By Carlos Ayala Santa Ana

Roseanne Madrid, an employee of Grand Terrace High School, fell victim to the horrible breast cancer. 

Madrid found out she had cancer after her daughter received a phone call from the doctor’s office. Of course, after receiving such news, Madrid felt all sorts of emotions and thoughts coursing through her body.

 “I felt very scared because I felt that it meant the end of my life, like I was going to die,”  she said. 

Knowing that your days could be numbered makes you prioritize things in your life, and for Madrid, the most important things to her were her faith and her kids..

Having cancer changed the way Madrid lived her life. “I changed all my eating habits. I don’t eat dairy anymore. And I don’t eat red meat. I only eat chicken and it’s organic.” 

She explained the reason for these changes is the type of cancer she had. “(It) was hormone driven, which means my own hormones fed the cancer which allowed it to grow”. 

By taking care of  the nutrients that went into her body, she was able to put up an effective fight.

The journey through chemotherapy was a hard one but one that Madrid adapted to. She describes the first few sessions and how she was able to get used to the process. “The first day was the first time was eight hours. It’s on a drip. And then the second time it was seven hours and then as time went by, they were able to I was able to get it done in five and a half hours,” Madrid said.

Madrid’s co-workers at Grand Terrace High School also provided much-needed support for her to keep up the fight. Not only did all of the staff wear pink ribbons to show their support, but her co-workers also took the action of providing her with meals every day. 

Madrid looks back at that time, “my inside of my office all brought me meals. I never had to cook.” 

After a nearly two-year battle, Madrid was cleared of the cancer that had changed her life. She still gets scanned every year to make sure nothing comes back again as a precaution. 

She offers her advice to those battling cancer.

 “Be headstrong, always know that you’re going to get through it.”