Dana + Photos for Jamie

I’m so excited to share this session with you all! It has been in the works since October of last year when Dana was nominated for one of my Photos for Jamie sessions for breast cancer survivors. These sessions are inspired by my mother, who we lost to this horrible disease four years ago. Dana received the most nominations and it’s no surprise why! I can’t believe how strong and positive she has remained after all she has gone through; she is so deserving! She has wonderful family and friends that have supported and loved her all along the way. You can tell her family is her pride and joy! I hope her family treasures these photos for years to come.

I asked Dana to share some of her story with us, here are her words:

“Hi! My name is Dana Montgomery. I’m 58 years old, married 35 years, 6 kids, 21 grandkids, and still loving life! I was diagnosed with stage 2 Breast Cancer in May of 2016.

In March of that year, I had discovered a pea sized lump on the top inner side of my right breast. Mind you, I’d been having my regular mammograms, and then some! I would go in, and they would have me come back every 6 months for ultra sounds because of what the mammogram’s results. Just clear fluids, they’d say, come back in 6 months! I did everything I was told. That last mammogram I knew I had this lump, did my test but they didn’t find it, so I showed the doctor what I had found. He did a biopsy on the spot. Three days later it came back positive for breast cancer. The following week I went to a surgeon who confirmed everything, and scheduled a PET scan and MRI in prep for a port. Before that surgery, the doctor went over those scans and I was told I had 3 more cancer spots! Liver, sacral, and sternum. Stage 4! I started Chemo June 7th.  A week later had to have my gall bladder out. At that point I decided to hold off on surgery until after, because my tumor was too small to justify a mastectomy, and by 6 chemo treatments everything had shrunk!

The following summer I got vertigo, which led to getting an MRI to check things. The dizziness really was Vertigo, but the MRI showed 7 small tumors! I had gamma-knife radiation which got rid of them, but a year later they found several pinpoint tumors and had to do 16 rounds of full brain radiology. Then later that year, I got 3 more tumors, so another gamma-knife. That was December 2019 and I’ve been great ever since!

I do continue to receive infusion hormone therapy every 3 weeks and another injection every 6 weeks.

I have permanent side affects that have affected my equilibrium. I have neuropathy in my fingers and toes, I’m weaker and have a hard time using stairs, and it’s been a year and a half and still not enough hair for a haircut, and it’s very thin. But, don’t have any pain, and I was never sick through chemo, or my other treatments! I recently lost a little of my vision in my left eye. This is my new normal. I continue to live my best life, staying active and keeping a positive attitude! I don’t  know what my life expectancy is, but I’m not feeling like I’m declining. I’m so very grateful for these blessings! So, I’m expecting to live a full life, and enjoy my beautiful family as long as I can! Life is good!“