Member Since: 11/6/2006
Band Website: *TO BOOK ALICIA CALL Horatio (313) 706-3522*
Band Members:“BY YOUR STRIPES I AM HEALEDâ€My Battle With Breast Cancer
by
Alicia MyersIn March 1998, after several weeks of various cancer-screening tests, the time had come for the final diagnosis. “Ms. Myers, your tests came back positive.†“You have stage-1 breast cancer in the milk ducts of your right breast known as in-situ ductal carcinoma†. . . and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I couldn’t comprehend anything else he was saying. My mind was stuck on “Ms. Myers, you have breast cancer†and thinking, “I’m about to die!†How do I tell my children? My family? Should I even tell them? After all, I still looked and felt normal. I wasn’t in pain or anything. What should I do? What about this? What about that? How? Why? God help me!!!
When I arrived home from my appointment, Sommer, the younger of my two daughters, met me at the door asking about my test results. I calmly replied, “The doctor said my tests were positive for breast cancer.†I could see that Sommer hoped I was joking as I sometimes do, but not about something like this. She asked me again. “Foreal ma, what did he say?†I repeated, “Sommer, he said I have breast cancer, but everything will be fine because I detected the lump early.†(The same lump went undetected by a previous doctor just five months earlier!). I then told her they wanted to perform a mastectomy (remove the breast) and follow up with four months of chemotherapy, radiation, and five years on Tamoxifen (a hormone-blocking pill for cancerous lumps that are estrogen-dependent). Sommer began to cry her little ten-year-old heart out. She said, “I don’t want to lose you ma, I don’t want to lose my mother.†I just grabbed her and held her on my lap and assured her that she was not going to lose me. “We’ve just got to pray and ask God to help us baby, okay?†She felt better once she saw that I was okay with it . . . somewhat.Next, I had to tell my oldest daughter, Alicia Shavonne, who lived in New York at the time. She was deeply hurt about the news and immediately left New York to be by my side. Telling my children was one of the most difficult tasks for me, a single mom.Although I was spiritually prepared for whatever, I did not want a mastectomy unless it was absolutely necessary. I met with the doctors again to ask them to review my tests one last time before they removed my breast. Praise the Lord!!! They decided instead of a mastectomy, I would have an 80% chance of a full recovery by just removing the lump and surrounding tissue (a lumpectomy), also removing the lymph nodes in my right armpit followed-up by the chemotherapy which made me terribly sick, and bald everywhere! The chemo and radiation treatments ended by October 1999 and the Tamoxifen regimen ended by October 2004. I’ve been cancer-free nearly nine years now, and counting.If I had a thousand tongues I couldn’t thank my God, family, friends, church, and fans enough for their love and prayers during that battle. I thank the doctors for their skills, but I thank the Heavenly Father for His stripes and His power to heal. Thank you Jesus!
Influences: Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight, Chaka Khan, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, and the rest of Motown the hometown.
Sounds Like:**TO BOOK ALICIA CALL ** Horatio Williams (313)706-35222coolphoto / Layouts , Frazy.com
Record Label: unsigned
Type of Label: None