Day 0: I Found My Own Tumor and Ignored It [Natasha Curry, RN, NP]

Breast Cancer Stories

While leading a Doctors Without Borders mission in Malawi, Natasha’s husband of 25 years blindsided her by ending their marriage in a text message. She returned home, fell into bed for a few weeks, and eventually with the help of her friends she pulled herself together and went back to work. A few months later when she discovered an almond-sized lump in her armpit, she did everything she tells her patients not to do and dismissed it, or wrote it off as a “fat lump." Months went by before Natasha finally got a mammogram, but radiology saw nothing in either breast. It was the armpit lump that caught their attention. Next step was an ultrasound, where the lump was clearly visible. One painful biopsy later, Natasha found out she had stage 2 breast cancer; in one life-changing moment, the nurse became the patient. Not just any ordinary nurse practitioner, Natasha was a journalist and then a clinical psychologist before becoming a palliative care specialist at San Francisco General Hospital, where her patients are often homeless or addicted. Like Kristen (our host, and the subject of Season 1), Natasha discovered her tumor in the shower, it wasn’t caught by a mammogram either, and she navigated breast cancer treatment on her own. But as you’ll see, that’s about all they have in common.
Links
Support the Breast Cancer Stories podcast: https://www.breastcancerstoriespodcast.com/p/donate/ Subscribe to our newsletter here: https://breastcancerstories.substack.com/subscribe
About Breast Cancer Stories
Breast Cancer Stories follows Natasha Curry, a palliative care nurse practitioner at San Francisco General Hospital, through her experience of going from being a nurse to a patient after being diagnosed with breast cancer.
This podcast is about what happens when you have breast cancer, told in real time.
Host and Executive Producer: Eva Sheie
Co-Host: Kristen Vengler
Editor and Audio Engineer: Daniel Croeser
Theme Music: Them Highs and Lows, Bird of Figment
Story Editor: Mary Ellen Clarkson
Assistant Producer: Hannah Burkhart
Cover Art Designer: Shawn Hiatt
Breast Cancer Stories is a production of The Axis.
PROUDLY MADE IN AUSTIN, TEXAS