Sisters Michelle Smith and Tammy Roberts of Saltillo have always been close. Now they share an unfortunate bond that has knit them even more tightly together.

Tammy went for her annual checkup in October 2021 and, since she had turned 40 that January, nurse practitioner Missy Barnett at OB-GYN Associates in Tupelo ordered her first screening mammogram that day. Because the mammogram discovered something suspicious, Tammy was scheduled for a 3-D diagnostic mammogram at North Mississippi Medical Center’s Breast Care Center.

After further testing, Tammy was diagnosed with Stage 2 invasive ductal carcinoma in her right breast. She met with Dr. Danny Sanders of NMMC’s Breast and General Surgery Clinic to discuss her options for surgery.

While Tammy was awaiting surgery, her older sister Michelle went for her annual checkup with obstetrician-gynecologist Dr. Eric Webb at OB-GYN Associates. Because their grandmother had battled breast cancer, Michelle started yearly mammograms when she turned 35.

But this year was different.

“I told Dr. Webb what we were going through with my sister, and he recommended I do genetic testing in addition to my mammogram,” Michelle says. “By the time I finished both and got back to my office, the radiologist called and wanted to do a breast ultrasound. I knew he thought it was cancer.”

The news caught Michelle off guard. “I had to take a step back. I told my husband, ‘Let’s not tell anybody just yet,’” she said. “We had just found out about Tammy, and I was still trying to process that. I had to figure out how I was going to tell our parents.” The following week, she mustered up the strength to tell her parents and then Tammy.

The diagnosis was especially rough on their mother. “Both her babies now had breast cancer,” Tammy says.

Then came a familiar series of tests – breast ultrasound, breast MRI and biopsy. “Everything Tammy had gone through, I was now going through. I told Tammy, ‘If it’s not going to be good news, don’t tell me because I know that’s what’s coming for me too,” Michelle says.

They had the same type of breast cancer, except that Tammy’s was in her right breast and Michelle’s in her left.

On Jan. 28, Dr. Sanders performed a reduction lumpectomy to remove cancer from Tammy’s right breast. At the same time, plastic surgeon Dr. Robert Buckley did a reduction of her left breast for symmetry. When the tissue removed from her left breast reduction was biopsied, doctors discovered a different type of breast cancer there. After surgery, Tammy had 30 radiation therapy treatments over six weeks.

Michelle was still considering her surgery options, but when a subsequent breast MRI showed an additional spot, “that changed things,” she says. “We just wanted it gone.” In February, Dr. Sanders performed a double mastectomy. While she was in surgery, Dr. Buckley reconstructed her breasts; in June, he placed permanent breast implants.

“Dr. Sanders and Dr. Buckley were a godsend to both us,” Michelle says. “They were just wonderful.”

Because their cancer was estrogen-dependent, both women plan to have their ovaries removed via hysterectomy to lower their risk of recurrence.

While neither woman would have chosen this road, both are glad they walked it together. “When you hear the word ‘cancer,’ it’s scary, because you automatically think of dying,” Michelle says. “I believe God had a reason—we needed each other. We had someone to talk to, and we encouraged and supported each other.”

Their family’s faith sustained them during the most difficult times. “You can lay down and feel sorry for yourself, but you have to realize where your hope lies,” Michelle says. “When it’s good, you praise God, and when it’s bad, you praise God.”

Now, the sisters offer sage advice for other women.

“Get your yearly visit. I had no symptoms,” Tammy says. “If I hadn’t kept my annual checkup, we wouldn’t have known about the cancer” until later, when the prognosis wouldn’t have been as promising.

“Nobody likes a mammogram,” Michelle adds, “but just do it.”