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My Lobular Breast Cancer Story: Not a “Journey”

Writer's picture: Surviving Breast CancerSurviving Breast Cancer

By Brenda Coronado


Brenda and her husband, Carlos Gutierrez, on their shared birthday, December 11.
Brenda and her husband, Carlos Gutierrez, on their shared birthday, December 11.

Hello! My name is Brenda Coronado. Fun facts: I am originally from Monterrey, Mexico, and I moved to the United States in 2008. I have been happily married for ten years and I am an industrial engineer, with Certified Production Inventory Management (CPIM) certification. I love supply chain, so I decided to get certified in my passion!


I’ve received annual mammograms since 2014, when I found a cyst that proved to be benign at age 35. In February 2022, I scheduled and went to get my annual checkup. Of course they found something. My care team sent me to get an ultrasound, and after that they immediately scheduled a biopsy.


I work full time, so April 7, 2022 was a regular business day for me. When I got the call around 3:00 p.m. from the clinic that did the biopsy, the nurse said, “Hi Ms. Coronado, we have your results. You have cancer.” I swear I started shaking and I froze; I couldn’t understand what she was saying. She tried to help me calm down and gave me the names of two breast cancer surgeons (What?? I never knew there was even such a thing).

Imagine you are at work, and you have calls scheduled later that afternoon. I managed to get on that call and make it home. I called my husband, who was away on business in San Francisco. As a matter of fact, I called him before getting in the car and he immediately scheduled his flight back.


I finally got an appointment with the breast surgeon for April 21. I remember this was three weeks out from my diagnosis, and I was in shock. First, why do they give you cancer results by phone on a weekday? Why would they even do that?? Of course I was scared of the unknown. What stage? What does this mean? Was I going to die?


Finally, the day to meet the surgical oncologist came. I was diagnosed with Stage 1 invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC). She explained everything to me and my husband. She was very clear and answered all of our questions. She ordered some more tests. First was an MRI, which showed some extra spots, so I had to have three more biopsies. A week later, she called me to explain my results and the options available to me. The other breast had some suspicious spots that were biopsied. I opted for a double mastectomy</