PLANO, Texas — After Sharon Bradley's mother was diagnosed with terminal breast cancer, she learned that she was at a higher risk of contracting the disease herself. Bradley wasted no time learning everything she could about the disease that took her mother away.
Bradley said for months her mother noticed a lump under her arm.
“It wasn’t even on her breast,” Bradley said. “She kept talking about it and talking about it and one day we were on the phone. I said, ‘Mom, get off the phone with me. I want you to call the doctor right now.’”
By the time Bradley’s mother made it to the doctor, it was too late.
“Her diagnosis was terminal,” Bradley said.
On March 15, 2016, her mother passed away after a battle with breast cancer.
“Life just wasn’t the same anymore,” Bradley said.
According to the American Cancer Society, 1 in 3 women are not getting screened for breast cancer. However, 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer at some point in their lifetime. Because of this, the organization suggests getting breast cancer screenings at 45 years of age, and even earlier than that, if your family has a history of breast cancer.
Bradley is the director of Family and Social Services at Plano Independent School District. Her educator’s heart led her to learn more d and to get herself screened.
“I thought it was going to be an ordinary check-up,” Bradley said.
But her doctor immediately noticed something unusual. Bradley, just 36 years old at the time, was sent for testing, and eventually to an oncologist. She said she went into panic mode.
“In those moments, all I could think about was my daughters and my husband,” Bradley said.
Soon after, Bradley was told the same four words her mother once heard: you have breast cancer. The date was March 15, 2017, one year to the day after her mother passed away from the same disease.
“I found myself faced with my own mortality and honestly didn’t even have the chance to grieve the passing of my mom,” Bradley said.
Bradley was diagnosed with stage two breast cancer, which later progressed to stage three. She went through 16 rounds of chemotherapy, 33 rounds of radiation, had a lumpectomy, and a partial mastectomy.
“I cried, I screamed, I yelled… I did all the things,” Bradley said. “The same disease that robbed my daughters of their grandmother could possibly do the same for me.”
Now in remission, Bradley is a VOICES of Black Women Ambassador for the American Cancer Society, and a volunteer at the American Cancer Society Gene and Jerry Foundation Hope Lodge in Dallas. She spends her days advocating for breast cancer screenings, early and often, because experiencing the disease herself taught her how to live -- not just exist.
"It was a life-changing experience," Bradley said. "Early detection saves lives."