Meet Donna Hopkins
Donna J. Hopkins' Story
A Double "Breasted" Victory
In April of 1997 and again in 1999, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would get breast cancer, not only once, but twice. However, I beat the odds!
Hearing that you have breast cancer does not have to mean the end. I love life, and I live my life not thinking about if the cancer will return, but I live my life knowing that I am the winner and not breast cancer.
I am a native of Oak Hill, West Virginia, a graduate of Fairmont State College where I attended on a scholarship for basketball and track. I am a co-host/sports reporter for Tony McGee Football Plus television show on Comcast Sports Net. I am a spokesperson for the American Cancer Society to educate and increase awareness of breast cancer prevention, early detection and survival for women. In 2001, Sears, the WNBA, the Washington Mystics and NABCO National Alliance of Breast Cancer Organizations selected me as the Local Breast Health Hero.
My unwavering faith in God and my determination to live augmented with the love and support of family and friends were instrumental in my surviving the disease. I admit my first incidence with the disease was easier than the second time. Why, because it was hard for me to believe that it had come back a second time, considering the cancer was so small and had been caught in the early stage during my first encounter with the disease.
Early detection, regular self-breast examinations, regular doctors' visits and annual mammograms played an integral role in the disease being caught in time and to my survival. In 1997, I discovered through self-examination a lump in my breast that was diagnosed as cancerous. Having undergone my annual mammogram, in 1999 cancer was once again detected.
I am a health enthusiast and I avoided anything detrimental to my well being. I have never smoked, consumed alcohol, or indulged in drugs. I have been an athlete all my life and espouse a healthy lifestyle-physically and spiritually.
Cancer has no respect of person, and it does not indiscriminate. Unlike many, I had health insurance, had I not; the ordeal would have been so much more traumatic.
Fortunately for me, the breast cancer was detected early and treated properly because of routine examinations, prompt attention, and having access to health care.
There are so many women who do not have and cannot afford health insurance,". "I know the feeling that engulfs you when you hear the words, "You have breast cancer." It is awful when confronted with these words, but it is even more devastating when you don't have access to adequate health care." The expense, stress and anxiety that patients with breast cancer and their families confront can be overwhelming.
These realities are the impetus that propelled me to establish the Hopkins Breast Cancer, Inc. 'The Helping Hand in the Community'.
