At 56, Mary Murphy was busy raising two of her grandchildren and helping with a third. She was very committed to her family and her church and involved in her community. She didn’t have time for much else.

Unfortunately, she was forced to make time when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in February 2004. “I had no history of breast cancer in my family, except for my sister who was diagnosed six years before me,” she says. “Then, I found a lump during a routine breast self exam and immediately called the doctor to get an appointment.”

At first she couldn’t get in. Then, she told them she had found a lump. They found her an appointment and she saw someone right away. “I think they knew from the start because it seemed like no one would look me in the eye,” she recalls. “I had a mammogram and a breast ultrasound and the radiologist came in afterwards. He was pretty blunt and just said ‘you have cancer’.”

Mary saw a surgeon soon after her meeting with the radiologist. She had a lumpectomy. Tests showed that the margins were clear around the site of the lump, and it had not spread to her lymph nodes. This was all good news. Next was radiation, but before starting, Mary adopted a companion to help her through. Isabella was just a couple months old when Mary brought her home. A Poodle Pomeranian mix, she is very small but full of life and a wonderful support for Mary who took her to all of her radiation appointments.

Often, Mary’s granddaughters also went with her. “My grandkids are my inspiration,” she says. “We don’t hide things from the kids, and they were there through the whole thing by my side. That and my faith really helped me get through. They prayed for me at church, and it meant so much to know that. People are really there for you when you need them.”

What’s been most powerful for Mary has been the effect her experience has had on other women. “Women would come up to me and say that they had done their self exam or gone for a mammogram because of what was happening to me,” she says. “Two women were diagnosed with breast cancer because they started doing self exams after I was diagnosed.”

“If telling my story encourages even one more women to do her self exams or get her mammogram, that means so much to me,” she adds. “It’s important for women to know about their health, whether something is wrong or not. You can’t ignore your health. It’s better to know if something is wrong and take care of it.”