The lump

Nikia Lotmore, 46, remembers the day five years ago very well – she was at home lying down, bored, and decided to perform her first ever breast self-examination. Surprisingly, she felt a lump in her right breast, but thought nothing of it. Lotmore then proceeded to examine under her arm, and felt a lump there as well – but still thought nothing of it, even though she knew that a lump could be cancerous.

The then-41-year-old, who lived in Grand Bahama at the time, let months go by before she mentioned the lump in her breast to her mom, Patricia Collie, when she came to New Providence. Lotmore’s mom asked to feel the lump. Lotmore let her, then she returned home. A week later, Lotmore told her mom about the second lump under her arm, but she still did not seek medical attention. Lotmore even told a friend about the lumps, who urged her to seek medical attention.

Lotmore’s response was that it “was nothing”.

While she could feel the lump, she said it wasn’t painful, so she paid them no mind.

“If it was painful, I would have been to the doctor long time,” she said.

Approximately six months after feeling the lump for the first time, she went to see the doctor for her annual checkup.

“When he was examining me, he came across the lump, asked how long I had it, and told me I had to do a biopsy.”

She was referred to medical personnel in New Providence to have a biopsy done. When she arrived at the appointment, upon examination, she says she was told it didn’t look good.

Lotmore was given the specimen to take to the lab and then returned to Grand Bahama. She called in to the lab to let them know her contact. Five minutes after getting off the phone with them, lab personnel called to let her know that her biopsy result was malignant.

She was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer.

“I almost hit the roof,” she recalled. “My daughter [Halle Bannister] was only eight years old at the time.”

Lotmore says she cried, and cried some more, before calling her mom and telling her the results, because she knew she had to keep it together.

“I had to hold myself together for my daughter. I then said I’m going to beat cancer and not let cancer beat me, because I have an eight-year-old to live for. No one is going to take care of my child the way I would take care of her,” she said.

“They called me to come into Nassau and [the doctor] told me my options – either get a double mastectomy, or remove just the right breast. He said he preferred me to remove both [breasts], rather than the one because if and when the cancer comes back, it comes back with a vengeance.”

Between diagnosis and the doctor’s advice, she said she had already made up her mind to have a double mastectomy.

The surgery was performed April 4, 2016.

Lotmore also did 16 rounds of chemotherapy and 25 rounds of radiation to rid her body of the cancer cells. And unlike many others who have a rough time with the treatments, Lotmore says the treatments for her were a “breeze”.

“Not one day was I sick – no pain … nothing,” she recalled. “Surgery was a breeze, chemo was a breeze, radiation was a breeze. The only thing I went through was losing my hair – and [the thought of that] didn’t bother me.”

So much so, that during her second round of chemotherapy, Lotmore made the decision to shave her head bald, knowing that she would eventually have lost it.

She discovered she has a nice-shaped head, which she loves. But she said a lot of people were in shock when they saw her with her head shaved for the first time.

The day the doctor told her she was cancer-free at a follow-up consultation, she recalled how “ecstatic” she felt.

She has not done reconstruction as yet, but has plans to.

At the time she battled breast cancer, Lotmore did so without insurance, and had to go the route of steak-outs and luncheons to cover her medical bills. She even paid for her port-a-cath out of pocket.

At diagnosis and the time of her surgery, she did not know about the Sister Sister (Breast) Cancer Support Organization and the fact that they assist people diagnosed with cancer with port-a-caths – the device used to draw blood and give treatments, including intravenous fluids, blood transfusions, or drugs such as chemotherapy and antibiotics.

She has since found Sister Sister to be an encouraging supportive group, willing to assist in any way they can.

“They are willing to go above and beyond,” says Lotmore.

She has now become an advocate for breast self-checks, and happily doles out the advice, telling people she comes into contact with to self-check their breasts monthly and do their annual checkups.

She also encourages people to know their body. Lotmore found her lump, and she ignored it, but says that’s not the best thing.

“If you find a lump, go quick, run fast … like yesterday to the doctor, it could be scar tissue or it could be cancerous,” she said. “And if you know someone that’s going through it, just lend a helping hand, encourage them to not give up.”

Now that she’s active in Sister Sister, Lotmore says she finds herself side messaging people in the group constantly to offer words of encouragement.

Sister Sister (Breast) Cancer Support Group, which is celebrating 20 years this year, was started with the prompting of Doctors Locksley Munroe and Charles Diggiss.

Sister Sister started September 2000, with approximately 15 members. As a result of the increasing number of women being diagnosed with breast cancer, the group was formed because the need to come together to discuss, support and counsel women was overwhelming.

During the meetings, the aim is to cater to the whole human – a holistic approach enhances the physical, mental and spiritual needs of the members.

Since its early days, Sister Sister has grown to a membership of about 500 members.

Globally, the breast cancer symbol is a pink ribbon, which is presented in various shapes and sizes as the symbol of joy and hope.

Sister Sister’s first symbol was a single, unopened rose. They moved to an open rose signifying life and hope. In 2006, graphic artist Antonio Saunders designed the two sisters sharing the universal symbol of the ribbon, which the group says depicted more of what they represented, which they said was fitting. Today, they continue to carry it as a permanent symbol of identification – empowering women to become conquerors.

Sister Sister’s vision is to empower and educate women to actively participate in health practices, increase survival rates, and improve the quality of life of those diagnosed with breast cancer and to enhance the public’s awareness of the disease.

The mission is to provide supportive care, encouragement, coping skills, resources, strength and hope for women who have or had cancer. The dynamic attachment by women for others, they say, promotes health, wholeness and healing.

Sister Sister started out with the motto: women helping women, which changed in 2016 to women helping others, because the organization started helping men and children with ports as well.

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