How a Breast Cancer Diagnosis Led to a Diamond

Brut America

At 29, one woman was able to turn the loss of her hair after a breast cancer diagnosis into an actual diamond.   Visit mostpreciousstone.com to learn more about Danielle's story and how you can help the fight against breast cancer.  With Against Breast Cancer.

Transcript

00:00Everybody should live like they're dying, basically.

00:03And...

00:05LAUGHTER

00:06That's a terrible thing to say.

00:21I was actually in the shower when I found the lamp.

00:31I was getting married six months after that

00:34and I had a four-month-old baby at the time.

00:41When I went for the ultrasound,

00:43the radiographer actually said to me

00:46that it didn't look like a cyst

00:49and he wanted to do a biopsy.

00:51So we did a biopsy a few days later

00:55and from that we found

00:59that I had cancer.

01:09When the oncologist told me that it was stage four,

01:13I kind of had like an adrenaline rush

01:17or I just was shaking through shock.

01:20I don't really remember what she was saying

01:23but I know that I said I needed to take a break

01:26and I walked out into the hallway,

01:28the corridor of the hospital

01:30and I just collapsed onto the floor

01:33and I couldn't even cry at this point.

01:35I just felt like it wasn't real and it wasn't happening to me.

01:39I just laid on the floor and I said to my mum,

01:41you're going to end up burying me.

01:56I got my head around the fact I had cancer

01:58and I was ready to fight it.

02:00But then stage four, when you find out that your cancer is terminal

02:03and you're going to be on palliative treatment

02:05to try and prolong your life for as long as possible,

02:08it took me a few days.

02:11I was just blind with grief basically.

02:22If I give myself something to focus on,

02:24then it kind of pulls me out of the house

02:27and it forces me to push myself

02:30and when that's over, I'll find something else that I need to focus on.

02:34So I'm going to constantly be looking to the future

02:37and I think that's something that all cancer patients,

02:40especially terminal cancer patients need to do.

02:43They need to look to the future.

02:45They need to believe that they are going to have one.

02:47I never dreamed that I could have breast cancer at 29

02:51and now having it and being part of this whole cancer community,

02:55I know that there's people actually that are younger than me

02:59that have breast cancer and it's quite shocking.

03:22So hair and diamonds are made out of the same thing.

03:25They're made out of carbon,

03:27but obviously natural diamonds take thousands of years

03:31to be made in nature.

03:34But now there's a way that you can actually use hair

03:38to make diamonds much quicker.

03:52I just feel like the diamond is just a symbol of

03:56not just my fight, but other women's fight

04:00or other people's fight against cancer

04:03because there can be pain, there can be trauma and heartache,

04:07but look what can come of that.

04:09You can become a diamond.

04:22If it isn't in my lifetime, maybe in my daughter's lifetime,

04:26she will be able to see an end to breast cancer

04:29because this is going to affect her as well

04:32because obviously her mother has breast cancer

04:35and that may mean that in the future she's more likely to contract the disease

04:39and all I want to know is that my daughter will be able to live and be OK.

04:51For more information, visit www.fema.gov

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