MATTAPAN - Shadon Watkins of Boston remembers life before breast cancer. "It was amazing," the 32-year-old Mattapan resident told WBZ-TV. "I had my children.
I was able to do things with them that didn't affect my everyday life, like riding bikes and swimming and all the outdoor activities." Watkins lives with her four children - ages 7, 9, 11, and 12 - and her husband, who has taken on a lot of responsibility since she was diagnosed with breast cancer. "It was like a normal day," Watkins said about the moment her life changed.
"I woke up, I had some pain in my chest. When I sat up off the bed, I had, like, a lump sitting off my chest." She went to the doctor and everything happened quickly from there - X-ray scans, MRIs, and before Watkins knew it, she was diagnosed with breast cancer on March 4, 2021.
On January 4, 2023, Watkins learned the cancer had metastasized. She is now living with Stage IV metastatic breast cancer, for which there is no cure, only treatment to manage the cancer as long as her body will allow. "It makes me sad," she said.
"Some days are easier than others. But I just try to do a lot of things with the children and, you know, just keep my mind occupied. I try to keep them out of it.
I don't want them to worry." Watkins receives intensive chemotherapy once a month at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. "It's rough," she said.
"The day after and that day [of chemo], I cannot function. I'm asleep at least 24 hours. It's really a rough patch.
I leave everyth.
