VERSAILLES, Ky. (LEX 18) — It’s a good thing for Cassie Prather that she’s as concerned about her health as Woodford County residents.
“It ended that I had two types of cancer: one was slow-growing, one was more aggressive,” she said from her home in Versailles.
The Public Health Director for the Woodford County Health Department went for her annual screening late last spring when the detection was made. She made the tough choice, with her husband, to follow the most aggressive treatment.
“You don’t have to worry about reoccurrence. I just wanted to go with the most aggressive choice, and that was a double mastectomy,” she said with the same conviction with which she made that decision back in June.
Cassie is 90 days removed from that surgery and says she is doing much better than she thought she would be now.
“I still can’t be out and be productive all day. I can’t go to work all day or specific events,” she said.
She is appearing as she can to speak with various groups about the importance of screening and mammograms. She’s also able to attend many of the events involving her five children and is pleased with how the physical part of the recovery process is going. Mentally and emotionally, though, having had a double mastectomy will always leave scars, but she’s found the perfect place to deal with those.
“I’m in a different season with my recovery,” she explained while talking about the spot she likes to occupy on the back porch at home.
“Fall is my favorite season, and I’m glad we live in a subdivision with mature trees because just looking at those, it’s just calming and therapeutic,” she said.
Cassie said the struggle would’ve been much greater without the support of her husband and kids, and many co-workers at the health department office. She had no family history of the disease, and her oncologist said her genetic testing led him to say she might not have needed a mammogram for another five years. But by then, the cancer would’ve spread all over her body, and her chance of survival would not have been good.
“The statistic that I want everyone to know is that 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer during their lifetime,” she stated.
She’ll spend her favorite season, and the other three, reminding women of that while stressing the importance of annual check-ups.
