A lump on her neck alerted Shirlean Alexander that something was not right but she did not expect to be diagnosed later with a form of thyroid cancer. Looking back now, she believes it was teachable moment and today she can face whatever life throws at her.
In June 2014, she thought all was well after she followed the advice of doctors to have an operation to get rid of a lump by removing one of her thyroid lobes, but less than two weeks later she was again on the operation table to remove the second one after the cancer was discovered.
She now has a scar on her neck as a constant reminder, but as a cancer survivor the married mother of one said she is grateful to be alive and is not ashamed to talk about her experience, which she describes as “just one of life’s journeys.”
She was diagnosed with papillary thyroid carcinoma, said to be one of the most common thyroid cancers which arises as a solid, irregular or cystic mass that comes from otherwise normal thyroid tissue and which also has a high treatment rate.
