FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM OCTOBER 14, 2021 • THE QUEENS COURIER 29
breast cancer awareness
East Elmhurst resident speaks on cancer journey,
urges women to get annual mammogram screening
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
CMOHAMEDSCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
QNS
Faith has kept Michelle Robinson,
67, of East Elmhurst, optimistic on her
path to recovery as she went through
surgery, rounds of chemotherapy and
radiation following the removal of a
lump from her right breast.
Robinson, who is a business
administrator at Bethel Gospel Assembly
Inc. in Harlem, was diagnosed
in February of this year
with stage 1 triple negative
breast cancer, an aggressive
form of cancer that aff ects
many African American
women.
“If I had not been
consistent on having
my mammograms
annually,
and if I didn’t go
this past February
to get
my mammogram
and
had ignored
it, the outcome
would’ve
been diff erent,”
Robinson
said.
In 2020, Robinson had a mammogram
before the city shut down due to the COVID
19 pandemic. Earlier this year, Robinson
had a mammogram and was
told that she
needed to
have
a n
ultrasound and a biopsy, all of which was
done in three hours, she said.
On Feb. 17, she received a phone call from
her doctor saying that they saw something
that had to be removed.
“I saw a surgeon that aft ernoon
and two weeks
later I had surgery,”
said Robi
n s on,
w h o
received
treatment at NewYork-Presbyterian
Columbia University Irving Medical Center.
“It all happened very quickly, and because it
was an early detection I sensed that everything
was going to be okay.”
Following surgery, Robinson was
told that she was cancer free and
had to endure six rounds of chemotherapy
over a period of four
months. On Oct. 6, Robinson
completed fi ve weeks of radiation,
which she has been
going to for fi ve days a week.
“Th ey had to treat it in an
aggressive mode to ensure
that it would not spread
anywhere else in my body,”
Robinson said.
Th ere was never any doubt
in Robinson’s mind that it
would be a diffi cult process, she
said.
“I never had to have a mastectomy,
so maybe things
would’ve been different
if I had one. I was never
nauseous, but I lost my
appetite,” Robinson said.
“Some days my body felt a
lot of stress immediately
aft er chemotherapy. I was
in some pain.”
According to Robinson, she had an
excellent support network through family,
friends and her church family. Since
radiation wasn’t as stressful on her body,
she was
able to take herself to those treatments,
she said.
Having taken care of her parents who
had cancer, Robinson said she understood
the process of chemotherapy and radiation,
and that knowledge helped.
“My outlook was different from the
person who had absolutely no interaction
with anyone that faced cancer,”
Robinson said. “I made up my mind
that I was going to go through it like
a champion. My parents kept their
outlook positive because of their
faith and prayer. I never heard
them complain.”
For anyone who is going
through their own journey,
Robinson says it’s important
to have a great support system.
“Ask every possible question
and if you don’t know
how to ask, find someone
else who you may know have
gone through it or look up
questions online to ask your
surgeon,” Robinson said.
“Also, make sure you develop
a very good relationship with
your surgeon.”
Read more on QNS.com.
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Photo courtesy of Robinson
East Elmhurst resident Michelle Robinson is cancer free thanks to a mammogram screening and early detection that saved her life.
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