Doral Health & Wellness, to raise awareness about breast cancer, would like to share the story of our own breast cancer survivor, Celia Santiago.
From waist-length long black curls to sporting a pink mohawk- Celia has gone through a physical, mental, and spiritual transformation in her fight against breast cancer.
Let us tell you her story….
On a lazy afternoon cuddle session, her partner noticed a small bump on her left breast while playfully tickling her. “Oh, it’s probably just a pimple,” Celia thought.
But, as the months progressed, her left breast started to become sore before her periods. On the first occasion, she dismissed it thinking “Maybe I’m close to 40, and it’s because I’m premenopausal”. But when this went on, in her third month she decided to go get checked at her primary physician’s office and after a litany of tests, she was diagnosed positive for breast cancer in April 2019.
She couldn’t believe it and she went into a spiral of negative thinking and endless tears and couldn’t understand how something so bad could happen to her. Her friend called her daily to check on her and finally after a week of listening to her cry, put her foot down and gently asked her “Celia, I think you’ve cried enough, now let’s get up and fight this.”
That’s where the journey of our pink-mohawked warrior begins.
Celia, our chirpy, smiling senior center case manager, has tears in her eyes as she recalls her war against cancer.
She unflinchingly went through 16 doses of chemotherapy (from May through October 2019), a double mastectomy (on the 24th of October), followed by 25 sessions of radiotherapy, and finally ‘rang the bell’ on 11th February 2020 and has been cancer free since then. She is still on medication and has follow-up appointments every 3 months.
- Chemotherapy
Her hair fell off during the first month of chemo… and it devastated her …. She had long black curly hair that almost reached her waist when she kept it open.
She also was a nail artist and recalls how heartbreaking it was when her nails fell off and her nail beds were filled with pus and hurt like hell.
She remembers wearing gloves and hats even in the New York summer. “It’s because people looked at me funny… you must never look down on somebody, you don’t know what they are going through….” A gem of kindness comes from her mouth (and from her soul). A lesson to humanity to be kind and compassionate.
After her 14th chemotherapy, just 2 weeks before her surgery; she had an unexpected stroke and was admitted to the hospital and was in the ICU for over a week. The doctors had put a halt on the surgery due to her unstable vitals… and almost gave up on her.
But it was her son who brought her back, he spoke to her and said, “Mamma you can’t give up, you need to fight this.”
And the next day, when she woke up… the nurse asked her if she believed in God… she said, ‘yes’ and the nurse said, “You better thank God the next time you pray because we thought we lost you, it’s a miracle that you’re still alive.”
- The Surgery
She had a double mastectomy on the 24th of October and to her surprise the procedure was pain-free, and she appreciates and is thankful to her medical team for the precision and care that they took during the surgery and after.
- Radiotherapy
She had 25 sessions of Radiotherapy and it hurt so much, and she had burn marks on her skin. It was so painful that even clothes caused her agonizing pain.
And there were nights when she couldn’t sleep due to the pain… her son recalls, “Mamma you used to mumble in bed, and as soon as you started mumbling you fell asleep” … She admits, “Nobody knows but I used to pray to God, ‘please take away my pain so that I can sleep’” and God did take away her pain every night and she was able to sleep.
“Where did you find the strength to face the struggle and fight the pain?”
We asked her how tough the battle was and how she was able to fight.
She replies… “Family, Friends, and Faith”
Her mother who herself is a colon cancer survivor used to motivate her to fight and focus on her health and not worry about anything else…how is she going to live without her breasts, the medical expenses, how she looks now, and what people say.
And her son, who she says is the reason she never thought of giving up.
She has friends who stood by her and supported her every day during her fight with cancer…They still catch up for lunch every month.
And above all… her faith in the power of prayer and her belief that God would save her!
Now, she plans on letting the world know that Cancer is real, the battle is real and she – our Mohawked warrior is real, SHE FOUGHT, SHE WON AND SO CAN YOU…
Use the free resources provided by Doral Health and Wellness if you have any questions about breast cancer. You can reach us at 1797 Pitkin Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11212; call us on 718-DORAL-55 / 13473845690; or log on to www.doralhw.org for further information.
