Alaine Stevens

Springfield, MO

Breast Cancer Survivor

In the past three years of my life, I feel like I’ve both concluded and started several new seasons or chapters in my life.

Cancer season
2003 was a hectic year in my life. In the first half of the year, my daughter married; I was in a terrible accident that totaled my car; and my mother had open-heart surgery. I was working 40-plus hours and also ministering at the church in which my husband and I both pastor. I was under great pressure, wasn’t eating or sleeping well and probably just depressed my immune system. In the second half, my granddaughter was born – on my birthday in July – and, then, in October, I found a lump in my breast, which, following tests and a lumpectomy, turned out to be ductal carcinoma. It was Stage 3, very aggressive, already in three lymph nodes and spreading.

The surgeon in Springfield told me I’d need a mastectomy, and I told him I’d like a second opinion. I was convalescing at home with my mom, watching television, when, within one hour and switching to numerous channels, we saw a commercial for Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) at least five times. My mom asked me if I thought God was trying to tell me something, and I agreed He was, so we wrote down the number.

I called and talked to Sharon, an Oncology Information Specialist, who spent an hour and a half with me, answering my questions and quieting my fears. I felt such peace talking to her, the same peace I’d felt earlier when I’d first learned I had cancer. It was a peace that surpassed understanding … I had cancer, and while I didn’t understand the journey I’d have to walk, and had some fears about that, somehow, I knew the end would be good.

Sharon had my insurance approved and my appointment scheduled within five days, so my husband Denny and I drove down to Tulsa to meet the doctors and staff. To me, that was amazing. The first doctor I saw also spent an hour and a half with me, explaining the cancer, what CTCA was all about, what the philosophy of treatment was about and how I’d be treated. He told me about the psychologist, the nutritionist, the pain management I’d get … all the additional treatments CTCA offers that no one ever mentioned to me in Springfield.

I also met with Dr. Greeff, the surgeon. He agreed I’d need a mastectomy. We talked about all my family members, both maternal and paternal, who had breast cancer, and agreed that a double mastectomy made sense. I opted to have that done in Springfield as he felt they could do that there, and I wanted the support of my family with me.

Following the surgery, I did see an oncologist in Springfield. He spent 15 minutes with me. What a difference from the wonderful experience I’d had at CTCA. I knew then that Tulsa was where I needed to be for the rest of the cancer journey. So, on Dec. 30, 2003, my 25th wedding anniversary, I started the first of seven chemo treatments. I’d decided against radiation, since it would have damaged my lung and heart because of where the tumor had been before it was removed.

I’d been told my hair would fall out within two weeks, but I went a few days longer than that. When it did start to go, a friend of my daughter’s, who’s a stylist, came to my home one evening to shave my head. There were friends there for moral support. I went in the bathroom to look at myself, and when I came out, Denny, my husband, had also had his head shaved to support me. He said I was bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh and why shouldn’t he go through what I was going through. That meant so much to me. I still cry about it when I remember all the support he’s given me through the entire journey.

During that winter, as I made trips to Tulsa for treatment, I concentrated on my granddaughter, for whom I was caring. It made the chemo not so bad. She was a special gift to me from God. He whispered that in my heart one time when I was holding her, reminding me that she’d been born on my birthday for a reason, and telling me He loved me so much. He knew that a few months later, I’d receive the cancer diagnosis, and He wanted me to have her as tangible proof of His love as I went through everything.

In the intervening time since then, I’ve been looking for something to help me feel normal again. We’ve gone back regularly to CTCA for check-ups, and while everything has been fine, I was still wanting something that felt normal.

“New normal,” new ministry season
In March/April of this year, three things took place that helped usher out one season and open the next for me.

In March, our church, Living Hope Fellowship, sponsored CTCA’s spiritual outreach, called Our Journey of Hope, in Springfield to conduct lay ministry training for over 80 congregants from many area churches. At that time, we also birthed a new ministry, Living Hope Foundation, a cancer support group to meet the needs of cancer patients and their families in our area. The training took place on the second anniversary of the end of my chemotherapy.

And somehow, in conjunction with it, I started feeling a “new normal.” I’d never be the same person I was before cancer. I knew myself better … I’d discovered Alaine through the journey, who I really was, what I was made of. I knew God better. I’d drawn so close to Him. I knew my life before had been preparation for where I was now, in the call God had placed on my life, touching the lives of people we could have never reached if I hadn’t gone through cancer.

And third, I started reconstruction, which said to me that cancer was over, and I was in a new season.

In July 2006, I was back for a PET and bone scan, and they were clear. As far as the doctors can tell, I’m cancer free. I count it a privilege that I’ve been able to be treated at CTCA in Tulsa. We’ve developed relationships there with so many people who spoke hope and healing into my life, such as Darlene, Adeline and Gloria. I wouldn’t be where I am now if I hadn’t gone to CTCA. We’ve become close to the whole Pastoral Care department through our ministry together with Our Journey of Hope. I’m excited to see what God’s going to do now. Because of Living Hope Foundation, we get calls from people who need a second opinion, who need hope. We tell them about CTCA in Tulsa and our experience there.

I’ll celebrate my third year as a survivor in October. I can’t wait until I’m a five-year survivor and CTCA plants a tree in my honor. I mean, what other hospital plants a tree for you? That’s exciting. I wouldn’t want to go through cancer again, but I’m thankful for all God’s brought out of my cancer journey for the good, in my life and in the lives of those we are now able to touch.