Facing Fear and Finding Hope

When Katie Gar­rett was diag­nosed with breast can­cer at just 33 years old, she thought she was liv­ing the hap­pi­est time of her life. She had recent­ly bought her first home with her fiancé, Levi, and felt every­thing was falling into place. But in an instant, her world changed.

“I was so hap­py, and then one day, it all changed,” Gar­rett recalled. ​“A lump appeared on my chest. I didn’t think any­thing was wrong. I have five Amer­i­can Bul­lies who love to play and jump on me, so I thought it might be from one of them.”

With no oth­er symp­toms, Gar­rett decid­ed to wait a few days before mak­ing an appoint­ment with her Quin­cy Med­ical Group (QMG) OB-GYN Dr. Jean Alexan­dre. Dur­ing her vis­it, he imme­di­ate­ly rec­og­nized the urgency of the sit­u­a­tion and arranged for a mam­mo­gram and biop­sy that same day.

“A cou­ple of days went by, and he per­son­al­ly called me. I was lying on the couch, just relax­ing with my fiancé, when he told me it was can­cer. I lost it. I felt numb, hurt, and I cried. I felt so lost and knew my life was about to change,” she said.

Despite the shock and fear, Gar­rett found strength in Levi. ​“My fiancé told me, ​‘Don’t wor­ry, I’ll be right there every step of the way, and we will beat it togeth­er, side by side.’”

From the very begin­ning, Gar­rett knew she was in good hands with her QMG team, includ­ing her oncol­o­gist, Dr. Wajee­ha Rizvi.

“My care team here at QMG has been absolute­ly amaz­ing,” she said. ​“Dr. Rizvi treat­ed me with love and respect and explained every­thing in detail.”

Katie felt a deep con­nec­tion not only with Dr. Rizvi but also with oth­ers she encoun­tered at the QMG Can­cer Insti­tute, includ­ing Med­ical Assis­tant Heather A. and Nurse Nav­i­ga­tor Ang­ie D.

“Heather and Ang­ie were so awe­some. Ang­ie would sit with me after my appoint­ments and just talk about life and how I was doing. There were times I would break down cry­ing, and she would be right there to com­fort me, nev­er mak­ing me feel rushed or uncom­fort­able,” she shared.

Garrett’s jour­ney has been filled with both ups and downs. She was diag­nosed on May 22, 2023, and by June 20, 2023, she had under­gone a dou­ble mas­tec­to­my. The fear of surgery was over­whelm­ing, espe­cial­ly since she had nev­er had one before.

“I was so scared and cried because I had nev­er had surgery in my life,” she shared. ​“Being a young woman in my thir­ties, I nev­er thought I would be fight­ing breast can­cer. It’s a huge change. Between los­ing my hair, my breasts, and just all my con­fi­dence, it has been tru­ly hard.”

One of the hard­est parts of her jour­ney is com­ing to terms with not being able to car­ry a child.

“As can­cer came unex­pect­ed­ly, I was unable to afford egg retrieval and freez­ing. I’m now fac­ing the real­i­ty of not being able to car­ry a child,” she said. ​“There’s noth­ing I want­ed more than to be a moth­er and have a big family.”

With can­cer com­ing so fast in my life, and not being able to afford egg retrieval or freez­ing them, I’m now fac­ing the real­i­ty of now being able to car­ry a child,” she said. ​“There’s noth­ing I want­ed more then to be a moth­er and have a big family.” 

Through the chal­lenges, Garrett’s strength nev­er wavered, thanks to the unwa­ver­ing sup­port of her fiancé and her QMG care team. She faced the loss of her hair and phys­i­cal changes with courage, even doc­u­ment­ing the moment Levi shaved her head.

“I remem­ber the day I start­ed to lose my hair. I was get­ting out of the show­er, brush­ing it, and it came out in a clump. I turned to my fiancé and just cried,” she said. ​“A cou­ple of days lat­er, we had a pho­to ses­sion of him shav­ing my head. He cut his hair with me; he nev­er let me feel alone on this journey.”

Garrett’s treat­ment plan includ­ed four rounds of chemother­a­py every 21 days, which took a phys­i­cal toll on her.

“Meds on top of meds. I was nev­er a pill kind of per­son, but then I had no choice but to do this,” she shared. ​“I felt like I was always sick. There were times I want­ed to stop going to doc­tors, but my fiancé was there, push­ing me to fight and kick can­cer in the butt.”

Today, she has com­plet­ed her treat­ment and will con­tin­ue ongo­ing vis­its with Dr. Rizvi. She has also under­gone recon­struc­tive surgery to help her move for­ward from cancer.

Garrett’s mes­sage for oth­ers fac­ing breast can­cer is one of hope: ​“As hard as it may be to grasp right now, know that can­cer is not you. It is not your whole life. Please be kind to your­self. Acknowl­edge your fears and uncer­tain­ties and give your­self grace for hav­ing them. Then gen­tly set them aside so you can enjoy as many moments as pos­si­ble in the days before you.”