ORANGE COUNTY, Fla – A Central Florida radiation oncologist showed up to work one day not realizing it would change her life.
Dr. Catherine Hwang is a radiation oncologist with AdventHealth. Hwang said with three kids and a busy schedule, she thought she would be fine holding off on her annual mammogram.
“My best friend, who is conveniently a breast surgeon, and I also work pretty much every day with her. She actually said if you don’t do it now, I will walk you down there,” Hwang said.
Thankfully, Hwang was able to get her mammogram when she did or else she may not have known she had breast cancer for months.
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“I expected to be in and out in 30 minutes and that is not what happened unfortunately,” Hwang said. “When I went for the mammogram, even though I had no symptoms, no family history they unfortunately found that I had a few tumors in my breast, as well as an abnormal lymphnode.”
Hwang said she was in shock when she recieved the diagnosis because of her personal and family history.
“After coming to terms with everything was just a reminder, this why we do mammograms,” Hwang said.
Her coworkers quickly became her care team and got to work developing a treatment plan.
“She initially took it the hard way like every patient,” said Clinical Director of the Breast Oncology Program for AdventHealth, Dr. Wassim Mchayleh. “The word cancer, is very, very scary. But she knew we were all on her side, I mean we got the ball rolling immediately. She was one of the fastest – I think she broke every record in tests, surgery, I mean everything – I mean, I think for her and for every patient, the key is to have a plan.”
Hwang said she recieved bi-lateral mastectomies, reconstruction, radiation, chemotherapy and found out she needed to be on a new class of drugs.
She’s now moving into the survivor stage, and sharing her story with patients who are embarking on the same journey.
“I think from their perspective, it’s like ‘Oh she’s not just saying this because she’s a doctor, she’s really speaking from experience, she knows exactly how I’m feeling, and she knows exactly how crummy these treatments can make you feel,’” Hwang said. “‘She’s been there’ and now that I’ve recovered, you know, they’re all like, ‘Oh, and she’s recovered.’ So it’s like they see that the other side is as possible.”
Hwang has also been posting her journey on social media and answering questions she comes across while treating patients on her Instagram page. You can keep up with her story @breast_cancer_360 by clicking here.
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