COURTLAND TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — It’s been 14 years since Becky Oliver got her first life-changing diagnosis: stage 2 breast cancer.
She went through it all — chemotherapy, lumpectomy, mastectomy, and reconstruction — and beat the cancer.
But Oliver’s battle wasn’t over. During a routine mammogram ten years after her first diagnosis, it was déjà vu.
“You’re waiting there and they say, ‘You’ve got to come back and take some more pictures.’ And then (in my) heart (I) was like, ‘I know what that means.’ Then they do the ultrasound and they are like, ‘There is a little something there,’ and I was like, ‘No! No!’” Oliver recounted.
The tests came back: breast cancer again, but a completely different type.
Becky Oliver was ready for round 2.
“OK, I’ve done this before I can do it again,” she said.
But her physical sacrifices also came with an emotional price.
“Sometimes you feel like, I can lose my breast but losing my hair makes a statement that is pretty bold. It’s a reality you see every day, and every day it reminds you and every day it hits you,” Oliver said.
Once again, Becky Oliver’s family was there for support.
“I did offer up to shave my head, I said, ‘Yeah solidarity – this will be great.’ She said, ‘No, no, no, no. One person in the family without hair is enough.’ So everybody is going to grow their hair out this second time around,” explained Becky Oliver’s husband, Nathan Oliver.