My Children Saved Me

My name is Elsa. I was diagnosed at the age of 38 with Stage 2 breast cancer, triple negative. I would have never found out that I had breast cancer if it wasn't for my two children, Trinity and Brittany. Trinity is twelve and Britney is four now. I was going through a really tough separation with my ex, and I had my girls. I love interacting with my children, I love playing with them, especially when they ask for piggyback rides and horse rides, going on my shoulders.

We were just playing when I first felt it

One day I was playing with them with one on my back while I was on all fours walking around like a horse, having the greatest time of our lives when I felt something. At first, I felt a little pain in my chest, and I thought maybe I had pulled a muscle. A couple of days later, I felt something strange in my right breast, which was very concerning to me. I went to my niece at the time, who I was living with, and asked her what I should do. She said to go get it checked out, and thank God I did. I had a mass about the size of a quarter in my right breast, but after the MRI, they found two more from my mammogram. Altogether, I had four masses. Three out of the four masses were cancerous.

I still thank my kids for helping me figure it out

I have just finished my chemo, but I still have my mastectomy ahead of me, along with recovery and possible radiation. If it wasn't for my children, I would have never known, and God knows when the tumors would have shown up. My kids saved my life.