SARASOTA – At 44-years-old Sheila Godreau was living a healthy life as an active mom in her children’s life’s that was until she was diagnose with stage four breast cancer in 2015.
“I had started noticing some weird things, it all started with what appeared to be a mass on my right breast and I knew it wasn’t there before and it felt hard as rock,” said Godreau.
Godreau says both her parents’ battled cancer. Their survival gave her the hope that she too could win her battle against the disease.
“My thought process was I know I can beat this as well, but it was very hard for me t think about the possibility of me not being there for my kids,” she said.
Godreau sought out several opinions before starting her fight. She avoided chemotherapy and radiation after she discovered hormone therapy thanks to her doctors at Moffit Cancer Center in Tampa.
“My cancer is progesterone and estrogen positive and Her2 negative,” said Godreau. “With that type of cancer there’s something called hormone therapy and all that is, it’s a combination of pills.”
The hormone therapy suppresses the production of estrogen and certain proteins that feed the cancer and lets it spread to other parts of the body. After three years on the medication Godreau says she’s happily in remission.
“The great things about the therapy was that I started drinking my medication in October of 2015 and come December I could even feel – just a couple months later I could feel that tumor shrinking so it was encouraging to get physical signs that I was doing better,” she said
Godreau says she doesn’t want to be labeled a cancer patient but rather as Shelia Godreau a soccer mom and loving wife. She hopes her story is able to inspire others battling breast cancer to get second opinions and find a treatment that is best for them.