From Physician to TNBC Patient: ‘Your Health is Worth Fighting For’

Photo courtesy of LaToya Bolds-Johnson Imagine being a healthcare professional, confident in your knowledge and expertise, only to find yourself on the other side of the medical chart, diagnosed with a serious illness. This was the reality for LaToya Bolds-Johnson, a physician assistant, with 12 years of experience when she was diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer at the age of 36 with no prior family history. “I initially didn’t think it was anything more than possibly a retained milk cyst,” she recalls. “I had recently stopped breastfeeding, and I was working in the ER at the time.” Despite her instincts, Bolds-Johnson encountered resistance when she insisted on a mammogram that her doctor had ordered.  “The feedback that I received from the radiology tech at that time was…I think your physician made a mistake ordering the mammogram,” Bolds-Johnson adds. “I was like no she ordered it and I still [want it] done and so I had to push.” The mammogram revealed abnormal findings, leading to a biopsy that she had to undergo without her husband by her side due to the pandemic.  During the biopsy or aspiration procedure, she vividly remembers thinking, “Man, I hope this is not cancer” as the...