Her husband always pressured her to go the doctor. But she kept postponing her check-ups, maybe because she was afraid of getting bad news.
Finally, to placate her husband, Reyes Cabrera agreed to go to a clinic. And the nightmare she had feared came true. Last January she got a notice in the mail with the diagnosis that she had severe breast cancer and that there is also evidence that she had cervical cancer developing in her ovaries.
"This has been very hard for me. In March I had to have a mastectomy and then I had to have months of radiation and chemotherapy. There have been days when I thought I couldn’t take any more," says Reyes in a weak voice.
Reyes, who is originally from Michoacan but has lived for close to 20 years near San Jose, Calif., adds that her ordeal has not yet come to an end.
"Soon I will do more tests to determine the cause of the cancer because there is no history of the disease in my family. The doctors have said it is very possible that it might have started with me and, if appropriate, I will have my uterus and ovaries removed," she says in a distressed voice.
The only thing that’s given her strength is her family, says Reyes, who is 38 and a mother of four. "My husband has been very good to me; he has been my great support. If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t have gotten the test. From the beginning he told me he wouldn’t leave me alone and he hasn’t. My children, who are 19, 16, 9 and 3 years old, have also helped me a lot to keep going," the young woman says. READ MORE
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