Corbin woman recounts bout with breast cancer

Baptist Health Corbin recently hosted a breast cancer support group event for patients and their friends and family members. It was the first in a planned series of support group gatherings aimed at encouraging breast cancer patients as they continue their fight against the deadly disease.

For this initial gathering, Baptist partnered with the Whitley County Fine Arts Cooperative Extension office to present a special painting class, titled “Painting for a Cause.” Several ladies attended, including Corbin’s own Brittany Boswell, who spoke about her personal experiences as a breast cancer patient.

“I noticed the lump myself,” Boswell said, adding that pain in the area of the mass eventually became too much to ignore. “Once I got to the cancer center at Baptist Health I knew before the biopsy that something was not right. It was about a fist-sized lump on my left breast, and the biopsy did confirm that it was cancer.”

Obviously, this troubling news would disrupt every aspect of Boswell’s life, but she said that working with Baptist Health personnel made the process much easier.

“They were good to me, and good to my family,” Boswell said of the Baptist doctors and nurses. “They helped us, and answered any questions that we had.”

After undergoing a double mastectomy to remove the breast cancer in May of last year, Boswell also ended up receiving chemotherapy treatments for a spot that was discovered on her lung. She began taking medication to keep the cancer from returning, and has been cancer free since September 2021.

Boswell’s experiences have caused her to truly realize the importance of early detection when it comes to breast cancer, as she herself unknowingly lived with cancer until it got to a point where it became potentially life threatening.

“I didn’t know half of what I needed to know until after we found out the cancer was there,” Boswell said. “It’s important to know your body, and if something doesn’t feel right, ask questions. No question is a dumb question. If you feel like something isn’t normal, get to a doctor and make sure.”

Boswell has two daughters, ages nine and fourteen, and she is already telling them about the dangers of breast cancer, and the steps that they can take to hopefully avoid it. “I don’t want it to happen to them,” she said. “I want them to be cautious, and be aware of what is going on with their bodies. I think it needs to be talked about more with younger girls.”

As for the importance of continuing support, such as the group activities being offered at Baptist Health Corbin, Boswell said, “Nobody truly understands what a patient is going through unless they’ve been through it themselves. They don’t know how it feels. I think it is important to get the support groups going again, because I know that things could’ve gotten very dark for me if I didn’t have my family and friends. Not everyone is lucky enough to have people like that to talk to, so having these groups is very important.”

For more information on what Baptist Health is doing to help breast cancer patients, visit them online at www.baptisthealth.com.