Pinktober Profiles: Angie Smock

Here's the next fantastic profile in our series, 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 all week long.

Trusting Her Faith

Guest Contributors: Heather Hennessy, McKenna Spillane, Alexis Thorpe

Angie Smock is a beautiful, fearless woman who has dealt with a lot of stress in her lifetime. The issues started when her mother passed away in 2003. Then, a year later, Angie’s father passed away.  The loss of her parents was devastating, and it wasn’t the end of Angie’s journey with hardships. In 2010, Angie went for her baseline mammogram, which was standard protocol for 40yr old women at the time. The mammogram was negative. Early in 2011, that would all change.

In October 2015, the American Cancer Society released an updated recommendation regarding screening for breast cancer. They have changed routine screening to begin at age 45, instead of 40, and assert that everyone can forego the manual breast exams performed at their annual visits. Currently, the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists recommends beginning mammograms at age 40. The American Cancer Society thinks mammograms should start at 45, and the US Preventative Services Task Force claims that age 50 is more appropriate. Given the confusing landscape of recommendations, it seems vitally important, now more than ever, to know your family medical history, and to communicate with your doctor about what’s best for you as an individual!

In February of 2011, Angie was in the shower when she noticed that the side of her breast was caving inward. This strange occurrence led Angie to her doctor, who ordered another mammogram. The mammogram revealed a tumor that “looked like a jellyfish” with tentacles. When the radiologist came out to speak with Angie, an unusual practice, she asked him if he thought it was cancer. He told her, without the benefit of pathology, he was willing to bet his life that on this being a malignant tumor. Feeling scared, Angie returned home and sat on her bed. Right then, an audible voice came to her, though she was alone in the room. Angie recounts, “God gave me a bible verse. God gave me John 11:4.”  When she looked up the verse in the Bible, she found that John 11:4 states “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the son of God may be glorified through it.”  This moment gave her a new sense of hope. She had known God was carrying her, but now she felt sure He was going to protect her, and she knew she would be alright.

Angie went to the doctor with her fearless attitude and mindset saying, “Okay, what are we going to do next?” The first opinion was to get a bilateral mastectomy. A second opinion recommended a lumpectomy because the chance of recurrence was the same whether she just removed the lump or the whole breast. Angie decided on having ACT chemo, followed by a lumpectomy and sentinel node biopsy which was positive and led her surgeons to remove 16 positive lymph nodes. A small lesion was also found on Angie’s brain. After surgery, Angie would continue to have chemotherapy.

In June of 2011, while she was still undergoing treatment, her doctor requested she get another mammogram. Usually, this testing is done after treatment is completed, but Angie’s doctor was concerned about how quickly her tumor had grown from nothing to a stage 3B cancer. This mammogram revealed another lesion in her breast. God was surely watching over her, protecting her with every step. Angie’s doctors then had to change the chemo cocktail she was getting to battle the change to her diagnosis. This change caused a debilitating side effect; dementia. In between treatments of this new potent chemo cocktail, Angie would mistake her niece Darian, who was one of her caregivers, for her mother who’d passed away years ago. Angie would mistake her husband for her doctor. She couldn’t be left alone, and since her husband had to work, she would go to Kenny and Elizabeth Barnes’ home (they’re the founders of Women of Hope) for “babysitting.” Her bouts with

dementia would put her in a near child-like state that was confusing and scary. Thankfully, faith, time, and medicine together would get her through treatment. As of May 2015, she has finished chemotherapy and is now cancer free. Her diagnosis has taught her to never take life for granted. She learned that every minute counts and to live life to the fullest every day. So, that's exactly what she's doing.