Survivor Stories: Corinne Baldwin

(WJBF) – For Breast Cancer Awareness Month, survivors are telling their stories in hopes of helping others.

“I am 57 years old, and I’m a mother of three daughters, and I’ve been a nurse for thirty years.”

Corinne Baldwin was behind on her medical appointments.

“I made an appointment for the dentist, eye doctor, physical, and my mammogram, which I was a little bit behind on. I went to the mobile mammography that University Hospital did at the time, and they called me two or three days later saying they saw something and asked if I could come back. I had that happen before so I was not worried in the slightest.”

Corinne went back for more tests.

“While I was there, they gave me an ultrasound and a more in depth mammogram, and I was told that day that it was breast cancer.”

She was shocked by the news. After she called and spoke with her family, she let the doctors take it from there.

“The process that they put a person through is very easy. The people are very amazing. You go into the office, and they have a treatment room. The nurses there are amazing, and the physicians are amazing. Then, after the 6 months of chemo, I had to do radiation, which is every day. It’s very exhausting; it’s very hard on your body. Then, when all my treatment was complete, they checked to see how far your tumor had shrunk, and mine was gone.”

It was an overwhelming feeling for Corinne to be on the road to recovery.

“It is an amazing feeling: to ring the bell. I felt very relieved and a weight off my shoulders when I was complete with the treatment.”

Corinne has a message for anyone that hears her story.

“The best thing you can do is screening mammograms because the sooner you find out, the better off the end result will be. The mobile mammography unit at Piedmont Hospital is fantastic. They do them very quickly. It’s about a 15 minute appointment, and if you don’t have insurance, don’t use that as an excuse. One of the things our walk does for us is give women free mammograms if they don’t have insurance. Go get it. It’s not time consuming, and it’s worth it.”

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