Breast cancer survivor spreads awareness by sharing her story, emphasizing self-examinations

Published 7:00 am Saturday, October 23, 2021

It was a bright day for the residents and staff at the Greenbrier Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Tyler as the community gathered to hear a breast cancer survivor’s story which emphasized self examinations as a preventative measure.

Joyce Pinkney of Tyler was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008, and again in 2017.

“I wanted them to know that God is good, he still is and I’m alive and well to talk about it,” she said.

That day in 2008, Pinkney said she felt sick at work. At the time, she was working for the Andrews Center in Tyler. She collapsed on her desk and was taken to the emergency room. She soon found she had cancer in her right breast.

Having previously worked at the local health department, Pinkney said she knew how to do self-breast exams. She knew something was wrong.

“I knew. I felt the lumps. The ones on the right breast were the size of a nickel and a dime, and the one on the left, the size of a quarter,” she said. Instead of performing a mastectomy, Pinkney had a lumpectomy done, just to remove the lumps.

When she spoke to the residents at Greenbrier, she said she was emotionally overwhelmed and devastated.

“I didn’t want to leave my kids. I didn’t want to die, period,” she said. Then, she realized that just because she had it didn’t necessarily mean she had to die of cancer. “There’s a lot of treatment out there now that there wasn’t before. I had to fight to live,” she said.

She said awareness was all about preventing and being proactive. “Even if something on your breast is tender, look into it. You never know,” she said.

“We need to celebrate this month because there’s so many people that have gone on who weren’t able to get the treatment,” Pinkney said.

Her daughter, Kristi Pinkney, certified dietary manager for the facility, said that while organizing the breast cancer awareness month event, she knew her mother would make the perfect speaker to spread the awareness while sharing her story as a survivor.

“It touches my heart, just because I saw my mom going through this. I saw her good days, bad days, I saw her when she lost all of her hair and that was so emotional. Every time October comes around, it brings back a lot of memories,” Kristi Pinkney said.