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Theresa Overbey’s life was much different 25 years ago. In January, 1986, having just separated from her abusive husband and working to reshape her life, the then 28-year-old New Jersey native suddenly found a lump two centimeters wide in diameter on one of her breasts.
“Some people know, and I just knew it was cancer,” Overbey said.
It wasn’t much longer after she felt the mass on her breast that she underwent a lumpectomy, followed by 30 days of daily radiation but fortunately no chemotherapy.
Two years later, however, the cancer returned in the same breast. This time, she had to have a radical mastectomy, in which the tissue and chest muscle underneath the breast had to be removed. After seven rounds of aggressive chemotherapy, she stopped her treatment and has been cancer free ever since.
“Getting cancer changed my life,” the now 53-year-old Middletown resident said. “It took a long time for it to change my life but it was a major turning point. It really made me look at my life and think if I continue dealing with and handling things the same way, I will not be alive.”
Overbey will tell her story in hopes of providing inspiration to others at this year’s Opening Ceremony of the American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life of Middletown Friday, June 3 at Silver lake Park.
“The American Cancer Society is all about celebrating more birthdays,” she said. “I’ve been able to celebrate 25 more birthdays and I believe I’ll have plenty more.”
Since her battle with cancer, Overbey married her current husband, Randy, took on a decade-long career as a hospice nurse, fostered 10 children throughout a period of years, adopted two children, Michael and Renee, and then started her own pet sitting business, Paws and People Too.
She said cancer made her much more conscientious about her and family’s health.
“I educated myself,” she said. “We eat mostly organic foods that are chemical free and no foods with dyes or preservatives.”
With cancer running through much of her family history, from her mother to her sister and a host of other relatives, she does everything she can to prevent another occurrence.
Her speech at Relay will focus on the many changes that have occurred in the past 25 years, in terms of breast cancer research and treatment. She plans to touch on the various options that have changed for cancer patients and how far we’ve come.
Theresa Overbey’s life was much different 25 years ago. In January, 1986, having just separated from her abusive husband and working to reshape her life, the then 28-year-old New Jersey native suddenly found a lump two centimeters wide in diameter on one of her breasts.
“Some people know, and I just knew it was cancer,” Overbey said.
It wasn’t much longer after she felt the mass on her breast that she underwent a lumpectomy, followed by 30 days of daily radiation but fortunately no chemotherapy.
Two years later, however, the cancer returned in the same breast. This time, she had to have a radical mastectomy, in which the tissue and chest muscle underneath the breast had to be removed. After seven rounds of aggressive chemotherapy, she stopped her treatment and has been cancer free ever since.
“Getting cancer changed my life,” the now 53-year-old Middletown resident said. “It took a long time for it to change my life but it was a major turning point. It really made me look at my life and think if I continue dealing with and handling things the same way, I will not be alive.”
Overbey will tell her story in hopes of providing inspiration to others at this year’s Opening Ceremony of the American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life of Middletown Friday, June 3 at Silver lake Park.
“The American Cancer Society is all about celebrating more birthdays,” she said. “I’ve been able to celebrate 25 more birthdays and I believe I’ll have plenty more.”
Since her battle with cancer, Overbey married her current husband, Randy, took on a decade-long career as a hospice nurse, fostered 10 children throughout a period of years, adopted two children, Michael and Renee, and then started her own pet sitting business, Paws and People Too.
She said cancer made her much more conscientious about her and family’s health.
“I educated myself,” she said. “We eat mostly organic foods that are chemical free and no foods with dyes or preservatives.”
With cancer running through much of her family history, from her mother to her sister and a host of other relatives, she does everything she can to prevent another occurrence.
Her speech at Relay will focus on the many changes that have occurred in the past 25 years, in terms of breast cancer research and treatment. She plans to touch on the various options that have changed for cancer patients and how far we’ve come.
“I’m looking to offer hope to people that get cancer at young ages, to show them that you can survive it and have a better life because of it,” Overbey said. “It’s taken a lot away from my life but at the same it’s added to it.”
Overbey refuses to look at her past and the challenges she’s faced in a negative light.
“The last 25 years has really been a journey of faith,” she said. “I look back and I think if I could change anything, there’s a lot of things I wouldn’t have wanted to go through, but if getting cancer has gotten me to where I am today, I wouldn’t change it. Not at all.”
