Warner Robins breast cancer survivor honored by Cancer Treatment Centers of America
All Sheila Middleton wanted to do when she arrived at her Warner Robins home after work in 2016 was take her bra off and relax.
As the constrictive piece of clothing came off, she felt a hard knot on her right chest. After getting in the shower, Middleton called out for her husband.
“Can you feel this for me?” she asked him.
After feeling the lump, her husband said she needed to call a doctor.
Middleton had missed getting her mammogram the year before when her father passed away unexpectedly. So, two days after finding the lump, her doctor quickly scheduled Middleton for a mammogram and ultrasound.
“Don’t start any trouble,” her doctor light-heartedly warned her after giving her a breast exam.
“I’m not trying to,” Middleton responded.
She didn’t know taking her bra off on a random afternoon would set her on a life-changing road of chemotherapy and radiation therapy.
Middleton’s self-advocacy and perseverance throughout the experience were part of the reasons why she was honored last week at the annual Celebrate Life event hosted by the Cancer Treatment Centers of America-Atlanta for being cancer-free for more than five years.
‘A wild moment’
A few days after the breast exam, Middleton sat in a doctor’s office waiting. She’d gotten a mammogram and breast ultrasound performed, and the technician informed her that a physician would be in to speak to her shortly.
The doctor stepped into the room, and told Sheila that five more spots had been found and they would need to do a biopsy because it was likely cancer.
“I was in a wild moment,” Middleton said. “Oh my God. This is really happening.”
She asked the doctor for some time alone to gather her emotions before leaving the examination room. One of her twin daughters, Kadyah Tolbert, came with her to the appointment, and Middleton didn’t want to scare her.
After a biopsy and an MRI, Middleton’s invasive ductal carcinoma was confirmed. But she had over 10 tumors in her breast, not five. The cancer had been spreading for a long time, doctors told her.
While Middleton missed her mammogram in 2015, doctors explained that abnormalities were not found in 2014 because she had dense breasts. This meant that physicians would have needed to do a breast ultrasound to find the tumors, but that method of screening wasn’t as common at the time.
‘I’m gonna love myself’
Middleton endured four rounds of chemotherapy before her physicians recommended a mastectomy.
The cancer had spread into her lymph nodes, and she was having serious side effects from the treatment.
She experienced chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy, which is nerve damage that gave Middleton problems with her hand and made it difficult for her to walk. Her fingernails fell off. Middleton’s weight significantly decreased as she lost a pound a day.
“I couldn’t hold anything down on my stomach,” she said.
When the doctor’s told her that she would need a mastectomy, Middleton was ready because she was desperate to get rid of the cancer.
When the doctors asked if she wanted to get reconstructive surgery, Middleton discussed the idea with her husband at the time. He told her that her body had already gone through a lot of surgeries because of a separate problem with her back and the surgery to remove the cancer from her lymph nodes.
The decision was ultimately Middleton’s. After praying and reconciling with the fact that her body will be different, she decided against getting the reconstructive surgery.
“I’m going to be fine,” Middleton told herself. “I’m going to love myself no matter what.”
‘Your cancer is out of control’
After she got the mastectomy, Middleton’s surgeon informed her that she would need to have radiation therapy.
So, she called her oncologist’s office, and asked to make an appointment to see the physician to discuss the radiation therapy because she had questions about the treatment. A nurse answered the phone.
“You don’t need to see your doctor,” the nurse said. “ You just need to go to radiation therapy.”
“No, ma’am,” Middleton said. “I want to see my doctor. I want to talk to my doctor. I have a lot of questions to ask my doctor.”
She wasn’t successful with scheduling an appointment, so Middleton tried again the next day. And she called again the day after that. Middleton tried for the next week to get in to see the oncologist, but was refused and referred to radiology instead.
Finally, Middleton asked a nurse why they wouldn’t make an appointment for her to see the oncologist.
“Well, your cancer is out of control,” the nurse said. “And radiation therapy may not work anyway.”
When she hung up the phone, Middleton screamed because she felt that the nurse was telling her to get her affairs in order. Her family came rushing into the room to comfort a bedridden Middleton, and the conversation quickly shifted to what needed to be done next.
When she first got diagnosed, Middleton had done a lot of research about her cancer and the treatment. She realized that her local doctors could not handle the severity of symptoms she had, and knew that things needed to change.
‘It was magical’
After a conversation with her aunt, Middleton contacted the Cancer Treatment Centers of America - Atlanta, and was able to complete the process to be treated there with the help of one of their representatives and advocates.
Middleton was able to start and finish her radiation treatment there. She took advantage of the provider’s nutrition plans, chiropractors, mental health treatments and physical therapy as well.
“Physical therapy got me out of my wheelchair,” Middleton said.
She used a walker for a little while longer, before she began walking. Eventually, Middleton would jog.
“It was magical,” she said. “Because my back doctor told me I would never run again.”
By the end of 2017, Middleton rang the bell signaling that she was cancer free.
This fall, she traveled to Newnan as one of 1,200 CTCA patients from across the nation to be honored for marking five or more years since they began treatment. This year’s celebration also honored survivors who reached the milestone during the pandemic in 2020, 2021 and 2022.
Middleton was emotional as she took photos on the red carpet with her other daughter, Kadeah Tolbert, before the crowds arrived.
“We did it,” Middleton told Kadeah as she prayed and thanked God.
This story was originally published October 26, 2022 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Warner Robins breast cancer survivor honored by Cancer Treatment Centers of America."
