DETROIT LAKES, Minn.--The irony doesn't escape Cassie Zacharias. As a nurse at Essentia Health in Detroit Lakes, it's her job to take care of others. But when it came to her own breast health, she fell a little short.
"I never checked my breasts. I figured I'm young and healthy. I have no family history of breast cancer. I had no risk factors," she says.
But cancer didn't care.
The 34-year-old wife and mom of two young children says she first noticed something was wrong when she got out of the shower one day back in 2012.
"I leaned over, and I could see it in my left breast--a lump the size of a golf ball," she says.
ADVERTISEMENT
The biopsy was not good: a diagnosis of triple-negative breast cancer, a particularly aggressive and hard-to-treat form of the disease.
"I thought I was going to die. You always think the worst," she says.
But then she jumped into action, urging her doctors to give her a mastectomy instead of lumpectomy. Chemotherapy and radiation would follow. A tough row to hoe, but something she endured with the help of her family, husband Josh, son Tate, 8, and daughter Mia, 6.
"They're just awesome. When I was diagnosed, Mia was only 3 and she asked, 'Can I watch when the doctor takes your booby off?' She's into the carnage," she laughs. Tate understood it more and can be a "serious worrier." But she says faith has been a help.
"I didn't think of myself as much of a believer, but this drove me to my knees, which is where I needed to be," she says.
By 2014, things were looking up. Her treatments were over and Zacharias was talking to her doctors about breast reconstruction when they discovered another tiny lump in what remained of her breast tissue. She underwent more treatment and had surgery to remove tissue in the left chest wall. She also had her right breast removed as a preventive measure. Later, a PET scan showed what doctors thought were nodules in her lungs. She is making periodic trips to the Mayo Clinic, where doctors continue to monitor their growth.
"It's reassuring for now. The nodules haven't grown. So that's good news. I'll go back in August for another checkup," she says.
This week, she's hoping to attend an event that has meant the world to her. Essentia Health is holding a "Life After Breast Cancer" conference Tuesday at Fargo's Holiday Inn. It's a day devoted to educating and empowering breast cancer survivors and their network of supporters, family and friends. Zacharias was a panelist at last year's event.
ADVERTISEMENT
"I love it! It's just so hard to talk to others about what you're going through. You never want to drag them down. But at the event, so many women are in the same situation. I've gotten a lot of hope there meeting people who have been through what I have and are healthy today," she says.
She hopes women who are fighting breast cancer will think about coming to the event. And even more importantly, she hopes all women won't take their health for granted.
"You've got to check yourself. I'm proof of that."
