Tezhunnae's triumph

In today's Spotlight VALDEEN SHEARS speaks to three women who triumphed over breast cancer and are living their best lives. The first account is with Tezhunnae Glasgow. Read more inspirational stories in the WMN magazine.

Allison Atherley-Glasgow provided her daughter with an example on overcoming daily struggles with true grace. Now that young woman, faced with those same struggles, wants to pass on the gift of inspiring others.

It took a lot of inner strength for Tezhunnae (pronounced Teh-jun-aye) Glasgow, 22, to open up about her journey facing breast cancer from two angles.

She literally had only one week to grieve the passing of her mother when she too was forced to become a survivor.

"I am glad I got to see cancer from both ends of the table. I got to see and experience how it affects family members and friends, what it takes from them, and then I got to see the strength my mother had to muster to fight through it all," Glasgow said.

In March 2017, Glasgow's mother died, at 60, having battled the disease three times before. She had been diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 45 and her youngest daughter was a Standard Three student.

"I remember getting home from school, and asking Daddy where Mummy was. He said she had gone to the theatre. I smiled and said, 'Oh,she gone to watch a movie.' He later explained to me when we were going to visit her at hospital, that she had surgery," recalled Glasgow.

Tezhunnae's Journey

She was 21 when she discovered a painful lump in her left breast. Although hesitant, she shared the discovery with her elder sister, Tesherra, 30 and asked her advice.

Doctors told the sisters cancerous breast lumps were usually not painful. The lump was deemed an abscess and Glasgow was prescribed antibiotics and painkillers.

But the pain refused to go away. When the fluid from the lump was tested, the results read "benign." Doctors, though, decided on a lumpectomy, which was done in September 2017.

Unknown to Glasgow, the doctors had sent samples of the lump to be biopsied.

On September 25, Glasgow, accompanied by her elder sister, again visited the doctor’s office.

"He said Stage Two breast cancer and I looked out the window and down the hill. The hospital is on a hill (San Fernando), and all I remember is looking down and seeing my whole life flash across my mind. I saw myself in pre-school with my parents, in primary school, time with my brother, Teison, and sister, with my mom. Then I felt my sister holding me up," she recalled.

The lump was sent to Jamaica and the US for further testing. Glasgow said she had watched her mother beat cancer time and again through prayers and fasting, so she did just that.

The results, though, were almost unchanged. The lump progressed, in less than a month, to Stage Three r and was described by her doctors as extremely aggressive.

In an emergency mastectomy, on November 8, 2017, Glasgow's breast was removed.

"My surgery was scheduled for noon that day, but the doctor visited me just before 9 am. The doctor looked me in the eye and told me if I didn't have the surgery right away, I could be dead by the end of December. He said I was not sure to live to see 2018," she recalled.

Chemotherapy was recommended to stop malignant cells from migrating to other parts of her body.

Glasgow recalled preparing herself for seeing the scars for the first time.

"I asked the nurse for five minutes to mentally prepare myself, but I remembered my mom’s scars and how she wore her removal well. She was known for her sense of style. She was always well made up, hair done, fitted clothes, nails done. Then I looked down and I thought, 'Okay, I am much more comfortable with this than I felt I would be.' The cancer had taken a part of me, but nothing that mattered more than life itself...and then there was my mom. I preferred to live with one breast than die with two," she said.

Both she and her father had been referred to the hospital psychiatrist, but counselling, she said, felt mechanical. Glasgow opted instead to delve further in the Bible and to surround herself with music.

Fear of the chemo chairs

Her first session of chemo began on December 1, 2017. She started losing her hair a week later. The injection to build blood cells needed between sessions proved too strong for Glasgow, which resulted in seizures.

"I developed a fear for the big, comfy chemo chairs and to this day I still refuse to sit in chairs that look like them."

Glasgow remembered slipping into depression. Again she turned to God and music.

Her lowered blood count also meant being defenceless against even a sneeze. She was told to wear a mask when going out, and to call ahead to find out if anyone was ill where she was going.

Through her journey, she said, she remained thankful for the support of her family, best friend Heidi Haneiph and a host of friends and well-wishers.

Glasgow was prescribed medication that would push her into menopausge, which resulted in hot flashes.

Her father, though, remedied that when he mysteriously asked her to stay at a friend's home for a few days.

"Sure enough, when I got home, there was an AC unit installed in my bedroom. He showed us his quiet strength, but I knew he cried when he saw me bald-headed for the first time, because it took him back to watching my mom fight for her life against cancer. But he remained strong in front of us, all the time," she remembered.

Glasgow has since completed her treatment and is scheduled for reconstructive surgery in December.

"What I would like to say to anyone facing a struggle, whether it's diseases, financial problems, family issues: find comfort in God and find someone trustworthy to confide in. If you are facing fighting cancer, then I would be happy to listen.

"I know it’s hard, it’s a long road ahead, but it will come to an end."