Pinktober Profiles: LaVonda Howard

I'm so excited to share with you the first profile collaboratively written by my Brunswick Community College Eng 111 students as part of their service learning "Profile of a Survivor" assignment. Many of these students are still in high school, participating as part of the Early College High School program. They are taking college level courses in addition to their full course load of high school classes, and many are involved in extra-curricular activities as well. In order to raise awareness of what breast cancer is really like right here in our community, these students collaborated to write profiles of 7 incredible survivors from our community. I'll share their writing with you over the next week.

“Finding Light in her Darkest Dance”

Guest Contributors: Dylan Blanton, Dezarae Lehman, Shelby Mathis

LaVonda instructing one of her
young students.

    LaVonda Howard has a passion for dance. She lives, sleeps, and breathes dance. She moved back to her hometown, Wilmington NC, after graduating from East Carolina University and pursued her childhood dream to become a dance instructor. She fell in love, got married and then had two amazing children that mean the world to her, Brooke and Trevor. LaVonda's life was great despite a few minor setbacks she faced. She was the best mother and dance teacher she could possibly be. She loved her dance students like they were her own.

LaVonda with her mom

         So many of us, including LaVonda, picture cancer from its physical hallmarks. Certainly, when people are sick, they LOOK sick, right?! But that's not always the case. LaVonda's aunt had cancer 2 years before her own diagnosis, but she hadn't "looked sick" because she hadn't had chemo and never lost her hair as a result. Then, one year at Thanksgiving, LaVonda was startled by her aunt's appearance after a recurrence had landed her in chemotherapy, which had caused her aunt's hair to fall out. LaVonda knew she hadn't been doing her self breast exams, but she did one when she got home. That's when she found a lump in her right breast, near her armpit. LaVonda wasn't too concerned. Women get lumps and bumps in their breasts for other reasons (cysts, hormonal fluctuations, etc), but if it was still there at her next appt with her gynecologist, she'd be sure to point it out. It ended up being an appointment that would change her life forever.

         

 The gynecologist sent LaVonda for a mammorgram (her second since she'd turned 40), and an ultrasound. The mammogram showed nothing, which is common in young women because of their dense breast tissue. The ultrasound showed a suspicious area that lined up with the palpable lump LaVonda had discovered, but neither test clearly showed cancer. It wasn't until she had an MRI that they were able to confirm the mass. That's when LaVonda went to see Dr. Bebb. After her biopsy, Dr Bebb asked LaVonda what she had planned for the next day. When she told him she had dance classes to teach, he encouraged her to reconsider. She wouldn't want to be teaching little ones how to dance if the call came that she had cancer. LaVonda knew, right then, that he'd be calling with bad news the next day.

LaVonda with her kids 

Thankfully, when the time came to tell her family, they gave her more support than she could

have imagined, and none of them doubted that she was stronger than the cancer inside of her. LaVonda worried about how her children would take the news, and about how her cancer would impact their lives. As her son grabbed her hand and asked her if little boys can get cancer, LaVonda remembered the heart-wrenching tale of Little Teddy Stoddard. In the story, Teddy turns from a bright and eager student into a defiant, careless, sad boy after the loss of his mother to cancer. One teacher's relationship with Teddy changes them both after she realizes the tragedy this young boy has faced. LaVonda knew she had to channel every bit of strength she could to be there for her children, even as she endured a bilateral mastectomy (the surgical removal of both breasts), a lymphectomy (removal of her axillary lymph nodes), chemotherapy, and radiation. LaVonda wanted to still be able to be the great mother and dance teacher she had always been. She wanted to show her children, including her dance students, that she was strong and that she could beat cancer. Her kids and her passion for dance were her motivation. She couldn't wait till she could get up and dance again or take her kids to school again. The suffering, the pain, the physical and emotional depression was so big yet seemed so small when you compared it to all of the desires she had to be herself again, a great mom and teacher. Through all the pain and suffering, she was lucky enough to have the help of her friends and family, including a former dance student who stepped in to help LaVonda with her kids. 

LaVonda with Margaret and Trevor

              While she never quite returned to feeling 100% like her former self, LaVonda has regained much of her strength and has returned to teaching dance, though at a new studio.  In the darkest days of her life, LaVonda found sunshine. Through all of the dark days, weeks, and months she had to face, Brooke and Trevor kept her world shining. Her children gave her a reason to push through the difficult and draining treatments, and her drive to return to dancing and instructing dance gave her a goal to focus on. She danced her darkest dance and never gave up. She leaped over so many obstacles

until she found light in the darkest dance of her life.