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December 2022, Jules felt a tiny blip on her left side. It wasn’t a marble like you hear cancerous tumors feel like, it was a tiny, malleable thing under her skin. Her doctor assured her it was scar tissue and was nothing to worry about.
One month later, it had grown from a blip to the size of a pinky nail. A second doctor wasn’t messing around and scheduled a diagnostic mammogram.
In March 2023 she had her mammogram after which Jules was whisked away for an ultra sound. After 45 minutes of digging in armpits and all around her chest, the tech left the room, then returned with the radiologist and a box of Kleenex.
This is the moment Jules’ life changed. “You have cancer in both breasts”. The radiologist showed her the tumors in both breasts, the auxiliary tails and the affected lymph node. Biopsies, grades, stages, treatment plans, double mastectomy, chemo, and how far cancer treatments have come. It was A LOT to take in.
The doctors immediately requested an MRI as well. A breast MRI is much different than a regular MRI, you have to crawl on your hands and knees, position yourself on the bed in a unique way, then lay on your tummy with your hands above your head. Simple, right?
The day Jules was scheduled to have the MRI, she slipped on ice getting into her car and ended up breaking her right leg (Fibula) in two places, her right elbow, and a rib in her back on the right side. She ended up in the hospital for a while then at a rehab facility for nearly a month. Surgery had to be delayed.
The broken bones were making it challenging to have the MRI, however, four weeks after her breaking all of those bones, she was determined to get that scan. It was painful, but she did it!
Surgery came just 5 days after the MRI was completed. The little blip on the left breast in December was now a tumor the size of a large grapefruit, and all of the lymph nodes were cancerous on her left side. The small grape sized tumor on the right side had grown to the size of an egg. This is a very aggressive cancer.
She received a double mastectomy, removed all of the cancerous lymph nodes on the left side and five lymph nodes on the right.
Ms. Jules is knee deep in chemotherapy which will be followed by radiation. She refuses to let cancer beat her, in fact, from the beginning of this journey, she has lived by the phrase, “Nothing Unbreakable Yet”! Her friends, her family, and her beautiful kids have rallied around her and lifted her up. We are all beating this disease together! #unbreakablejules
Ms. Jules would love to thank The Hopebox Theatre for celebrating her journey through cancer. It is such a great honor for her to have her name added to the Wall of Hope. She and her children thank everyone who have supported her along her journey and hopes to be an inspiration to others who are on this same journey. Thank you Hopebox Theatre!
