"I don't regret..." Susie Massey, Survivor

Erin Adams

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“I don’t regret my mastectomy,” Susie says.

Although her mother beat breast cancer twice, Susie’s sister lost her life to ovarian cancer. A few years later, after having children, Susie felt brave enough to get tested for the breast cancer gene: her positive result gave her a much
higher chance of developing both breast and ovarian cancer, and she opted to preempt cancer by having her healthy ovaries removed at 32 years old. But just two years later, a breast MRI revealed a suspicious spot; it was breast cancer.

“It was just disappointing,” Susie says. “Disappointment magnified by 100.” After chemo and radiation, she had a double mastectomy.

“The thought of your children not having a mother is more than somebody can think about really,” she says, but she managed to find a silver lining. “I would’ve never known how much my husband loved me if I had not gone through that and seen him help take care of me. That was life changing, too.”

-Aleigh Acerni