In 2015, Candi Reeves Mccormick would have procedural bloodwork done per the insurance policy of the company she worked for at the time.
Pushing through the physical exhaustion and fatigue she had been feeling, Candi believed it was nothing more than the affects of a busy life.
Working full time and keeping up with her kids and their busy school and sports schedules, it only made sense that it was just stress and it was taking a toll on her body.
Her boss, however, didn’t believe that her inability to literally physically move from her desk was a normal sympton of exhaustion. Something was wrong.
“My blood work came out-not normal,” she said. “Things that they look at when people have cancer-your red blood count and your white blood count-all of my platelet levels were extremely elevated.”
“I was having breast problems as it was with cysts and other different things. So when they started looking more into it, they did a BRCA test and mine showed a 99.9% risk of getting breast cancer. So it wasn’t a matter of if I get it, but when I get it.”
The BRCA test uses a sample of blood or saliva to determine the genetic risk of many different types of cancer. Candi’s results showed that her risk of breast and colon cancer were extremely high.
She was surprised to learn that the genetic risk didn’t come from her mother’s side, as is usually the case, but from her father’s side.
“A lot of people are under the impression that it comes from the mother’s side, but once they did a study on my family history, it did not come from my mother’s side: it came straight from my father’s side. Nobody on my mother’s side ever had cancer. But on my biological father’s side, my aunt passed away from triple negative breast cancer, my grandmother passed away from triple negative breast cancer, and my cousin passed away from triple negative breast cancer. So every bit of that was on his side.”
Upon receiving the news, Candi was given two options: have a mammogram every three months until the breast cancer develops or have breast removal and prevent it.
“As I listened to the lady on the phone, I was in shock. After we made the appointment to go meet with her, I automatically knew I didn’t want to go every three months for a mammogram just waiting for this to happen.”
“I immediately made the choice for the removal. There was no thinking about it, there was no let me sit on it for a minute. It was when can I have the surgery?”
“So we opted for the removal and I had planned to have the reconstruction done around the same time. However, my body was not handling the surgery well.”
While it is common knowledge that surgery of any kind comes with its own risks, Candi’s situation was about to take another turn where she would learn that her fight was far from over.
“Looking into it, my platelets were elevated to 890. Your platelets should run anywhere from one to four. That’s when I found out I had leukemia.”
“So it took two years just to have the reconstruction because when you have leukemia and your platelets are so high, you’re very high-risk during surgeries. They have to get them down at a normal level which meant getting put on chemo.”
“I got put on chemo pills and my levels finally went down to normal and I got the reconstruction done in 2017. But in the meantime, I got staph in between those years and was on home care for about a year.”
What can be considered one of the most traumatic moments of her life, Candi had the love and support of her husband and kids who helped her through it all, helping her heal along the way.
“My kids, through the surgeries, through the home care, through everything-they took care of me,” Candi said through tears. “They were my strength, my husband, Jeff, was my strength and God was my strength.”
“Ultimately, breasts didn’t matter. Seeing my kids graduate and watching them move on in life is what I was going for. It’s only as tough as you make it and I was never going to let my circumstances bring me down because I still had my life.”
When asked if she would have ever gotten the blood test done had it not been for the company and genuine concern of her boss, Candi, without hesitation, said no.
“In fact, I wasn’t even going to go. My husband had insurance so I didn’t feel like I needed theirs. But my boss is the one who demanded it because I was literally falling asleep at my desk, no energy at all. I just couldn’t keep up.”
“My boss said, I’ve seen you take on a lot, but you can’t even move from your desk. You’re going to have this blood test done. So had it not been for them, I probably would have turned out like the rest of my family with stage 4 cancer. I probably would’ve just ignored all the signs and went about my business and never would’ve known what my body was fighting.”
While her possibility of breast cancer was quickly prevented, her fight with leukemia is still ongoing. She cautions that while her genetic history did show her at risk of cancer, leukemia is not hereditary.
Nine years later, Candi, despite the occasional doctor’s appointments, is living her best life and along with her story comes a few pieces of advice from both a physical and emotional standpoint.
“I don’t let this consume my life and I don’t sit around and think oh my gosh, I have this. It’s just become a part of my life. I give thanks to God every morning when I wake up.”
“Knowledge is key and I had to learn that the hard way. Get your checkup and pay attention to what your body is trying to tell you. Don’t postpone it.”
