“Two things I know for sure: I am not what happened to me; and metastatic breast cancer patients need to be counted and not ignored” - Shonte Drakeford
MK: Who is Shonte Drakeford?
SD: I am 33-year-old young woman. I am strong, silly and self-confident. I am positive, God-fearing and loving all. I am afraid and weak with flaws. I am a wife (11years married, 18years together). I am a nurse practitioner, who’s had a career as a Registered Nurse (RN) for 10years. I am an Army spouse. I am not a mom, but my life is filled with the love of children around me. I am ambitious, but humble. I am alive.
MK: When were you diagnosed and what was your diagnosis?
SD: Iwas diagnosed with Stage 4 (IV) Invasive Ductal Carcinoma (IDC) Metastatic Breast Cancer (MBC) Triple Positive at the age of 31, in June 2015, as my original diagnosis. The cancer spread to my lungs, lymph nodes, ribs, spine and left hip.
MK: What was your life like before you were diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer?
SD: Before cancer, my husband and I were care-free. We traveled and lived life to the fullest. I’d had a rough childhood being in and out of foster care, growing up in the inner city of Washington, DC, but I refused to let that define my outcome in life. We struggled with infertility for five years, trying IUI and IVF without success and was about to adopt a child, but I was diagnosed with breast cancer.
MK: What do you wish you'd know before being diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer?
SD: That Stage 4 does not mean instant death. Many people survive this disease for many years - up to even 20 years, it just means treatment is for life. Just to know it was even a possibility it would have assauged a lot of my fears.
MK: How has this experience changed your life?
SD: Living my new normal, I experience life even more freely with no fear. I live for the now and wait for nothing or no one. I cherish each day. I live with aches and pains daily, random nausea and vomiting, fatigue, menopause symptoms, and physical limitations. I am not as strong as I used to be but I’m making the best of it.
MK: Tell me about your advocacy work and why you choose to work with specific organizations.
SD: I work with many organizations as a patient advocate to help inform the community about Metastatic Breast Cancer. I’work with the Tigerlily Foundation, Fighting Cancer with Poetry, Bricyln Entertainment and the Metastatic Breast Cancer Project, offering patient and my medical perspective.
MK: What are the biggest misperceptions about breast cancer and how are you working to change them?
SD: One mis-perception is that everyone who gets breast cancer will be “bald”, Cancer has no specific “look”. I look fine on the exterior. People don’t think that I have cancer. At first they think that I look so healthy, and they have this disbelief, as If I should be looking terribly ill, with a bald head. This isn’t everyone’s case.
MK: What word do you wish you could take out of the breast cancer vocabulary?
SD: “Survivor”, and replace with “Surviving”. From Stage 0 to 4, we are all surviving, because there is NO CURE. Survivor is past tense. The mis-perception is that since the cancer is invisible by scans in the body, that it is cured. How can it be cured when it’s a 30% chance that it can return, and when that happens, it can return as Stage IV (“more aggressive”). No matter the years of remission or not remission, we are still SURVIVING.
MK: Why is MBC research so important?
SD: MBC patients need to be counted, and not ignored. Statically right now, MBC isn’t counted unless it’s your original diagnosis, which accounts for only 10% of the breast cancer population. What is being omitted is that those were diagnosed as Stage 0-3 and their cancer returns as Stage IV MBC. They are not counted in research. So, the misconception is that there is a smaller percentage of us living with MBC, therefore, we don’t need as much money for research, where in fact we do. Right now MBC research only receives 2% of funding. We need treatments that will keep us living for as long as possible. If other incurable diseases such as AIDS or diabetes can get maintenance medications to live long lives, why can’t we?
MK: What would you tell a newly diagnosed young woman?
SD: Don’t let anyone invalidate your feelings. How you feel is how you feel, but don’t let your feelings run you. Seek support; utilize the vast resources. Don’t do this alone. Stay strong, protected and positive.
MK: What is your biggest fear?
SD: Losing my autonomy. I want to do as much as I can while I can, until I can’t. I value my independence and freedom. Every day, cancer chips away at my self-sufficiency.
MK: What one word defines you?
SD: Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!!! I am SUPER, I am FRAGILE, and WONDERFUL with a side of goofy! LOL!