KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Lindsey Caldwell was a 32-year-old with her whole life ahead of her when she found a lump in the shower. She got a mammogram, an ultrasound and an MRI before finding out she had cancer in both of her breasts.
Caldwell began treatment and was determined to beat the disease. In September of 2015, she had a double mastectomy.
It wasn't very long until she found out her breast cancer was stage four and had spread to the rest of her body, making it metastatic. Doctors told Caldwell her type of cancer was incurable. She can go through periods where no tumors are detected, but she can't claim that she is "cancer free."
"Even though it’s not detected on scans, you still don’t have that comfort that you’re in remission because it’s considered incurable, so I’m still on chemo pills every day," Caldwell explained.
For three and a half years, Caldwell has dealt with changing medications, hoping they work.
"So until they find a cure, I am on four chemo pills a day, I get infusions into my port every three weeks, I take a monthly injection so that my bones don’t hurt," Caldwell said. "That’s my daily routine with medicine and when I become immune to it or the cancer’s figured out a way around it, then I’ll just get on another suite of medicines, another cocktail and again hope for the best."
Despite the treatment and medicine, she still finds the time and energy to do the things she loves. She still feels side effects from her medicine, but for the most part she is able to play and watch sports, run, play golf, hike and travel.
"You can either wallow in self pity or you can pick yourself up by your boot straps and keep working as best as you can and keep doing the hobbies that you love," Caldwell noted.
Friends, family and faith are what keep Caldwell going. She says without those three things, she would have a completely different outlook on life.
"I don’t wish that I would not have had the disease because the way I’ve seen God work through everything, but I’m reminded every day just by the side effects that the treatment has on me, I’m reminded every day also because of the love I get from my friends and family and that’s not such a bad thing," Caldwell explained.
Caldwell urges anyone who receives a breast cancer diagnosis to seek help from the Susan G Komen Foundation. She is involved with the East Tennessee division, and is an advocate for increased metastatic breast cancer research. She says she wouldn't have known what to do without Komen East Tennessee. They helped her assemble her healthcare team and decide what was best for her.
Caldwell also advocates for everyone to get genetic testing so they are better aware of what they are at risk for.