Tina W. (00:00):
I found out I had breast cancer two times. When my oncologist said, “Okay, everybody’s cancer story is different. This is yours. What do you want it to say?” I was just in shock. I had no clue what I wanted. I knew I wanted to have hair. And that was the first thing I said, “I do not want to lose my hair.” So I had my double mastectomy and really they were like, “Perfect.” And two weeks later, horrible infection. We sent a picture to my surgeon. He said, “Be at the hospital at five in the morning.” Coming home from that was horrific – with nothing, no breasts. And that was the first, just like, that was harder than losing the hair. Then I started treatment, did chemo, four rounds of it, then seven weeks of radiation. Then we waited. And so that was in ’22.

(00:51):
And then March of ’23, we started reconstruction. Had five surgeries, just kept not there. Your skin’s too tight. There’s just so much damage. Lost it again. And I thought that was it. And I said, “So I’m done. I think we’ll be able to do it, but we’re going to let it heal for six months.” I went back in six months and he just looked at me, he said, “I need to call my partner in.” And they just said, “We can’t do it. You will not be happy. Your skin’s too damaged. You will not like your end results.” And that’s when I said, “So God allowed me to beat cancer, but it’s winning because I’m not getting my body back.” And he said, “Well, there is another option.” And he just told me about this place, referred me, and I will always be grateful that he was humble enough to say, “I can’t do it.

(01:41):
I just know too many people that… ” Their doctors kept trying. And he said, “No, it’s in New Orleans. It’s called the Center for Restorative Breast Surgery.” They called me within days. And it was just like I usually can get a feel about things. And it was just, I knew that God, this was where I needed to be. It was just like there’s hope. I have another chance. And they told me exactly everything that was going to happen that was just every step that was great. And then I talked to Dr. Cabiling and he was just so calm, just intelligent, told me exactly what he felt like he was going to do. We want you to be you. We want you to be whole. We want you to feel good about yourself. You’ve been through a lot. And my husband said, “It is like you, you’re back.

(02:26):
You’re coming back.” It’s like springtime. It’s like I’ve been in this dreary season of life. It was up and down. And then come here and it’s like, we can fix it. It’s been incredible. I want to look up the word restorative. What does that actually mean? And I wrote it down. It says something or someone has the power to return a person to a healthy, original or normal state. And I was thinking, perfect name. I want let women to know when they feel like it’s it. Cancer one. No. If you have a chance to come here, even just call and talk to them and just find out what your options are. My story is a story of healing, hope, restoration, being restored, not just my body, but me because I was just done. They’re like, “You’re not done. Your story is not finished. We can help you.”