COATICOOK. Sometimes fear and force can act as powerful agents of change. It is exactly because of these two feelings that Chantale Jacques was able to discover cancer that was hiding in one of her breasts and, ultimately, fight it.
2015 and 2017. Two difficult years in the career of Coaticookoise Chantale Jacques. “My mother had to fight two breast cancers,” she says. Since it was located in the same place, it was impossible to do radiation therapy twice. So we had to remove her breast. »
This stage was relatively difficult for the whole family. “It opened my eyes. I had some fear that the disease was genetic, as is sometimes the case. So I decided, with my sister, that we were going to have a mammogram, just for prevention. »
A few days after her mother’s delicate operation, she gets an appointment for a test. “It went well. I left thinking I had nothing. The next day, I was called back to go for a second mammogram, claiming that the first had been taken incorrectly. That aroused some suspicions in me. After this, the doctor told me that we had found a mass and that we now had to do an ultrasound. »
“It was quite a shock for me. A real tragedy, I admit. I had just experienced this episode with my mother and I was told that I was going to embark on this same process. »
Additional tests showed that the lump found in Mrs. Jacques’ breast was cancerous and required surgery. “The problem is that for several years I had been saving a little to go on a trip to Alberta to see my sister. I asked the doctor if the operation was absolutely urgent, which it was not, so I flew to Western Canada. Even though it was planned before the announcement of my cancer, traveling was my way of getting off the hook in a way. It was not true that illness was going to prevent me from living this great adventure. All of this did me a lot of good before the treatments. »
Once back on Quebec soil, the 49-year-old Coaticookoise had to go under the knife. But first, she had to notify her clientele that she could no longer offer her massage therapy services for a certain period of time. The operation took place in August 2017 and the cancerous mass was removed. “I thought it was going to be over, but it wasn’t. The doctor told me it was worse than he thought, that the cancer was micro-invasive. We had to go and see if the lymph nodes had been affected. If so, he had to go to chemotherapy. Luckily it wasn’t, but I still had to undergo radiation therapy. Every day, from Monday to Friday, I had to go to the CHUS. The treatment as such does not hurt, but it is afterwards that it becomes painful. It burns like you’ve had a sunburn. It can also make water bells. Usually, a cream is prescribed for relief. But, that wasn’t working for me. The places that were treated had to be bandaged. »
Thanks to these treatments and a good dose of courage, the main interested party has overcome the disease. “I am happy to say that I am a survivor. When we succeed in winning our fight, it changes our philosophy of life. For my part, we experienced all this as a family, my mother having had it, as well as my sister and my father who unfortunately died of it. [pour ce dernier il s’agissait d’un cancer du cerveau]. »
According to Ms. Jacques, telling her story is good. “It is also for this reason that I said yes to the Relay for Life organization to be one of its ambassadors a few years ago. I find it important to talk about it, to break down certain taboos and also to do prevention. Breast cancer is a real scourge that unfortunately affects far too many women. If it can be detected even earlier, that’s even better, because the chances of the disease being at a more advanced stage are lower. We can save more women. »
And these survivors can thus continue their lives and realize certain dreams, as Chantale Jacques did by uniting her destiny with her spouse Michel Samson, last summer. “It’s so important to enjoy life and that’s what I plan to do,” she concludes.