October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. One northern Illinois woman is sharing her story of survival and urging others to pay attention to their bodies
Most women should start breast cancer screenings at the age of 40. Yearly mammograms are encouraged for women between the ages of 45 and 54, according torecommendations from the American Cancer Society.
Sycamore resident Renita Birt wasn’t close to any of those ages, so imagine her concern when she was diagnosed at the age of 35. She said she first noticed a lump in 2017. She had a mammogram, but nothing was confirmed at that time. She was simply told she had lumpy breasts.
In 2019, the lump became more apparent, and she also developed another lump underneath her armpit.
“It felt like a little knot. And I thought maybe it was swollen or something. And honestly, at that time, too, I was getting my tattoo removed,” Birt explained. “So, I thought maybe it was an infection from the ink.”
Birt said breast cancer isn’t genetic for her, but she knew something wasn’t right, so she demanded another mammogram.
“I wasn't feeling well at all. My skin was breaking out. I'm a person who wakes up at five in the morning,” she explained. “I was not waking up at five. I was tired, I would work and just be exhausted.”
March of 2020, when most people were trying to grapple with the onset of the pandemic, Birt had to unravel another reality.
“I remember driving with my daughter. I picked her up from high school. She was a sophomore in high school, and I picked her up,” Birt explained. “And I was driving home, and I got a call from the hospital. And it was the surgeon and she said -- I heard her loud and clear -- she said, ‘I'm sorry, Renita but it's cancer.’”
Birt said she was on speaker phone and her teenage daughter heard the conversation, which she said was not how she wanted her to find out.
Birt immediately started aggressive treatment. This consisted of radiation, four types of chemotherapy, and surgery.
Birt opted for a full mastectomy. She said she really didn’t have to do it, but she was afraid the cancer could come back. This amputation left her feeling less than a woman.
“It was horrible. It was awful. I mean, there's no other word. You look deformed,” she added. “I mean, you have a breast, an organ that's gone. So, when you look in a mirror, you just have one breast, and it was devastating.”
She lived with this for 7 months. In March of this year, she finished reconstructive surgery and now at the age of 37 she is cancer free.
But the chemotherapy revealed another ailment for Birt.
“It triggered all my symptoms for Chiari malformation. So, during treatment, I kept telling them that ‘I'm forgetting things,’” she said. “I would leave the doctor office and I'd be like, ‘I don't remember what I'm supposed to do next.’ And they said, ‘Oh, you just have chemo brain.’”
Chiara malformation is a condition where brain tissue spreads into the spinal canal. For her, the symptoms include forgetfulness, pounding headaches, issues with pronouncing certain words and other things.
She credits her faith in God and the support of her family for helping her make it throughout the cancer journey.
“My daughter throughout treatment, she just kept saying you'll be fine. Her faith is humongous,” Birt said. “And it helped me get through so much. She said ‘just do your treatment. I know you'll be fine.’ My family kept saying that so much.”
She said her younger sister stepped in as her caregiver during this time.
“And it's ironic because that's what I did. As a case manager, I would put in services -- caregiver services,” she explained. “I would make sure my members were going to their doctor appointments having mammograms done. So, it was just ironic that now I became a member, a client, patient, whatever you want to call it, but it was just ironic.”
Birt wants all women to know that they must advocate for themselves when it comes to their health.
“If you feel like something's wrong – offbeat with yourself, make sure you just follow up,” she urged. “Diagnostic imaging, diagnostic testing is so important, and I think early on, a lot of these things can be prevented.”
Birt explained that she doesn’t think she would have had to go through extreme measures if she was diagnosed earlier on.
She is recommending that women look at their medical records and keep track of everything that is documented. And she said if something doesn’t feel right, keep fighting for answers.
- Yvonne Boose is a current corps member for Report for America, an initiative of the GroundTruth Project. It's a national service program that places talented journalists in local newsrooms like WNIJ. You can learn more about Report for America at wnij.org.
