When lifelong Columbus resident Laverne Greene-Leech learned she had breast cancer and would need surgery followed by months of chemotherapy, she went to the store and bought some wigs and colorful scarves to wrap around her head.
“I have a girlfriend and a cousin that always says, ‘No matter what I’m going through, I’m gonna look pretty,'” Greene-Leech said.
Five years later — years which included surgery, radiation and chemotherapy — Greene-Leech has just been off chemo pills for six months. She said everything’s going well for her — well enough that she spoke about her fight with breast cancer to a crowd of city officials and downtown merchants at the “Winning Wednesday Breast Cancer Awareness Day” on the steps of City Hall Wednesday evening.
“When you think about cancer, you think about what?” she asked her audience. “Death. … Well I want to let you know, you don’t have to die.”
The ‘lucky’ one
Greene-Leech said what sticks out to her most about having breast cancer was the way she discovered it.
“I sat around for about a week or maybe two or maybe three saying, ‘Oh, it’s going to go away. It’s just a boil or something, or maybe it’s the new bra I bought that has rubbed me wrong,'” she told her audience at the breast cancer event Wednesday.
It still came as a surprise when her doctor confirmed it was cancer. Even though breast cancer was on her mind because a friend had just passed away from it, Greene-Leech knew breast cancer wasn’t common in her family.
“I looked at that doctor and I said, ‘No way I have breast cancer. It’s not in my family. My mother didn’t have it, my grandmother didn’t have it, none of my sisters have it,'” she said. “And he said to me, ‘You’re the lucky one that got it.’ Lucky?”
Gretta Gardner, a cousin to Greene-Leech, said the whole family was surprised after the diagnosis.
“We all questioned one another,” Gardner said. “And we’re just glad she found it in time, you know? She’s the only one that we know of that had it.”
She said while most of the family made sure to get mammograms, it still served as a wake-up call for them.
“Sometimes we get caught up with, ‘Well, my mama didn’t have it, my sister didn’t have it, my grandmama didn’t have it, so we don’t have to worry about it,'” Gardner said. “So I’m sure this was a wake-up call to my entire family and a lot of her co-workers.”
It was the first thing Greene-Leech impressed on her audience Wednesday: Be on the lookout for signs of cancer and receive routine mammograms and other tests.
“Examine yourself,” she said. “Know your body. Know when there’s something different.”
‘If you need to cry, cry’
The next thing Greene-Leech emphasized is being surrounded by positive people. Too often, she said, people will tell cancer patients about the time a friend or family member died or how hard it was on them or someone they knew going through chemotherapy. But that’s not what someone fighting cancer wants to hear, she said.
“I had a strong group of people who were with me, and that’s what made the difference,” she said. “… I had a lady that told me, ‘Make sure you prepare your meals before you have your treatment, because when you get home, you’re not going to want to eat.'”
Gardner said throughout her treatment, Greene-Leech didn’t give in to negativity about her situation.
“She’s such a jewel. She’s just an outgoing person,” Gardner said. “All through her treatment and everything, she never gave in and she never gave up.”
Greene-Leech said now she talks to all the women in her family — including her two daughters — about breast cancer and the importance of routine screenings. She told the crowd Wednesday she believes God saved her from cancer so she could be an encouragement to other people going through it.
“Keep the faith,” she said. “Say your prayer and do what you need to do. If you need to cry, cry. There’s nothing wrong with crying. Some days you may find that the tears just won’t stop. Well let them flow.
“And when they do stop,” she added, “dry your eyes, get up and put on a new headdress, put on some lipstick and get out.”
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