Lafayette woman says annual mammogram may have saved her life this year

Evelyn smith, this breast cancer awareness month comes with a new sense of importance.

News 18's micah upshaw joins us in the studio to with more on her journey, micah?

Evelyn smith has gone from an iu health arnett cancer patient to survivor in a matter of seven months.

She says her story could have ended a lot differently, had she not gotten her mammogram this year.

E: the misconception of cancer is that it doesn't have to be a death sentence, you know, it can be hope.

M: evelyn smith's journey to cancer recovery...nat pop...started in march of this year.

That's when she gets her annual mammogram at iu health arnett.

E: went and got that and the lady said she saw something on there and so they did it again at they showed it to the radiologists.

M: the radiologists decided to give her a biopsy and a week later the results came in.

E: they begin to tell me that it was triple negative, stage two breast cancer and that it was invasive.

Nobody out that they've got cancer, i was kind of numb the day that i found out.

M: triple negative is known as an aggressive cancer that grows rapidly.

When it was discovered in smith's body, it was about the size of pea.

Something she wouldn't be able to feel on her own.

E: i probably would have never felt it and had i not got the mammogram, where would i have been?

M: after her diagnosis, she got the cancer removed a few weeks later.

Then she began chemotherapy and radiation to help kill any possible remnants of cancer left in the breast tissue.

Smith says the entire process was fairly smooth despite it happening during a pandemic.

E: they've made this experience great, easier, easier to take.

Had they not been there, and been the kind of people they were, it could have been a bad experience.

M: now she's wrapping up her last radiation this week and celebrating being cancer free.

E: if you've got the hope and the faith and the love of the people around you, it can be a good experience.

Iu health arnett officials are encouraging women to start getting their mammograms at age 40.

They say it's important to make it an annual exam.

The hospital is scheduling woman for same-day exams right now.

That information will be on our website wlfi.com.

Micah upshaw, news 18.

The boilermakers