Diagnosed at 28, breast cancer changed Mesha-Gaye Ruddock’s mindset

At 31 years of age, breast cancer survivor Mesha-Gaye Ruddock is already experiencing menopause, based on the treatment she is undergoing.

“So, I’m experiencing the hot flashes, the reduced libido, the mood swings [and] everything you can think of that a menopausal woman goes through. The idea of that is to stave off my ovaries, which is the primary developer of oestrogen, from producing oestrogen to ensure that I don’t have a reoccurrence of the disease,” Ruddock told The Sunday Gleaner.

Ruddock’s fight with breast cancer emphasises that the disease can be diagnosed in women years before it is suggested that they undergo their first mammogram. She was diagnosed with bilateral breast cancer at 28 years of age, a rare form of breast cancer, especially at her age.

In 2021 when she felt her lump, breast cancer was not even in her mind. “I felt an abnormal feeling in my left breast. It felt like a hardening sometime around July 2021 and I was concerned about it. It felt different. This wasn’t there before,” Ruddock said.

Encouraged to visit her doctor, Ruddock never imagined it was cancer, having no family history of the disease that she knew of. On visiting the doctor, she was encouraged to do an ultrasound. Though nervous about the test, she eventually did the ultrasound and the radiologist told her she had to do a biopsy or a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) instantaneously.

“I remember feeling emotional about that because he was saying it’s not a cyst and it looks like it has blood vessels and [is] forming a life of its own essentially, and I was like, ‘What in the world?’ And that’s when it became a little real and my general practitioner got back the result and said we’re going ahead with a needle biopsy in July 2021, and the results took about six weeks to come back,” Ruddock said.

That six weeks taught her more patience in life. On the day she was to receive the results, she said she took her time making her way to the medical centre. “I remember it was peak COVID that time in September and it was packed, the place ram and I went inside and I told them my name, and I was told I’m being expedited, and I’m like, ‘Why am I being expedited and so many people are waiting? Why am I being fast-tracked?’ At that point, I started to get nervous, because mi feel like something nuh right, and I went inside the doctor’s office and he said, ‘Mesha, I don’t have good news’,” Ruddock recounted.

DOCTOR’S RECOMMENDATION

On sharing the diagnosis, Ruddock’s doctor would recommend her to an oncologist and request further tests. She did a computed tomography (CT) scan and a breast MRI, which showed that there was a mass in her right breast and close to her chest wall.

“Here I am initially thinking I was diagnosed with stage one when there was a larger tumour in my right breast and closer to my chest wall, which means that is something you would not have picked up from a touch and not possible to see from an ultrasound. It was the breast MRI which would have identified it,” she said.

After her diagnosis on September 9, Ruddock removed both breasts with a double nipple-sparing mastectomy surgery on October 11, 2021.

“I prayed for the type of cancer I wanted, meaning, I wanted the most subtle kind, if there was ever such a thing. I asked Him (God) for the hormone positive and that’s what I was diagnosed with, because the other types tend to be very aggressive. I remember asking and praying to God not to have to do chemotherapy, and He answered my prayer in the end,” Ruddock said.

“When I look back at that journey, I just feel like, nothing but God,” she said.

The beauty of the journey for Ruddock lies in her people, the village, and the strong support system which bolsters her each day. Given that her mother, Venecia Miller, is not on the island, after the surgery, her aunt Donna Somers-Brown was there by her side.

Noting that she is grateful she had health and critical illness insurance to help with the costs, Ruddock spent around $4 million for her surgery and another $3.5 million for post-operative treatment, which she describes as one of the roughest times in her life. She was in “a lot of pain” and it was “very difficult”, especially when she developed ischemia, which is a less-than-normal amount of blood flow to parts of your body. This lack of blood flow means your tissues aren’t getting the oxygen they need, and can lead to life-threatening conditions like heart attacks and strokes.

As she goes through her healing journey, Ruddock says the diagnosis has changed her mindset. “I am a better [person for] this disease. I can’t explain it to you entirely in words, but I am better for it. I’ve learnt a lot. I’ve grown a lot. I’ve removed myself from toxic spaces. It [has] really given me the pause that I needed to take the stock of life where I was, the people in my life, the things I want out of life. My purpose,” she said.

ainsworth.morris@gleanerjm.com