Well - Winter 2011 - (Page 9)

impact player Photo: JeFFrey a. caMarati, Unc athletic coMMUnicationS Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., Jessica Breland grew up in Kelford, N.C., and was a standout player at Bertie High School. Her three seasons with UNC Women’s Basketball have been filled with accomplishments and honors, including a season in which she: • Led the aCC in blocked shots. • ranked in the top 10 in the aCC in five statistical categories. • Was named to the Wooden award Midseason Top 20. • earned first-team all-tournament accolades after averaging 22.5 points and nine rebounds in two games of the aCC tournament. The physical strength that she had relied on most of her life, competing in volleyball, basketball, and track and field, would suddenly not be enough, as aggressive chemotherapy took its toll. the moment she was told it was cancer. It is a moment most cancer patients never forget, as it changes their lives forever. “I was shocked!” Jessica says. “I knew something was wrong, but I never thought it might be cancer.” She remembers Thomas Shea, MD, offering words of comfort: “If you have to have cancer, this is one of the best ones to have.” But she also remembers not feeling very comforted by those words. The next few days were a haze of tests and activity. Her initial tests were on Thursday, and by the following Wednesday she had been tested some more, had two bone marrow biopsies and had started her first round of chemotherapy. In the roller coaster of emotions that Jessica would experience throughout her treatment, she noted that this was one of her lowest moments. “It hadn’t really set in that I had cancer,” she says, because it was all happening so quickly. Just a few days before, she thought she had a minor virus that she couldn’t shake, and now she was facing the reality of chemotherapy, the fear of losing her hair and the uncertainty of what was ahead. Deciding to Be Upbeat Life-Changing Diagnosis After several bouts of what she thought were minor illnesses that left her feeling constantly just a little under the weather, Jessica went to see a doctor to get to the bottom of what was causing the persistent ailment. After a series of tests, Harold C. Pillsbury III, MD, chair of the Department of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, diagnosed the condition as Hodgkin lymphoma. Jessica vividly remembers Jessica allowed herself a couple of days to adjust to her new reality, but then she made a decision that would be a turning point for her during the rest of her illness. “I realized I had to pick myself up,” Jessica says. “Coach [Charlotte] Smith always talks about fooling your body. She says your body reacts to how you’re feeling, so I decided to always smile and be upbeat. Everyone around me thought I went through it really well.” Jessica didn’t let those around her know how bad she felt or how difficult it was at times. She credits the support www.unchealthcare.org 9 http://www.unchealthcare.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Well - Winter 2011

Well - Winter 2011
Contents
UNC Health Care News
Community
You Don’t Have to Live with Incontinence
Much More Than Brain Surgery
Bouncing Back
My Story
Distinguished Nursing Care
Nutrition
Calendar

Well - Winter 2011