Who: Brenda Broughton, of rural Cassville

What: Infiltrating ductal carcinoma

More: No chemo, no radiation

Broughton: ‘Even my granddaughters who are in their 20’s got mammograms’

BY JORDAN TROUTMAN cassvilledemocrat@outlook.com

Brenda Broughton — a 67-year-old mom of three, grandmother to nine and great grandmother to eight — has spent the last 22 months fighting to be healthy.

“Out of my 16 female cousins, 12 of them have been diagnosed with cancer,” Broughton said.

“Nine of them had breast cancer. It just never crossed my mind that it would happen to me.”

Broughton said she even purchased cancer insurance for her husband, but not herself.

“My mom had colon cancer, my dad had bladder cancer and my sister had breast cancer,” she said. “I just didn’t think it would happen to me, but I should have.”

Broughton has been getting regular mammograms since she turned 55.

“I found the knot in my breast myself,” she said. “I went in and had a mammogram and biopsy on the same day. Within three days I knew I had Infiltrating Ductal Carcinoma.

“When I first felt it, my first thought was to ignore it. I thought it would just go away.

It took me two or three days to finally decide to make an appointment.”

Broughton’s doctor wanted to see her previous mammogram films, so she collected those from her former doctor in Oklahoma.

“I noticed an itchy spot,” Broughton said. “I was scratching this spot over and over for a week, then I felt the knot in my right breast.”

On Jan. 18, 2024, Broughton had a bi-lateral mastectomy with reconstruction.

“I decided to have both breasts removed, and I figured since they were already in there, they could do the reconstruction too,” she said. “I didn’t want to wait, I just wanted to get over it.”

Less than a month later, on Valentine’s Day 2024, Broughton had to go back in to have the reconstruction removed.

“I got an infection,” she said.

“They had to get it under control.

a hospital stay in March 2024 for IV antibiotics.

“Because of the infection, I wasn’t able to have chemotherapy or radiation,” she said. “It could have been life threatening since chemo is so hard on the body. And, because I had the infection for so long, I timed out. Apparently, there is a time limit after diagnosis to do chemo.”

Broughton goes to have her blood tested every three months to check for cancer cells in her body.

“There was no cancer spread to my lymph nodes,” she said. “It was as scary, as it could be when they told me I couldn’t have chemo, I thought it was a death sentence. The only preventative care I have is the blood tests. We think they got it all, and we pray every day that they did.”

Broughton said when she broke the news to her family, they were shocked too.

“My daughters, Melissa (50) and Kylie (46) went to have a mammogram done immediately,” she said. “Even my granddaughters who are in their 20s got mammograms.

“My husband has been wonderful, and my son, Tug, and my daughter in-law, Angie, moved down here from Oklahoma to help take care of me. They stayed with me for months.”

Broughton and her husband just celebrated their 51st wedding anniversary.

“We are from Oklahoma, but we live at Roaring River,” she said. “My husband works in the office, and we are campsite hosts.”

Between January 2024 and January 2025 Broughton had five surgeries.

“Right now, another reconstruction surgery is still up in the air, but I’m pretty sure I will get it,” she said. “I have so much scar tissue from all the surgeries, so I am trying to make sure my body has a chance to heal before I jump back into a reconstructive surgery. Maybe this winter.”

Broughton said the advice she has for women is to get checked and stay on top of their testing.

“I got the genetic testing done, and I am a carrier,” she said. “It is interesting, my son has a higher chance of getting breast cancer from the genes I carry than my daughters do.

“I was the first in the family to do the genetic testing, and now a bunch of them have, which is good, especially for their kids.”

Broughton said some of her family members are afraid to have the genetic testing done in fear of their insurance rates going up.

“It seems crazy to me that a test can affect insurance, but it is a possibility,” she said. “Either way, regular testing and exams are so very important.”

Broughton was one of the Power of Pink “Pink Ladies” for 2025.

“Power of Pink was wonderful and is a wonderful organization,” she said. “Janice [McCracken] is amazing. She started this up and turned it into something so great. Her whole family is involved and it is a lot of work, but she always gets it done.”

The 2025 Pink Ladies’ stories will be printed each week in the month of October in the Cassville Democrat, and 10 percent of all advertising in the month of October will be donated to the Power of Pink.