Emily (00:00):
So last year I had my yearly mammogram in February. Everything was great. I’ve always been told you have the dense breast tissue. So I do a monthly self-exam because I have lost four friends to breast cancer in the last three years. And it was under my right breast right here in the kind of armpit area. I felt something that didn’t feel right. So I had the biopsy and that came back invasive ductal carcinoma stage one. So I found that out. All of that took place over about a month and a half. I found out July 15th. So come Monday morning at 8:00 AM sharp, I called the doctor, that being my OB and I said, “Hey, I’m sure you saw the results. We need to get moving on this. I’m not reactive. I’m not the type of person. I’ll just wait around until they call.” No, no, I’m going to call you.

(00:58):
Got the referral and I saw her that next week. And she laid everything out and had a great experience with Dr. Wright. I think I may have been a little too much for her in the beginning, but that’s okay because that’s how I am. But the best part was we probably met about 30, 45 minutes and she gave me a big hug and I am a huge hugger. So it gets me teary-eyed thinking about it. I didn’t know anything at all, if you want me to be honest. I just heard from friends that had had breast cancer, you have the double mastectomy and you’re done. To me, being able to use a part of me in this whole reconstruction thing is amazing. And being able to use my own tissue was like earth shattering. Okay, you can take this part and you can … I don’t know if you want to suck that in, but it would tighten here and then you put it in here.

(01:58):
And I don’t know, it was just beyond words to describe really. After I had heard about the SGAP option, which was the tissue taken from your backside and used into the breast, to me, very new. I’d never heard of it. And then I found out that Dr. Sullivan had done it and that was his baby. And I’m like, “If this is his forte, then sign me up. I’d love to have this opportunity to have him do this with me because I was ready to get back to my normal life, whichever that was going to be. ” So the reconstruction has obviously changed my life for the good. So I thank Dr. Wright and her team for reconstructing me back to my new normal.