Megan Harris
Talk about “there is a reason for everything”. . .
In January 2014, my husband and I both had a snow day. After a short walk through the snow, I went to take off my boot and felt a little sting while doing so in the bottom of my right foot. Once I got my boot and sock off, I was shocked to see a blackish spot about the diameter of a small pencil eraser there. I immediately showed my husband and told him I do not remember ever seeing it before, but how often do we really look at the bottom of our feet?
At the time, my insurance required me to get a referral to see any specialist. Not wanting to waste any time, I called my insurance company and switched primary doctors. Long story short, I was given a referral and had the spot biopsied that same day. While waiting for the results, I did not think too much about the biopsy because I also happened to be five-ish months pregnant. However, when I hadn’t heard anything for 2 weeks, I decided to call my new primary doctor to see if they had heard anything yet. That is a conversation I will never forget. He said he would rather wait for my husband to get home and for us both to drive to their office to discuss the results. . .I knew it couldn’t be a good diagnosis. I waited what seemed like forever for my husband to get home. Once we got to the office, we heard those awful and terrifying words. . .”Megan, you have cancer.” My heart sunk, my nerves got the best of me, and tears just flowed as I began thinking about what we were just told and having to go through it all while being pregnant.
Here is where the “everything happens for a reason” comes into play. That night, my doctor called some of his contacts and immediately got me an appointment with some of the best surgeons at the University of Virginia (thank you Dr. Slingluff). Had I not switched doctors, I may not have been treated by some of the top surgical oncologists, at one of the top teaching hospitals. I had the spot and margins removed not even a week after finding out the results. The spot ended up being quite larger than anticipated, so I had a skin graft taken from my thigh. After surgery, it was a waiting game and more doctor appointments. We made the 2.5-hour drive to UVA many times to have my wound checked and continued my OB appointments.
After our daughter was born in April and I had healed, they did the lymph node mapping. Talk about one of the worst pains ever felt! Apparently they do this while still asleep during the main surgery, but I had to wait since I was pregnant. The sentinel node came back having cancer cells, so they went back in, did a complete dissection in my right groin, and tested 10 more lymph nodes. Only 3 had a trace of cancer. I spent almost 2 months with drains attached to me, trying to raise a newborn baby, meeting with an oncologist, and worrying about what was to come.
In the beginning of September, my drains were finally removed, I had a port put in and began a month of the intense immunotherapy drug, Interferon. I went everyday Monday through Friday for about 2 hours. While this type of treatment did not make me lose my hair like others, it made me feel like I had been hit by a bus. . .think flu times 10! And just when I started to feel slightly better over the weekend, it was time to go back for another round. After my month was completed, I was able to finish the next 11 months with a weekly injection I gave myself and go back to teaching!
As I sit here writing about my story, I am amazed. To hear I had cancer at the young age of 29, while pregnant, working full-time, still have a chunk missing out of the bottom of my foot, but am still be here to tell it is amazing to me! Here it is 2020 and for 6 years I have been cancer free. I have had more biopsies than I could imagine, some requiring a wider excision; we had a second child, a son born in 2017; I ran my first half marathon this past spring, in under 2 hours no less; but most importantly, I have regained my faith and strengthen my relationship with God. Without Him, and of course family and friends, I do not know what I would have done. Yes I still have anxiety and worry, I am human 
, but there is also hope! I can only hope sharing my story will reach at least one person and give them the faith and confidence that they can do it, they can beat cancer!
