By Dr. Jessica Johnson
Guest Column
As Breast Cancer Awareness Month is winding down in October, one of my closest friends, Shawmeen Henderson, is on the cusp of a very special anniversary. Shawmeen works as a program quality specialist at the Huckleberry House in Columbus, Ohio, a crisis center that helps troubled youth, and next year she will celebrate a decade of being cancer free.
Shawmeen has taken much of 2023 to reflect on the grace of God through her journey of being made whole. This faith journey to beat breast cancer began in May 2014 when she made an appointment to see her primary physician to discuss a hardened lump in her right breast. “I felt the lump in November of 2013 while taking a shower,” Shawmeen recalls. “I had previously done breast self-exams at home, but I never took them seriously because I have dense breast tissue. This time, however, I knew something was wrong because this lump was hard, and my doctor immediately scheduled a breast MRI.”
The MRI results led Shawmeen’s doctor to schedule a breast biopsy, and when the results came back two weeks later, she was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer. The news was tremendously overwhelming for Shawmeen, who was only 37 at the time. After receiving her diagnosis, the first thing she did, while in tears, was call our pastor, Overseer S.D. Carter, who strengthened her spirit with encouragement and prayer. Shawmeen then notified her parents, family members and our church congregation.
I was instantly in shock as she described her condition. Those who know us well know that our friendship over the years has been one characterized by jovial wit. We laugh at the fact that we call our experiments with various recipes “concoctions” and that we probably snack way too much on cheddar cheese. On the serious side, Shawmeen pushes me in areas where I think I have the least ability and has always cautioned me against becoming prideful in my achievements. In essence, she is what women call “a sister-friend.”
Shawmeen had her chemotherapy treatments at the Stefanie Spielman Comprehensive Breast Center, a world-class facility named in honor of the late wife of former All-American Ohio State linebacker Chris Spielman. Shawmeen scheduled double treatments of chemo every other week because she did not want to overburden her parents who were coming from Youngstown, Ohio to Columbus to care for her. Her mother traveled on a Greyhound bus and her father drove throughout this biweekly arrangement. During this time, I tried my best to be supportive of whatever Shawmeen needed. I believed having her accompany me on two of my 2014 summer trips as I promoted my first book would be a nice change of pace, so Shawmeen happily booked her chemo treatments around our travel. We enjoyed the sites of Memphis, Tennessee at a history conference while staying in the famous Peabody Hotel, and we went to Hiram, Georgia, the hometown of my book subject, and took in the beauty of its peaceful countryside.
Shawmeen’s surgery to remove her right breast was performed in October 2014 at Ohio State University’s James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute, and while initially successful, it was discovered that the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes. Her second surgery to remove them took place in December. The final critical decision that Shawmeen had to make after her surgeries was whether to undergo radiation, which she immediately refused. She chose hormone therapy because she felt the odds against her cancer recurring after radiation were not low enough.
“The radiologist told me that with radiation there was a 20% chance of my cancer returning,” Shawmeen explained. “To me, that was too high and not worth it to have internal parts of my body burned. I had already been through enough turmoil.”
As Shawmeen has thought about how she persevered through that physical turmoil this month, she rejoiced in seeing her 47th birthday and in how by faith she is holding on to the promise of God through our pastor’s prayers that she will remain whole and cancer free. As she has shared her uplifting testimony with others, Shawmeen knows that many people will wonder why her life was spared and why God has called others home.
“I’ve often thought about why I’m still here,” Shawmeen expressed, “so I know that I have a specific purpose that God wants me to fulfil, and I’m going to diligently seek Him for this direction through the Holy Spirit. I am here to bless and impact someone else’s life, and I will never take this for granted.”
Dr. Jessica A. Johnson is a lecturer in the English department at The Ohio State University-Lima. Reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter @JjSmojc. Her opinion does not necessarily represent the views of The Lima News or its owner, AIM Media.
