Brenda Walker Brenda's Battle

Brenda is a woman of many crowns. She is a mother, a sister, a nana and to anyone who’s met her a special kind of friend and woman. She is the type of woman whom with her southern roots calls everyone honey, sweetie, baby and would go out of her way to make each person she comes in contact with feel important and special. She is a woman of strength and courage and a heart of gold. Back in February 2017, Brenda was diagnosed with stage 3 inflammatory breast cancer. Brenda, along with her family were in shock at how rare and advanced this cancer was. Inflammatory breast cancer is the rarest of breast cancers, accounting for 1 to 5 percent of all breast cancers diagnosed in the United States. Most inflammatory breast cancers are invasive ductal carcinomas, which means they developed from cells that line the milk ducts of the breast and then spread beyond the ducts. Inflammatory breast cancer progresses rapidly, often in a matter of weeks or months. At diagnosis, inflammatory breast cancer is either stage III or IV disease, depending on whether cancer cells have spread only to nearby lymph nodes or to other tissues as well. Since February, Brenda has started receiving chemo therapy treatments and is the middle of 8 cycles. Once her chemo treatments are complete, she will undergo a mastectomy of her left breast, then continue on with 6 ½ weeks of radiation. Brenda is the definition of strength as she continues to hold down a full time job while facing this journey and has yet to take a leave of absence. Her determination and will to push through should be, and is an inspiration to all that know and love her.