It’s Breast Cancer Awareness month and everywhere you look there are people, both men and women helping raise awareness by wearing pink or organizations helping raise money to fund research. Michelle Renaud’s mother died from breast cancer, which is why she is helping spread awareness by sharing her story.
Her mother visited her gynecologist because she had a lump on her breast, and that’s when her doctor told her that she had an aggressive form of breast cancer and she had to treat it right away. “During my mom’s journey, we had some doctors that till this day I can’t speak well of them because they flat out told me that my mom was going to die,” says Michelle Renaud to CARAS Mexico. “During those moments, it was the best way to communicate to me something that was inevitable.”
Her advice is to get a second opinion, to see doctors that are specialized in breast cancer, with people that know what they’re doing and that you can trust. “There comes a time when everyone begins to give you doubts and you have to confide in a doctor that is sensible enough to communicate the difficult moments and that you are able to trust at all times,” she says.
Renaud was with her mother every step of the way and she says that you always have to give sick patients a lot of love, patience, and empathy. “Cancer gives you a horrible scare and if it scares you as a family member, just imagine how the person that has cancer feels, it’s terrifying.”
She encourages women to feel comfortable about touching their breasts and doing an auto-exam often. “Don’t be embarrassed about auto-exploring and touching your breasts, squish them and feel them to see if you find an anomaly,” she says.