Donna Haynes, 733rd Civil Engineer Division environmental programs assistant, holds breast cancer awareness items at her desk at Fort Eustis, Va., Oct. 19, 2015. Haynes was diagnosed with breast cancer Sept. 24, 2015, and advocates the importance of receiving mammograms, as the checkup found the 8 millimeter sized cancerous tumor in her breast.
Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va. — Each October, Fort Eustis Fire Department personnel don pink shirts to raise awareness for breast cancer, but this year the cause hits close to home as a member of their team, Donna Haynes, was recently diagnosed with the disease.
Haynes, who has worked at Fort Eustis for 24 years and has been a part of the Civil Engineer Division for 17 years, was diagnosed with Stage 1 breast cancer on Sept. 24, 2015.
According to Haynes, she was lucky the abnormality was even found during her annual mammogram as it was roughly 8 millimeters in diameter and hidden at the back of the breast plate, making it difficult to locate.
Haynes starts her first step in treatment this month with the tumor removal. After the extraction, the doctors will test her lymph nodes to determine whether the cancer has affected them, which determines whether she remains a Stage 1 patient or becomes a Stage 2. At Stage 1, she currently faces four chemotherapy treatments.At Stage 2 those treatments double. As soon as the chemotherapy is complete, she will go through 33 days of radiation therapy to destroy any remaining cancer cells.
Haynes knows she faces weeks of having barely enough strength to get out of bed coupled with more complications ranging from nausea to severe pain as the chemotherapy attacks not only the cancer, but her entire immune system. With that ahead, she has times where she has to sit and catch her breath, overwhelmed with thoughts of scenarios she could encounter. But the fear subsides when Haynes reminds herself that she is the one in control, not the cancer.
What makes it easier is that she isn’t taking care of it alone, Haynes said. Her support comes from not only her family, including her daughter and coworkers, but also from her bowling team and church groups who display their individual acts of support through prayer, awareness campaigns or hugs.
As Haynes enters the beginning phase of her recovery, rather than considering her diagnosis a setback, she’ll use her experience and knowledge as a tool to educate and advocate the importance of prevention from a battler’s perspective.