Survivor Story: The Unwanted Birthday Present

Survivor: Andrea Wickstrom
By: Janet Scherr

On the day before her 37th birthday, Andrea Wickstrom was told that she had breast cancer.  It was a day that changed her life and a year that she will never forget.

As an in home daycare provider, Andrea had become well acquainted with her clients and considered many of them as friends. One day in the summer of 2010, a mom came to pick up her daughters from daycare. “I noticed that she had been crying,” remembers Andrea. “I asked her if everything was alright and she told me she had breast cancer! I was in shock because she was only 40 years old! I could not stop thinking about her all night.”

Although Andrea was usually faithful about doing monthly self-exams, her friend’s cancer news made her realize that it had been at least three months since she had last checked her breasts. That night in the shower she felt a lump that had been detected previously, which the doctor had dismissed as dense tissue.  To her dismay, it had grown. “I was horrified! I couldn't get out of my mind that I had cancer too,” she says.  “My husband urged me to go to the doctor just to ease my mind. So I saw the same doctor as before and when I told her about how my lump had grown and about my friend, she once again dismissed it as dense tissue.  But she did recommend that I get a mammogram to ease my anxiety.”

Two days later, Andrea’s mammogram screening prompted the technicians to request an immediate ultrasound. The radiologist told Andrea he wanted her to come back the next day for a needle biopsy, which she did the following morning. Then she had to wait for the results. “It was the most excruciating and nerve wracking four days of my life,” Andrea winces. “Four days later, the day before my birthday, I was told that I had stage 3 breast cancer.”

As Andrea embarked upon her journey to recovery, she was thankful to have friends and family who worked at the clinic and hospital. They helped her get through the long days and weeks of therapy. She even gained a new close friend during her chemotherapy treatments, whom she honored last year at Cal Expo. For the 2011 Race for the Cure, Andrea created a team for herself, her new friend and the friend/client who’s own ordeal set in motion Andrea’s cancer discovery.

“I had a huge team and I was so proud that my family and friends joined me at the Race,” she exclaims. “Also, when asked, I will go to I-V therapy and talk with young patients currently undergoing chemotherapy. Sometimes it helps to talk with someone who has already gone through it.”

Looking back at her family history, Andrea recounts that although no one on her mother’s side had breast cancer, two aunts and three cousins on her father’s side had the disease. 

This summer she will celebrate her two-year survivor milestone and continue to appreciate every moment of every day. “Surviving breast cancer has helped me to let go of the petty things and to forgive and love,” Andrea says. “It has taught me it is okay to show your feelings...if you feel sad, cry, if you love someone tell them every chance you get!”