The Call

Dec. 29, 2010 is a day Kathryn Rucker will never forget. 

Things were “normal” prior to that day.  

Kathryn was a 31-year-old devoted wife, mother and family member. She was a district manager at Cato and was highly involved in her church. 

“I felt like I had a pretty good life,” Kathryn said. 

In May 2010, she found a place on her breast that felt different than the other and decided to get a physical. Kathryn told the nurse practitioner about the area, but the nurse practitioner said it was just hormonal and her breasts were going through changes.  

By December 2010, Kathryn started to feel pain in the same area and went back to the nurse practitioner to show her where the area was. The nurse practitioner touched the area and scheduled Kathryn for a mammogram the next week. That appointment was followed by an ultrasound and biopsy. 

“Everyone that I saw during those appointments didn’t think it was breast cancer,” Kathryn said. 

The 31 year old received a phone call from her radiologist Dec. 29 after 4:30 p.m. saying, “Mrs. Rucker, you have breast cancer.” 

“When I got that diagnosis, it rocked my world,” Kathryn said. “I was shocked because I did not expect for it to be breast cancer.” 

 Kathryn believes she dropped the phone in that moment because she couldn’t process what she just heard. Her husband Derrick picked up the phone to finish the conversation.  

“Looking back, the thing that sticks out the most is that it was at the end of a day and it was Dec. 29, so we couldn’t get answers that day at all. 

Her primary care physician’s office closed at 5 p.m. and other medical offices were closing since the new year was approaching, so that left her and her family waiting without answers for a few days. 

Derrick soon called her mother, grandmother and other immediate family members. Their family’s support along with church family and friends kept them strong in the days they didn’t have answers. 

“We were all leaning on each other,” Kathryn said. “We’re fortunate in that aspect that we have people who will walk through the valley with us.”