Deszeray's Battle Session

Deszeray Summers-Kyles

Stage 4 Breast Cancer

Diagnosed at age 22

My name is Deszeray Summers-Kyles, I am twenty-two years old and in January of 2014 I was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer. I was told it had spread to my lymph nodes, liver, and pelvic bone.

In the beginning of 2012, I noticed my right breast was significantly bigger then 

my left breast and that concerned me so I told my grandparents and they began 

to worry and took me to the hospital to get it checked. We went to several 

doctors, they all told me it was nothing or fibrocystic. Even after telling them that

breast cancer ran in my family on my fathers side they still decided not to do a 

mammogram because of my age at the time. They also told me you can not get

breast cancer from your father.

A few months later a lump appeared and I told my grandparents again but during 

this time my insurance had kicked me off because we forgot to send them a paper

in, so I went a whole year without going to the doctor and the pain became 

worse. My grandpa said once I got back on the insurance he wanted to take me 

to an oncologist because he was tired of my mis-diagnose that I had been 

receiving prior years before.

Once January came around I made an appointment with my general doctor and he

referred me to a surgeon because he thought it was just a cyst. The surgeon

checked me out and said "You are a very unique individual, out of 40 years I have

never seen someone like you with this problem." He then wanted me to have a

ultrasound done, I had that done the next day and the doctor that looked at it

said it wasn't a cyst and they wanted to do a mammogram. The mammogram

came back as it not being a cyst so he then decided he wanted a biopsy done,

after I did my biopsy I got my results and it came back as cancer. I told myself I

wasn't going to freak out, in the back of my mind I had already figured out that it

was cancer because I do a lot of research and it runs in my family. 

After telling me I had cancer the doctor referred me to a oncologist and I went to

see him the next day. He filled me in on everything that was going to happen

such as telling me that no surgery would be necessary but I would have to go

through chemotherapy and I may want to freeze my eggs because the chemo

might destroy my ovaries but I told everyone that I wanted to wait and decided

until after I know what stage I was in. We then did a PET scan and I found out I

was in stage 4 so I said I'm not going to let it spread anymore let's go with the

chemo.

My chemo, the first four treatments, was aggressive on me. I threw up for days

and was weak and exhausted but by the 5th treatment I only threw up once and

that would be a few days after my chemo.. I have really bad shortness of breath

and I am in pre-menopause still and the chemo stopped my monthly. Also the

chemo burned me a little on my back and my sides and side of the breast. And I

do not have to do any radiation.

I was pretty much on "house arrest" during the 103 days of my journey because

my family was afraid that I would catch something, so in order to occupy my time

when I was feeling good I decided that I wanted to do something that inspired

young people or people in general who are going through something and don't

think they can make it. My family and friends kept me strong and my spirits up. I

did six chemotherapy treatments, as of today I am cancer free but I do have to

go back every three weeks to get my Herceptin drug to keep my cancer cells

contained.