They call it the Red Devil. It is red in color and highly toxic.
This is Wendy Ann Mitchell’s story of enduring the Red Devil, a grueling treatment for a rare and aggressive type of cancer called Metaplastic Carcinoma; only one percent of women are diagnosed with this type of cancer.
Her cancer is also triple-negative, which only occurs in 10 – 20 percent of breast cancers. This is her story behind the pink ribbons that designate breast cancer awareness.
Ironically, Ms. Mitchell discovered the lump in her left breast while she was dyeing her fiery red hair. She dropped a glob of Manic Panic Vampire Red hair dye on her breast and felt the lump when she wiped off the dye. She had had a mammogram just ten months before.
She had a lumpectomy to remove the tumor. Then she learned she had to undergo an aggressive chemotherapy, called “dense dose” chemo because it kills the worst kinds of cancer. For 16 weeks, she endured this Red Devil.
After this intense chemotherapy, doctors gave her Taxol, a medicine that made her bones hurt so badly she wanted to cry and caused lingering neuropathy in her fingers and toes. Six weeks of radiation followed. Her chest is now red, painful and bumpy from the 21 doses of radiation she has had so far. Because of her intense therapy, she lost her hair, eyebrows and eyelashes.
Why is she telling her story? To make others aware of what cancer patients endure. To stop cruel comments from people who do not think before they talk. Click to learn more about why she says, “Cancer touches everyone and I won’t be quiet until I feel my work of raising awareness is done.”
