MCDONALD — Angie Carter has beaten breast cancer not once, but twice, and she is convinced that she has prevailed because of a won’t-die attitude.
“The big thing is, you can’t give up,” the 54-year-old said about her journey with cancer. “If I wanted to, I could sit here and get upset and get commemorative over it and depressed, and I’ll probably be gone in two months.”
Carter’s journey goes back to 2012, when the mother of two boys was living a busy life as a teacher for the Public Schools of Robeson County and an administrator at the Carolina Civic Center. She suffered with arthritis, and had fallen and was confined to a wheelchair when she noticed some pain.
“I had been back to school working about two or three days when I started hurting,” Carter said.
Carter went to see her obstetrics and gynecology specialist in May, Dr. John Rozier, who told her it was time for her routine mammogram.
“We had it done and he called me back the next week and said, ‘It’s cancer,’” Carter said.
Carter was in the fourth stage of breast cancer, which takes about 200,000 lives a year in the United States, making it the No. 3 cancer killer behind lung and colon. Just four weeks after the diagnosis, the cancer had doubled in size.
“My son graduated on my birthday, June 8th, and I had surgery the next week,” Carter said. “If I had waited until July, I would have been dead.”
The cancerous breast removed, as were lymph nodes to prevent the cancer from spreading. Two weeks later, Carter went into surgery again after an infection.
“In 2012, that summer, I had two major surgeries within about five weeks,” she said.
Carter was quickly on her feet and was back teaching in the fall.
“I had to tell them (her students) I had chest cancer,” Carter said joking.
In 2013, after learning about the Women’s Health and Cancer Rights Act — also known as Janet’s Law — which gives women the financial coverage to have reconstructive surgery or a mastectomy, Carter chose to have her other breast removed as protection against the disease returning.
Carter was free of cancer for two years, when she started having spells of dizziness and drowsiness. After having an MRI scan done to her brain, her physician, Dr. Linda Sutton, said she had a brain tumor..
“Mine definitely came originally from my breast cancer,” she said. “It was a separate tumor.”
Days later, Carter had the tumor and 2 centimeters around it removed from the lower right side of her brain.
“I had between a softball and egg in head taken out,” Carter said.
Carter then went through radiation and chemotherapy treatments for two years.
“I laugh and pick on John Rozier and Linda Sutton and say, “Y’all are the two that got me through this. If it had not been for you, I would still be sitting here saying, ‘I don’t know what’s going on.’”
Harriette Lovin, a long-time friend and co-worker of Carter’s, was with her every step of the way in both journeys.
“Angie has got to be one of the most positive women I’ve ever known,” Lovin said. “Her faith is so strong.”
Lovin said she was one of the first to receive a call from Carter following the second diagnosis.
“I am glad I had the opportunity to go through both cancers with her,” Lovin said. “I don’t even know how to put into words the strength she has.”
Lovin describes Carter as being a rock and constant inspiration.
“My philosophy is every night I say thank you Lord for another one, let’s go for another one and I get up and say thank you God, I’m awake, let see what we can do with it,” said Carter, whose husband, Dean, is the chaplain at Southeastern Health. Their sons are Aaron and Will.
Carter now sees a doctor every three months for an MRI and a full body computed tomography scan.
“They look at those results every three months to be able to say, ‘We see no changes,” Carter said. “So until there’s something different, we’re fine.”
Carter said one of the most important things to do is be proactive in seeing doctors and getting routine mammograms. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and one of the messages most repeated is for women to have a mammogram.
“Do your checks and never be afraid to say “I don’t feel right about this,” Carter said. “You may feel like a hypochondriac, you’re not. If you think there is something wrong, observe, but don’t observe for six months, observe for a couple weeks and if it’s still there, go find someone that will help you.”
Carter recently spoke at a Pink Ribbon Lighting held at the Southeastern Regional Medical Center, sharing her story and bringing awareness to the disease. She still finds joy in playing piano, filling in for different churches and musical departments.
She enjoys a quiet life in McDonald and looks forward to a trip to Oklahoma with family. She doesn’t see herself stopping anytime soon.
“I’ve got too many things I want to do,” Carter said. “I want to see my grandchildren some day.”
