga County