A breast cancer survivor’s prayers are answered

Breast cancer – specifically, Stage 3 invasive ductal carcinoma – interrupted Shannon Dickson’s busy life. Yet she continues to find unlikely blessings in what she once feared might leave her young children motherless.

Healthy Headlines readers were introduced to Dickson in a 2024 story about a mom of three who leaned into “hard things.” She had surgery, radiation, chemo and was part of a clinical trial involving 12 weeks of weekly Taxol infusions, all the while raising three kids with her husband, Michael. They, along with her parents, friends and faith, helped her navigate the ultimate uncertainty.

‘Maybe we’re done’

Dickson wasn’t sure she could get pregnant.

She discussed with her cancer team her desire to expand her family. “They told me to wait at least six months after my last treatment to be sure everything was out of my system,” she said.

Once she had her oncologist’s green light, she talked to her OB/GYN, Dr. Simon Ward of Novant Health Rankin OB/GYN - Randolph. “He ran some tests and looked at my AMH level,” Dickson said. (That’s the anti-Mullerian hormone, which refers to a woman’s ovarian reserve, or the number of eggs she has left. Those low AMH levels were a result of chemo. Like all medications, the life-saving drug comes with potential side effects, and this is one especially unfortunate one.)

“Mine was a lot lower than it should’ve been, so we thought that might be the Lord closing this door for us. We thought: Maybe we’re done. But we decided to still try and see what happened.”

And what happened seemed like a miracle. The couple got pregnant the first month they tried. She continued getting cancer checkups during the pregnancy. She also needed a mammogram while Scotlynn was in utero. She’ll need one every six months for several years.

The glass is always half-full

Dickson isn’t a Pollyanna, but she has a beautiful ability to see light in the darkness. Last year, she said, “Cancer changed our marriage, the way we parent, the way we love our community – all for the better. We had so much help from our village. Everyone rallied around us.”

Does she still feel that way?

Even more so. “You look at this tiny face staring up at you, and you think back to that year and everything that went with it,” she said. “And you think: I would do it a million times over for you. Cancer changed everything about our lives. … Last year, I was on the realization side of that. Now, we’re in the thick of it.

“After you have a baby, you have all these hormones flying all over the place,” she continued. “And with a newborn plus three older kids, it's easy for things to feel chaotic, overwhelming and haywire. But I feel our cancer journey changed us for the better, and we're living that out now. Living with gratitude is our default.”

‘My changing body’

Nursing had been an important part of motherhood for Dickson, and she worried she might not be able to breastfeed if she had another child. So, Dr. Peter Turk, medical director of surgical oncology at Novant Health Cancer Institute, recommended a lumpectomy.

His conservative approach helped ensure Dickson could nurse Scotlynn.

“By the grace of God, I am exclusively breastfeeding,” she said. “We’ve had a lot of conversations with the kids about my changing body, why my body looks different and why one breast is much bigger than the other.”

But the physical changes are just part of her story. Cancer changed her outlook on life, too.

And it may have even brought her family closer. “I have two older brothers, and all of us have walked really hard paths for a few years,” she said. “My cancer was kind of what kicked that off. We’ve all shown up for and supported each other.”

Her brothers showed up for her recently just when she needed them.

“I don't mean this to sound dramatic, but Scotlynn had a little situation where she had to be in the hospital for a night,” she said. “And my brothers were the first to call. My oldest brother was scheduled to fly to Seattle for work and offered to cancel his trip.”

Family and faith helped Dickson get through cancer. In fact, cancer strengthened her faith.

“We’ll all go through hard things, but it’s not because God has left us. This disease is not from him. He’s the one carrying you through it, leading you to the other side. The dark thoughts and dark days – they’re there, and they're real. But you don’t have to stay there.”