When Kristie Davis of Tupelo found a lump in her breast in 2015, no one was alarmed.

After all, her doctor told her, she was only 33 and besides, black women often have fibrocystic breasts, or breast tissue that feels lumpy.

But in 2017 when she told her mother about the pain in her nipple, her mother convinced her to tell her ob-gyn. She was only 35 then, and again, she was told it was probably fibrous tissue. But, to be sure, he ordered a mammogram at North Mississippi Medical Center’s Breast Care Center.

When her mammogram came back suspicious, Kristie had a breast ultrasound and biopsy. Then came the dreaded news: breast cancer.

“It kind of froze me for a minute,” Kristie says.

Because the tumor was relatively large and attached to her breast wall, she underwent 16 rounds of chemotherapy. Then, Dr. Danny Sanders of NMMC’s Breast and General Surgery Clinic performed a lumpectomy to remove the tumor. Next came 30 radiation treatments.

“It is a journey,” Kristie says about fighting breast cancer. “But find some type of joy and peace throughout the journey.”

Kristie completed her treatment in August 2018 and has been deemed cancer-free at all follow-up scans since then. But it’s not lost on her that things could have easily turned out much differently, especially since mammograms don’t start until age 40 for most women.

“If something is going on with your body, never be too afraid to check it out,” Kristie urges. “You know your body; you know when something is wrong. And if you’re not convinced by what you’re told, always get a second opinion.”