LIVERMORE FALLS — When Stephanie MacDonald, a mammographer, did her routine breast self-exam in October 2021 she felt a lump in her right breast and knew immediately what it was.
Stephanie MacDonald of Livermore Falls hopes her experience as a mammographer and what she is going through with breast cancer will help others who may find themselves in the same situation. Submitted photo
MacDonald has been a radiologic technologist trained to do mammography for 10 years. She works at the Martha B. Webber Breast Care Center at Franklin Health Commons in Farmington.
She believes her experience helped her catch her own breast cancer quickly.
“I think I was more aware. As soon as I felt it I knew immediately it was not a good thing,” she said, during a telephone interview.
She felt the lump on Oct. 31, was diagnosed with breast cancer in November and started chemotherapy on Nov. 18.
“It is not something you expect at 34. I always tell my patients that breast cancer does not discriminate based on age,” MacDonald said. “I have always preached to my patients it is really important to know your body.”
A benefit dinner will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. on Saturday at AMVETS Hall in Jay, followed by a dance from 7 to 11 p.m. to help the family with expenses. Tickets for the dinner are $5 per child, $8 per adult. The tickets for the dance are $10 per person and must be purchased in advance. Call Leslie Tainter-Pond at 207-754-6809 or Lisa Holt at 207-592-5006 for tickets.
MacDonald, the mother of two girls, Ella, 5, and Grace, 8, and her husband, Derek, live in Livermore Falls.
MacDonald went through a regiment of “pretty harsh” chemotherapy, she said. After 5½ months of treatment her last day was March 31.
She has continued working, sometimes working three days, sometimes less, sometimes more.
She was scheduled to have a bilateral mastectomy surgery, essentially having both breasts removed, on May 23 but came down with COVID, she said. The surgery had to be put off until June 21.
She said she was feeling much better on Tuesday. After surgery she is expected to undergo radiation treatment because of two different spots on her right breast and lymph node on her right side.
“The early detection of breast cancer really increases the likelihood that you are going to be OK,” she said. “I’m going to be OK.”
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