Barbie Martin was 43 years old when she found out she had cancer. Today she is 44.
Her story begins when she was 40 years old. She had had a partial hysterectomy because there were fibroids and cysts and just a lot of things going on there, but her ovaries remained. This tiny detail, as you will see becomes important later. She questioned that plan, and she was told “they did not want to send me into early menopause.” She was reassured by her doctors that there was no cancer detected and she would be fine. That procedure was performed, and life moved on.
Then the symptoms started, an itchy nipple. “It usually happened first thing in the morning while showering, or whenever I would get really warm. It itched around the outside edge of the areola. It itched so bad I could scratch it raw with no relief. I thought maybe it was my shampoo, so I changed all the products I was using. It went away gradually.”
Next, she developed an indentation under that same left breast, “right at the crease. It kinda looked like a stretch mark, but it went in the opposite direction.” She watched this area closely and noticed the skin in that area began to get tight and glossy. She continued to watch that area for six to 12 months and the indentation got deeper.
“Then Covid happened, and everything was shut down. I finally laid down on my bed and did a self-exam, and sure enough, I felt something.” She then went to her doctor. He ordered an immediate mammogram, followed by an immediate ultrasound. Those tests revealed a two-centimeter tumor. She was then scheduled to see a surgeon. The treatment plan there was to have a lumpectomy. Before the surgery she would need to have an EKG and an MRI. “There were so many days in between those appointments.” After her MRI she got a call – the surgery was canceled. “Everything was canceled.” She was told she had been scheduled with an oncologist. “Then I knew it was cancer, but nobody would tell me anything.” All her questions were met with a flat “You will have to talk to your doctor.”
The MRI had revealed that the tumor was not two centimeters, but 8.2 centimeters, not only that, there were two of them. One was cancer and one was not, they were very tangled up in each other and attached to her chest wall, meaning bones may be involved. This was a gamechanger. The lumpectomy was off the table. Now it was decided she would do five months of Chemo to shrink that tumor, then a mastectomy.
“I know this is going to sound very shallow, but, when my oncologist told me I needed to do five months of Chemo and I was going to lose my hair, I remember going from being fearful of dying to now being more worried about being bald. I never left the house bald; I always wore a wig or a hat after I lost my hair. I struggled mentally with being bald. I get like when you see someone bald, it shows they are “sick” or “weak” and I didn’t want anyone to perceive me that way. I wanted to prove to everyone how strong I was. I only showed my bald head on social media and my very closest friends and family if they were at my house. I never left my house bald! Once I accepted the bald head, it got worse. I lost my gorgeous eyelashes and eyebrows. That’s when it really hit me, and I felt so sorry for myself. Having no eyebrows and eyelashes really changes the way a person looks. So, I bought temporary eyebrow tattoos and applied fake lashes every day. Fake eyelashes don’t fit on the eye the same without some of your own lashes to hold them in place. I struggled with that. I had bought around 15-20 different wigs and had fun changing up my look every day. Most people couldn’t even tell they were wigs. I had tons of compliments on them which made it all a little less traumatic.”
“From the moment I thought I might have breast cancer I knew that I wanted to share my journey online. I used TikTok to document all my videos, I also used some Snapchat and Facebook to share my story. I found it therapeutic, and I knew I was helping someone out there who was also struggling. I learned so much from other people’s stories, so I figured if I shared mine out there in the World Wide Web, someone would find it helpful.”
“Everyone told me not to go on the internet.” But what do you suppose she did? She went on the internet! You Tube, Google, Tik Tok. She said she “fell into some information” while she was snooping around out there. She decided to try something she said they were doing trial studies on at Mayo.
Chemo patients in these studies were fasting before, during and after each treatment. “The idea in this is that when you are fasting, your healthy cells don’t really go dormant, but they slow down and become less active to conserve energy. Meanwhile, the cancer cells are just partying it up and carrying on. When the chemo is introduced in the system it targets the active cells. When people get sick from the chemo with the vomiting and the diarrhea its your body expelling those dead cells. I never got sick with the vomiting and the diarrhea.”
When she presented this idea to her doctor, he was very skeptical, she said he said “if you can provide me with some evidence…”
So, she gave him the information. He told her ‘” I wish all patients were like you, doing the research…”
So, Barbie fasted 28 hours before her chemo treatments, of course, the two hours during the treatment, and continued to fast for six more hours after each treatment.
Back when Barbie had that partial hysterectomy, the argument she was given for leaving those ovaries intact, was that there was no cancer detected. She tested negative for the BRACA genes one and two. BRACA one is the breast cancer gene and BRACA two is the ovarian cancer gene. So, with that the chance of her getting breast cancer she was told, was less than one percent. “I know I had it for at least a year, maybe longer before I was diagnosed. That was August 18, 2022.
When the time came for her surgery, she insisted on a double mastectomy. “Why should I leave the other one just to get cancer in that one?” They finally relented. They also decided to remove those ovaries she wanted taken out years ago, as they had discovered her female hormones, estrogen and progesterone were “feeding” her cancer.
Because Barbie’s ovaries were still in her body, they were actively producing those hormones. “If they would’ve just listened to me, I know I would’ve never have gotten cancer!”
She had her double mastectomy. Later she would have those ovaries removed. All of that was followed by seven weeks of radiation. Monday – Friday.
Barbie doctored in Minot and traveled there for every appointment. Her husband Tony was with her at each and every one.
“I didn’t really spend a whole lot of time away from work, I would take the day of the treatment off and then two days to recover.”
“I work at a really good school. I’m like the favorite lunch lady” Her students sent many cards, letters, and gifts. Every week she received a care package.
“The policy there was if someone was low on leave and was out sick for a long time, they could donate their hours say to teacher to teacher or principal to secretary, but nothing for auxiliary staff. They actually rewrote that policy to include everyone, because of me. So, everyone donated hours to me.”
When asked about the medical bills, Barbie said “We have really good insurance. Through the school, I have Aflac and they have different policies and I signed up for a few. When they came back, I signed up for the cancer policy” a family member had just been diagnosed and I thought it would be a good idea, you know, with that family history. That was a huge lifesaver.”
The local fire department held a fundraiser on her behalf. “So many people reached out to make sure we were okay, financially.
Barbie is well known in her area. She is a resident of Fessenden, but has ties to many in Harvey, Anamoose, and Barbie and Tony have a camper at Bayview Campground in Devils Lake and have many friends there as well. “I really did have a lot of support.”
When Barbie was faced with the “C” word in the beginning she experienced a lot of anxiety. “I would cry every night. There was just so much time in between appointments, it gives your imagination a lot of time. The craziest thoughts, ‘Oh My God we were going to paint the house! Now I’m not gonna’…the strangest things would set me off.”
Barbie’s advice to others: “Listen to your body, do those self-exams, get those mammograms. Even if you are under 40 – push to get one. Never be afraid to ask questions, take notes, record your appointments. At first, I would sneak and hit record on my phone, finally one day, I asked ‘Hey is it Okay if I record this?’ He was totally fine with that. Stay positive. If you don’t remain positive its so easy to fall into depression.”
Barbie was diagnosed with grade two, stage two breast cancer on August 18, 2022 and finished her last treatment on June 30, 2023.
She was told the chances of cancer returning are very slim.
