Stay-at-home mom, Mayme Daoust, was busy helping raise her two stepchildren as well as her two biological children. In October 2015, part of that busy routine included exclusively pumping her breast milk for her newborn son, Noah.
“I had to pump all of my son’s milk and I was just about done pumping his meals and found a lump that I thought was a blocked milk duct,” recalls Mayme. “Something in the back of my mind kept telling me that I should go see a doctor.”
However, convinced that it was nothing more than a blocked milk duct, Mayme didn’t go to the doctor until the end of June 2016. Tests showed the lump in Mayme’s breast was part of stage 2 breast cancer that would require surgery, chemo and radiation treatment.
“You don’t ever think it’s going to be you,” said Mayme. “I was just 32-years-old with no family history of breast cancer. It was a total shocker.”
Mayme was referred to HSHS St. Vincent Hospital Cancer Centers, and found comfort in how well coordinated and organized her care was.
“I felt it was very important that they involved me in the planning and made sure that each step was okay with me and what I wanted, “ said Mayme. “I was still trying to wrap my head around even just having cancer, but they were so compassionate and helped and guided me through the whole process.”
Mayme’s care team provided her options to personalize her care in the order that they did things: she could do chemotherapy first, and then surgery, followed by radiation; or, Mayme could do the surgery first, followed by chemotherapy, and ending with radiation.
“They involved me in the planning of my treatment and made sure each step was okay with me and what I wanted,” said Mayme. “And then ultimately gave me the option.”
HSHS St. Vincent Hospital Cancer Centers specialize in personalized medicine, working with patients to determine what course of treatment works best for them as an individual.
“This is not an easy journey, but I remind myself daily that I have to keep going for my kids and family. You just fight the battle and you don’t give up.”