One in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer, according to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, and Marcie McDaniel, a 65-year-old Wheaton woman, was one.

McDaniel has worked at Cassville Mercy Hospital as the Environmental Services Lead for 7 years.

She was first hit with the turmoils of cancer who her mom was diagnosed with breast cancer.

“She had a mastectomy,” she said. “But, it was a long time ago, and she didn’t have chemotherapy.

“I took care of her and she went on with her life. Ten years later, the breast cancer had metastasized to her brain and her bones.”

By the time they found it, she had five months to live.

“That was hard and painful,” McDaniel said. “But, it was a blessing to take care of her and hold her hand.”

McDaniel said her experience began when she noticed a little red dot on her left nipple.

“It stayed there for about six months,” she said. “I was scared, and I was in denial. On May 1, 2016, I went to the doctor for a sinus infection. After the appointment I sort of just blurted out that I needed a mammogram.”

Her doctor did a breast exam, but she didn’t find any lumps.

“They sent me for the mammogram,” she said. “Then I got a call that they needed to get a biopsy.”

McDaniel was diagnosed with Stage 2 HR positive HER negative breast cancer on May 18, 2016.

“That weekend, I just cried and stayed in bed,” she said. “It was a very dark time. I didn’t want to get up, and I couldn’t stop crying.

“But, on Monday morning, I just got up and went to work.”

McDaniel started to get on the long list of things she needed to do for her treatment.

“I went to the surgery, and I got a port put in my collarbone,” she said. “On July 5, I started chemo. I had picked a doctor I was really excited about, but just a few days before my chemo started, he passed away in a car accident. For the first 6 weeks of chemo I didn’t have an oncologist. They would tell me, ‘If you have any concerns call your doctor.’”

McDaniel said she was sick, but she didn’t what to do.

“I found another doctor, but we never really connected,” she said. “But, my surgeon was amazing. I would trust him with my life — and I did.

“I had four months of chemo from July 5 to the end of November, and in January 2017, I had my left breast removed.”

Because of the type of cancer she had, McDaniel doctors were concerned about it metastasizing.

“The found a spot on my lung, and they were sure it was cancer,” she said. “I really didn’t think it was. I had inhaled a sunflower seed when I was a child, and I think it is scaring.

“But, they were sure they needed to do a biopsy, and when they tried, my lung collapsed.”

McDaniel ended up with Costochondritis, a severe lung pain.

“I still deal with that today,” she said. “I have these phantom pains in my lung that feels like a heart attack. I went to the ER recently because one was so bad.”

In the end, McDaniel never had the biopsy of her lung.

“They check it all the time,” she said. “But, my most recent MRI came back fine. I thank God. I just hit the five-year mark, which means there is a better chance it won’t come back.”

McDaniel said that doctors say if it comes back, it usually does at the two-year mark.

“I didn’t get radiation,” she said. “Because I can only get the radiation once, the doctor said I should wait in case it does come back.”

During her chemo treatments, McDaniel said she would get very tired.

“I had decided to drive myself, but they told me I would be sleepy,” she said. “I asked what made me sleepy, and they said it was an allergy medication they put in the shot to make sure I did have a reaction to the chemo medication. I asked them to try a non-drowsy kind and they did.”

McDaniel said she went into to treatment with a good attitude.

“I really believed this treatment would cure me,” she said. “I never lost hope of it being OK. I had a smile on my face with my prayer blanket and I prayed for everyone in treatment.”

McDaniel said the worst part was her Neulasta treatment, a bone marrow stimulant that helps the body make white blood cells after receiving cancer medication.

“It would release a needle and give a shot 24 hours after each chemo session, and it was more painful than anything,” she said. “The nights that would happen I would really struggle. I lived alone and there were a lot of times I was thankful for that. I was thankful I didn’t have to put anyone through that.”

McDaniel said she didn’t lose any weight during treatment because the steroids she was on made her hungry.

“I also didn’t have to miss much work,” she said. “That four months went by, then I had surgery. I stayed with a friend for two days and one night, but then I went home.”

McDaniel thinks a huge part of her recovery was that she stayed busy.

“I didn’t sit and dwell on the fact that I had breast cancer,” she said. “I stayed in prayer. I say, ‘The cancer,’ not my cancer – I am not holding on to that.”

In 2017, McDaniel was a Power of Pink recipient.

“It is a blessing to be in this community that really cares about you,” she said. “The past Power of Pink ladies often continue to fundraise for the current ladies. Janice is an amazing woman. She truly cares and they have helped so many women.”

McDaniel said she had her first mammogram at 35, but it was three or four years before she had another.

“After that I didn’t get another one until that doctors appointment in 2016,” she said. “I would do my own exams, but even with self-exams you need to get your annual mammogram.

“This cancer was growing in my body for two to three years before we found it. It is an extremely emotional experience when they tell you, you have cancer.”

McDaniel did not have reconstructive surgery.

“They said it wasn’t an option because of the spot on my lung,” she said. “Mercy in Cassville has a new 3-D mammogram machine. It is so much better and can find things in advance. It is still uncomfortable, but if anyone doesn’t want to go through that, they definitely don’t want to go through breast cancer.”

McDaniel said breast cancer changes you.

“If you are afraid to get checked every year, I can tell you it is much more scary when they tell you you have breast cancer that has been there for two years,” she said. “It doesn’t just affect you, it affects everyone around you. You owe it to yourself and the people you love to have a mammogram yearly.”

McDaniel said she carried cancer in her for two years without a single symptom.

“Please take your daughters, mother and neighbors to go get checked,” she said. “Since my diagnosis, I have had friends give out my number to people they know who get diagnosed. I make myself available to help guide them, or cry with them, whatever they need.

“I am a grandma now. I have to be here – they need me – you have to hold on to those things.”

McDaniel was featured for the Cassville Democrat’s breast cancer issue in 2017.

She said it is interesting to tell her story again today.

“I didn’t know what was going to happen then,” she said. “But, now I can look back at everything.”