My Journey

Lacee’s Story

Written by: Lacee Landrum

My journey began on July 11,  2019, two weeks before my son, Emmit, first birthday. I made an appointment at The Breast Center at Floyd for a lump that I found. My visit started with a breast exam that quickly turned into a mammogram, biopsy, another mammogram, and an appointment to come in the next day to get the results. I knew in my heart then that it was cancer. The next day we went to get the results and I remember the NP telling me you have stage 3 triple negative breast cancer. I remember looking at her and asking if I would see my son graduate to which she responded “absolutely”. I can’t tell you much about that appointment after that - it all becomes a blur. I came home and went to bed and cried and cried and cried. I was mad. I was angry. I kept asking why me and why didn’t God know that my son was about to be one and his mama couldn’t go through this. He needed his mama just as much as I needed him. My cousin, Kelly, had been through her own journey in 2008 called and told me I could take a little time to be sad but then it was time to deal with it head on. So that’s exactly what I did. I gave myself 72 hours to cry, be angry, and have a pity party and then I changed my prayer from “why me” to “use me”. From that point everything moved pretty quickly and I started 16 rounds of chemo on August 8, 2019. Since I had started asking God to use me to help someone else on their journey, I had gained a peace about my diagnosis that I can’t explain other than it being Him. I decided I would have fun during my journey. We had a bra burning party, dyed my hair pink, had a head shaving party, had almost 50 people come watch me ring the bell at chemo, and celebrated the end of chemo at Disney with my best girl friends. Most importantly, I was able to stand beside my fiancé and be Baptized together. Following chemo I had a bilateral mastectomy with immediate reconstruction and 28 radiation treatments. It has been a tough year, but I wouldn’t change it even if I could. It has taught me so much about myself and most importantly brought me to a relationship with God that I didn’t know I was capable of having.  

During this time I felt led to meet with my State Representative, Trey Kelley, about getting insurance to pay for earlier breast screening for women with higher risk. I am so proud to say that in August 5, 2020 Governor Kemp signed HB1125, Lacee’s Law into effect that will do just that. I can’t thank Trey enough for his hard work on making this dream a reality. I am so thankful for the connection that I made with Summit Quest. Our family has loved the opportunity to spend family time and be able to forget about cancer while being surrounded by other families going through the same thing we are. We were able to go to the pumpkin patch as a family and thinking back it is one of my favorite memories of the past year. Brett and Braedyn really enjoyed the Mountain men retreat and being able to have guy time surrounding by other fathers and sons. Braedyn and I also enjoyed getting to go paddle boarding together. We are so thankful for the constant love and support Summit Quest has shown us during the toughest year of our lives.  

I honestly don’t know how I would have made it this past year without the never ending support of my family, friends, and community. I have made so many new friends and met so many amazing people. I am forever thankful for Dr. Dillmon, my oncologist, and all of the ladies at the cancer center for always taking the best care of me. Most of all, I am thankful for our God. Even on days when it is hard to not be angry or ask why, I try to find something to be thankful for and praise Him for. I pray that I can be as helpful to someone who is starting this journey as my pink sisters were to me when I started my own journey. I say all of the time that July 12, 2019 was the best worst day of my life, but I trust in God’s plan for me and I know that He isn’t finished with my story yet. God Bless!