Survivor Turns Breast Cancer Diagnosis Into Mission to Help Others
by REBEKAH PIERCE
For most of us, celebrating our birthdays means lighting some candles on a cake, perhaps enjoying a nice dinner out with family and friends, or going on a relaxing weekend trip.
Caitlyn Grady’s 40th birthday plans looked a lot different last year.
The Winter Haven resident turned 40 at the end of October 2023. Rather than receiving a birthday gift she’d be happy to unwrap, she received something none of us ever wishes to receive: a cancer diagnosis.
Receiving the Diagnosis
“I was at the beach and my primary care called to schedule me for my mammogram,” Grady says.
She didn’t think much of it. She’d always known that mammograms were important. “From when I was a little girl, my mom always drilled into my mind: Once you turn 40, you get your first mammogram.”
The advice turned out to be more important than Grady could have ever imagined. Although she didn’t think she had a family history of breast cancer — a belief that would turn out to be incorrect when she discovered that her great aunt and cousin both battled the disease — something told her that getting a mammogram as early as possible was important.
She went in for the mammogram on November 7, and just two days later, her primary care doctor called her to let her know they’d found a 2-centimeter mass. What followed next was a flurry of appointments, diagnostic tests, and a whole lot of waiting.
“The hurry up, get the test done, then wait — that’s the worst part,” she recalls. She made the most of the waiting game, researching everything she could find about breast cancer.
Grady was eventually diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma — the most common type of breast cancer and one that starts in the milk ducts — in her left breast. Her doctor, Dr. Vanessa Prowler at the Hollis Cancer Center in Lakeland explained that her cancer was estrogen-related and that she had, fortunately, a slow-growing cancer that had not metastasized.
Mammograms Matter — Perhaps the Most
Because of Grady’s young age, she never would have expected to find cancer in her very first mammogram. Nor did she experience any signs that something was amiss leading up to the diagnosis.
“I did self-exams in the shower,” she says, “but I wouldn’t have been able to feel it.”
After she was diagnosed, she says, she got down on her knees and prayed. “If there’s a reason why this is happening, please let me know,” she recalls saying.
Now, she views it as her mission to remind other women of the importance of screenings.
“I joined Facebook groups [after my diagnosis] and there are so many young people in their 20s and 30s getting this,” she says. “I think the first mammogram should be at 25, not 40.”
Originally, she had planned to wait to share her journey until she was done with radiation. Fortunately, her slow-growing cancer did not require chemotherapy. Her instinct yet again won out and she posted on Facebook in January of 2024, letting her friends and family know she had been diagnosed and encouraging them to take care of their own health, too.
“There’s power in knowledge,” she added. “If you do get that news, do research so you don’t feel like, ‘Where do I go from here?’ ”
Her words made an impact. She’s spoken to several friends and coworkers who, thanks to her urging, went to have their mammograms. Some of them have also been diagnosed with breast cancer.
“I hope nobody ever gets breast cancer,” Grady says. “But they’ll have me as support.”
If it weren’t for her own “pink sisters,” she says, the journey would have been incredibly challenging.
The Power of Connection
Just recently, Grady visited Disney World. She took a picture in front of the castle, proudly displaying her, “I’m celebrating being cancer-free!” button for the world to see.
As strong and unwavering as she was throughout the ordeal, she knows she couldn’t have done it on her own. In addition to her “pink sisters,” she cites her family, friends, neighbors, and even her employer — Central Florida Health Care — as being particularly helpful to her during the journey.
“My employer was awesome and worked with me so I could do my radiation during lunch,” says Grady, who works from home in billing and coding.
Her family is all over the country, but her parents were there to support her after surgery and her neighbors played an instrumental role in keeping her mind off the unknown.
“You realize what’s important and what’s not when you go through something like this,” Grady says. “It’s amazing the people you don’t talk to every day that come out of the woodwork and are just there. It makes a big difference.”
She also credits her doctors — Drs. Prowler and David Michael Straughan at Lakeland Regional Health’s Hollis Cancer Center as well as Dr. Inder Bhutiani at Winter Haven Hospital — for their support, warmth, and knowledge throughout the process.
While October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month in the U.S., it’s also Grady’s one-year anniversary of that initial — and fateful — first mammogram. “I still can’t believe all that I’ve been through this year,” she remarks. “This changed my life.”
Grady has made it her goal to be an advocate for breast cancer awareness and to be bullish in urging people to get their mammograms. “Don’t worry,” she says, laughing. “When October rolls around, I’ll be posting constantly on Facebook: Get your mammogram!”