“I Needed Emotional Support Too”: Survivor on the Mental Toll of Cancer

Photo courtesy of Crystal Champion Breast cancer is an overwhelming diagnosis at any stage, but when it comes at a young age, it can be even more jarring.  Early Diagnosis: The Power of Proactivity At 38, Crystal Champion, a physical therapist who specializes in cancer rehabilitation, had an unexpected turn in her life when she was diagnosed with stage 0 breast cancer. Although her career had centered around helping cancer patients recover physically, she found herself on the other side of the diagnosis. “When I began this work in 2016, most of my patients were breast cancer survivors. Knowing my family history of breast cancer on my father’s side and seeing breast cancer so often, I was very proactive about screenings. I had my first mammogram at 37 years old, and it was completely normal. However, a year and a half later, at 38, my mammogram showed changes in my left breast, so I was called back for a diagnostic mammogram,” she tells BlackDoctor.org. While the diagnosis was shocking, Champion found solace in knowing that she had caught the cancer early, an essential factor in her eventual treatment and recovery. “I served on the hospital’s cancer committee and always remembered...