Pick Yourself Up and Kick Cancer
Heather Snoddy is a True Fighter
Grace Phillips
Ashland Beacon
“My dog saved my life!” That may sound crazy, but Heather Snoddy absolutely feels like her mini aussie doodle played a big part in saving hers. At 49, Heather was healthy, had no family history of breast cancer, had always had her yearly mammograms, and the last thing that she ever thought she would hear was that she had cancer.
Heather recalled that day it all began, “Our family had been to Disney two weeks before, rode all the rides…I felt nothing, no pain. It was December 26th, the day after Christmas. I got up and was going to check on my kids upstairs. I went to pick up my dog, and he hit me with his paw and it was like…that was weird; something hurts there. I put the dog down and felt. There was a lump. I had always heard that breast cancer was not painful, so my husband and I thought it was just a cyst.”
Heather and her husband agreed it was best to get it checked. She called Dr. Ford’s office where she had been a long-time patient only to find out he was out for the holidays. The following week the office set up an appointment for her and a mammogram and ultrasound were ordered. “I went in for my mammogram and ultrasound and expected everything to be good. Dr. Fraley came in and said it was pretty circular, but there was a blurry area, and he felt I should have a biopsy. I had always heard that cancer was irregular so I was still thinking…oh…it’s just a cyst. I had a little bit of hesitation, but I had just had a mammogram eight months before. Everything was clear, so I was sure it was just a cyst.”
The following week Heather was working at KDMC in the ER when Dr Ford called. “I went to the ambulance bay to talk to him. He told me I needed to get my husband, who also works at KDMC, and come to his office. I just wanted to know and he said, Heather…you have cancer. I just lost it. I fell to the ground there in the ambulance bay. There was no way that I have cancer.”
Heather called her husband, then her mom who told her she already knew what it would be. She also called her sister and her brother, and they all cried together. “I went back into the ER and saw several co-workers, and they knew I was waiting for results. I felt like I was hyperventilating…I just couldn’t get the words out.”
Her husband, Mike, picked her up and they made their way to the Dr. Ford’s office. “As I sat there listening to him tell me all the details of my cancer, it was such a surreal moment. I couldn’t really wrap my head around it. I had cried nonstop; I could not come to terms with the thought that I had cancer. I thought that would never happen; I took good care of myself. I had mammograms since I was 35…This just could not be happening.”
The next step was for Heather and Mike to tell their daughters, ages 10 and 14. She said the next few days were just non-stop crying. “I went to work the next day, and my eyes were almost swollen shut.”
The next step in her journey was an MRI to check the other breast and lymph nodes. “I had prayed so hard that my lymph nodes would come back clear. My husband was waiting outside the imaging center that day. He had taken a picture of a rainbow that was right over the top of the building. When I saw the rainbow, I knew that God was going to take care of this, and they WERE clear.”
Soon after Heather saw Dr Hughes, a breast surgery oncologist specialist at KDMC. “Dr Hughes was so wonderful. She took the time to talk to me about decisions and outcomes. I cried; it was scary. But, she assured me my decision was a good decision.” At that time, Heather did not know for sure about chemo since it was not in the lymph nodes, but she was told there would definitely be radiation. The pathology report revealed the tumor was invasive ductile carcinoma, stage two, estrogen positive, HER negative, grade three with a chance to come back at a distant place in her body. If the cancer returns at a distant point, then it would be incurable.
Heather had surgery to remove the tumor on Valentine’s Day with her family there for support. About a week later, Dr. Hughes phoned to let her know that all margins were clear, and they had been able to remove all the tumor. After a complete analysis, it was determined that Heather would need chemo. “That was a little bit of a shock. I was hoping not to have chemo…mainly because I didn’t want to lose my hair.”
She learned she would have five months of chemo. “I remember being overwhelmed, very emotional…it went in stages. Finding out you have cancer, then the appointments, knowing you are going to get your tumor out...that was a relief knowing it was out of my body. Then, the next stage of having chemo. I had my first chemo treatment on a Thursday, and my girls had a dance competition away from here the next day. I went there on Friday and stayed all weekend.”
When her hair began to fall out, Heather allowed her youngest daughter to cut it to shoulder length and then her husband shaved it for her. “I cried when I saw myself like that. I felt ugly and defeated, but once I got over that hurdle, I was able to be strong again. I had turbans and a wig. My girls never wanted to see me bald, so I always wore the turban for them.”
After chemo, Heather had 20 treatments of radiation. The last radiation treatment was just three weeks ago. She will take oral medication for five years along with yearly mammograms and an MRI every six months.
From the beginning of her diagnosis, Heather, her mother, brother, and sister would call each other on the phone every night and pray together….specific prayers for a specific outcome. She says they continue to do that each night.
Looking to the future, is she concerned about the cancer returning? “I don’t think about it as much. I feel like God has answered so many prayers through this. I feel like He’s telling me, ‘I’ve got this: it’s gonna be fine.’ I feel like with everything we have prayed for and the prayers that He has answered, I’m not going to live my life worrying that it’s going to come back because I truly feel like it’s going to be OK. I feel like that this happened for whatever reason for me to go through…maybe it was for me to share my story to help someone else who is going through the same thing.”
Heather’s advice to every woman is to do your self-exams, and if you find something unusual don’t wait…see your doctor right away.
