If you had asked Jamie Johnston Masson two years ago, she would have said she was an unlikely breast cancer patient.
Then 31, the Stittsville mother ate well, exercised and didn’t drink or smoke. When she found a lump during a routine breast check and was told by doctors it was nothing, she believed it.
Last December, she saw a doctor about an itchy patch of skin, followed by a lump in her armpit. A visit with a breast surgeon and several tests later, she learned she had Stage II breast cancer in March.
“The only thing I thought about were my kids,” said Johnston Masson, who underwent a mastectomy. Now finished chemotherapy, she has two messages for women.
“You’re not too young to get breast cancer,” she said. “And you have to be your own advocate.”
This Sunday, the 33-year-old is leading the Mommy Army, a team of 31 in the CIBC Run for the Cure at LeBreton Flats. The women will be among 10,000 participants expected to earn $1.5 million for research, said Rachel Tweedy, area co-run director.
One in nine women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime, Tweedy said.
“Everyone knows someone who has been touched by it.”
