Nicole's Story (Pt. 1) - Breast Cancer Awareness

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and a major part of raising awareness around breast cancer is hearing from those with personal stories.

Annual mammograms are a life-saving tool. Women with an average risk of developing breast cancer are encouraged to get a yearly mammogram beginning at age 40.

For 35-year-old Duluth resident Nicole Elysian, her saving grace was knowing her body and acting quickly.

Last year, Nicole noticed her nipple had started to change. She also felt more tired than normal and had severe, sudden allergy symptoms, so she decided to call Essentia Health’s Breast Center.

Nicole’s care team agreed that the change was suspicious. After having a biopsy and ultrasound, Nicole’s test results revealed life-altering news. She had cancer in her lymph nodes and was diagnosed with breast cancer.

About this time last year, Nicole saw oncologist Dr. Dan Nikcevich and Nurse Practitioner Anne Skwira-Brown, and then proceeded to start chemotherapy two days before her 35th birthday.

Nicole learned that breast cancer doesn’t always mean there’s an easily palpable lump present, and she’s been educating her friends and family ever since.

For her birthday, Nicole held an educational, breast cancer-themed party, complete with a breast cake that had chocolate “tumors” inside of it, which is how she told her friends about her diagnosis. In addition, she made an appearance on her friend’s podcast, Making the Breast of It, and held an event to shave her head and auction off her hair.

A year later, Nicole has had the “trifecta” of cancer treatments. In April, she had a double mastectomy with immediate reconstruction, and because there was remaining cancer in the tested nodes, she also underwent the full removal of her axillary lymph nodes. She’s also now on immunotherapy and chemotherapy through April 2021.

“I have never felt more validated as a patient than I have at the Essentia Health Cancer Center,” she says. “They listened to me.”

Today, Nicole says she feels OK. She also says she wants to use her story to encourage others to know their bodies and be seen as early as possible if something doesn’t look or feel right.

“The more you stay in tune with your own body, the healthier you will be,” she says. “Something little today could become something bigger tomorrow, like cancer.”

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