Brownfield: ‘I don’t have a choice; I have to fight to be there for [my son’s] life events’

BY JORDAN TROUTMAN cassvilledemocrat@outlook.com

Kristy Brownfield is a mother, a 46-year-old woman and a breast cancer survivor.

She underwent an appendectomy in April of 2024, and while she was recovering from surgery – she felt a lump in her breast.

“I have no family history of breast cancer,” she said. “I did get the genetic testing done and I had no genetic markers for it, so it wasn’t genetic based.“ After she felt the lump, Brownfield went in for an exam which led to a mammogram.

“The lump was painful,” she said. “I researched it, and it didn’t seem to fall in a lot of categories that would lead to breast cancer.”

The mammogram then led to a biopsy, and on May 28, 2024, she was diagnosed with Invasive Ductal Carcinoma, which had spread to lymph nodes.

“It was definitely a shock,” she said. “I wasn’t prepared for that.”

Brownfield didn’t have insurance at the time, but she was directed to Show Me Healthy Women.

“The [care team] did a great job of answering my questions and the program helped me to get on Medicaid to help cover the cost of Chemo,” she said. “I was set up with other organizations that helped with other expenses.

“Power of Pink was such a huge relief, I was in a lot of debt with a lot of medical bills.”

After her diagnosis, Brownfield underwent a bilateral mastectomy on Aug. 1, 2024, followed by Chemo starting in September.

“It was all very scary,” she said. “My son is 10 years old, I thought about all of the things I could potentially miss in his life. I don’t have a choice; I have to fight to be there for his life events.”

Brownfield said that being diagnosed with breast cancer at 45 years old was devastating.

“I feel like in not even halfway through my life,” she said. “It is the longest journey, some days it seemed like it was never going to end.”

One source of wear is surprise with the kinds of decisions she would have to make.

“With the mastectomy, I decided to have both breasts removed, even though I only had it in one breast,” she said. “I also had three lymph nodes removed, and two came back positive for cancer.

“Do I want reconstructive surgery? I’m only 45, what does that look like for me?”

Brownfield said she had to do a lot of soul searching.

“I had two different kinds of chemo,” she said. “The first was what they call the ‘Red Devil ‘ — it made my hair fall out the last day of the first cycle.”

Brownfield said although she had taken classes to prepare her for what would happen, it was still shocking.

“When you brush your hair, and it comes out, it is surreal,” she said. “That chemo treatment was on one week then off a week.”

She had four rounds of the Red Devil.

“Then, I started Taxol,” she said. “That came with bone pain. Nothing helped, not heat or ice; no matter what you take, it just aches.

“I was exhausted. It is just a tired that won’t go away.”

Brownfield had 4 rounds of the Red Devil and 12 rounds of Taxol.

“But then, I rang the bell on Jan. 23, 2025,” she said. “I was very happy. By the end of Taxol, my hair started to grow.”

Then, she started the radiation.

“The PET scan showed some inflammation in my chest,” she said. “I was afraid that the chemo didn’t work. But it was a lung specific kind of inflammation that came from the chemo.”

Brownfield had 33 rounds of radiation, going in five days a week.

“I didn’t have any side effects from the radiation,” she said. “But, it affected my work schedule, which affected my wages.

“Radiation was a million times better than chemo, I started to get some of my energy back.”

Brownfield finished her radiation treatment successfully on April 30.

“Now, I am on oral medication that I will take for 10 years,” she said. “My joints are sore, but I feel better than I have in along time.

“My hair came back curly; it was straight before. I am exercising again.”

Brownfield said one side effect of her treatment was that she started to go through menopause.

“I am rediscovering myself in this new body,” she said. “I went through a divorce in the middle of all of this. That didn’t help; it added a lot of extra stress and everything.

“Coming out of all of that has been empowering.”

Brownfield is in remission, her next scan was on Oct. 7.

“I am ready to live now, not just survive,” she said. “I have been in a fight for my life in so many ways this past year.”

If her scan is clear, the doctor will feel comfortable to remove her port line.

“That is the last reminder that I have to look at every day,” she said. “I am ready for it to be gone.”

Brownfield has a 10-year-old son, who is both supportive and inspirational.

“He can ask me anything; we have a very open relationship,” she said. “He was away on summer vacation when I got the diagnosis. So, I waited until he got back to sit him down and have the conversation. He cried, but I explained it in the best way he would understand.”

Brownfield said he is so understanding and empathetic.

“He is so sweet,” she said. “He has been saving up his allowance. He has $200, but he said he won’t buy anything until the cancer was gone.”

In May, he did the Power of Pink walk with his mother.

“Next year, he wants to run,” she said. “We got a great book that helped a lot when we were in the thick of it. I couldn’t ask for more support from him or my mom and dad.”

Brownfield said she wants people to know that one in eight women will be affected by breast cancer in their lifetime.

“Don’t think it cant happen to you,” she said.

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, a Wheaton-based organization that donates money to women affected by breast cancer.