Editor’s note: This is one in a series of stories exploring the survivorship journeys of Novant Health Cancer Institute patients. You’ll find all the stories here. We celebrate our survivors and share their stories to showcase how surviving – and thriving – after a cancer diagnosis is possible.
When Anelle Seritha Nelson, 73, was diagnosed with breast cancer and unrelated kidney cancer within weeks of one another over the December 2019-January 2020 holidays, she thought, “Why are you picking on me? What’s going on? I’ve got breast cancer and now I have kidney cancer, too?”
When Anelle found the lump in her breast, she hadn’t had a mammogram in three years. She got busy with a side project for her high school alma mater around the time her exam was due and put it off.
“I want every woman to please get her mammogram,” she said. “No matter what comes up. Put yourself first and get your annual mammogram.”
Supportive care throughout your cancer journey
Anelle underwent a lumpectomy in February 2020, cryoablation (a minimally invasive procedure that uses thermal energy to freeze, and thus ablate (or destroy) small kidney tumors), then weeks of breast cancer radiation lasting through that summer.
“COVID just put a different spin on everything,” she said about the timing. “You’re scared to death you’re going to get COVID because you’re getting treatments. You’re in a mask. You’re afraid of being too close to anyone.
“My faith and gratitude brought me through this. And the fact that I’ve had people in my life who’ve been so supportive. I got to ring that ‘end-of-treatment’ bell.
It wasn’t always easy. She lost her sister in May 2020. “She was my best friend,” Anelle said. “I still pick up the phone to tell her something, and then I realize she can’t answer.”
Anelle’s daughter was quick to step in. “My daughter is such a great friend as well as being a daughter,” she said. “She sacrificed tremendously when this diagnosis came down. She was a communications analyst at the Pentagon, and the minute I told her about my diagnosis she said, ‘I’m coming home.’ She’s been my biggest cheerleader.”
Anelle is in remission and underwent an angioplasty and stent placement in June 2022. “I’ve been through a whole lot of stuff in the last couple of years,” she said. “But I’m still here. And I don’t plan on going anywhere.”
The retired BellSouth project manager is happy to turn her professional skills to helping others, whether it’s her surrogate grandkids; her volunteerism at the Board of Elections or Delta Sigma Theta; or encouragement for other survivors. It’s something she learned from her former primary care provider and fellow cancer fighter, Dr. Ophelia Garmon-Brown.
“She was always so positive in her outlook,” Anelle said. “I thought if she can do it, I can too. Even though she lost that fight, she had a good fight. And she never gave up. I tell everyone else: Just don’t give up, and keep the faith.”
Anelle admits cancer changed her outlook on life “and everything else. I feel I’ve been given a second chance at life. And hopefully I won’t mess it up. I’m just happy to be here.”
