She beat cancer, but didn’t feel like a survivor

Tammy Adams is a breast cancer survivor and a huge supporter of the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life.

“I got the card in the mail that said it was time for my checkup. I ignored it. I got another card. I ignored it, too. Then I had to go in for something else and I was like, you know what, I may as well get my mammogram since they’ve been bugging me about it.

“Afterward, they said there’s something they wanted to look at again. So I thought, OK, no big deal. Even when I got my biopsy I thought, this happens to a lot of people, it’s probably nothing.

“Well, they caught it very early, so I didn’t have to have chemo or radiation. I had a mastectomy. Immediately I said, just take it. I want to get rid of it. So I didn’t have to have any follow-up treatments. I was extremely lucky.

“The first few years when people would make a big deal about it, I didn’t understand why. I never thought that I wasn’t going to still be around, so I tried to downplay it. When the fifth year came, they really made a big deal about it. They said five years is a milestone. I guess that’s when I started feeling a little like a survivor.

“Because I didn’t go through chemo or radiation, and I didn’t have any major pain, it was like a little blip on the radar. It’s not that I feel like a fraud. But when I see other people who struggle with their cancer experience I think, those are the real survivors. They should be celebrated. Me, I don’t feel like I’m in that category because I didn’t suffer like they did.”

— Tammy Adams