Robyn Havard was sure she’d never get breast cancer.
As far as she knew in 2007, she had no family history of breast cancer. She always expected heart disease to be her primary concern and was so unworried about cancer she said she ignored advice to get mammograms.
“I remember sitting at a Little League game and there were four of us mothers sitting there. One of them had had a mammogram and we were discussing,” she said. “One of them said, ‘You know, they say one in four women will have breast cancer.’ I remember sitting there thinking ‘I wonder which one of them it will be.’ It was just so not something I was going to have. It wasn’t going to be me, and it turned out to be me.”
Havard was diagnosed in August 2007, shortly before turning 44 years old, with stage three breast cancer. By that time, the cancer — which she said was an aggressive form of breast cancer — had already spread to her lymph nodes.
Eddie Havard, Robyn’s husband, said there was “a lot of crying” when Robyn was diagnosed. But, he said, they worked together to stay positive as she fought the disease.
“She’s a pretty strong-willed person,” Eddie said. “We kept a positive attitude and were determined to beat it. Basically, all I was there for was positive support. I did everything I could to keep it positive and give her that support because she was going through a pretty rough time.”
Eleven years later, Robyn is a survivor. The diagnosis, she learned, was a lesson that sometimes things aren’t always as bad as you think.
“I found out that I had breast cancer at about 2 o’ clock in the afternoon on the day for orientation for my oldest son’s high school senior year,” she said. “So I had to go into that room and sit there and smile and act like all was good in the world so his world would not be rocked that particular day.”
Robyn takes preventative care much more seriously now. Since her diagnosis, she said, research has pointed to a possible link between aunts and nieces for developing breast cancer. Robyn said she’s had aunts and cousins diagnosed with breast cancer since she learned she had it.
She’s also encouraged her nieces to be more proactive in taking DNA testing to see if they’re genetically predisposed toward getting breast cancer.
“I don’t have any daughters, but it’s given my nieces the ability to go and get that testing done,” she said. “That way they can be more proactive, instead of reactive like their aunt was. … If the knowledge of what I went through helps my nieces, then I’m grateful for the ability to, in some way, help them.”
‘You’re not promised tomorrow’
Robyn’s journey wasn’t easy, but it’s shaped the way she views the world now.
She said she’s much more willing to do the things she wants to do now, where before she was more meticulous about planning things out.
“If I want to go to the beach, I go to the beach,” she said. “If I want to visit the mountains, I visit the mountains. If I want to visit an aunt, I go visit her. … Now it’s not uncommon for me to wake up on Monday morning, and my husband and I decide we want to go to a concert on Friday night in Colorado. We get in the car and go.”
Eddie said that’s been a good lesson for both of them.
“You’re not promised tomorrow,” Eddie said. “We realize that now. So if we decide we want to do something, we do our best to go ahead and do it.”
Robyn has now become a strong advocate for preventative care.
“A lot of cancers now are not death sentences, unless you let them get to that point,” Robyn said. “I felt really foolish. I think back now and I laugh, but really, truly, it would have made such a difference in my battle if I had found out early.
“To those women sitting out there thinking they don’t have time — I was busy,” she added. “That was one of the reasons I didn’t go. I made the comment that I didn’t have time to have breast cancer or to do anything about it if I do. That was dumb. Because let me tell you, time will stop and you will time to take care of what you need to.”
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
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