Courtney and the Cancer She Never Planned For

Courtney has always been a planner, even as a child.

Growing up in Gainesville, she produced pretend weddings for her sister and neighborhood friends, ensuring every detail was perfect. In high school, she was elected junior class social committee president and expanded the number of dances their class held from just one to four.

In 2005, not long after her high school graduation, Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans. Moved to help, 18-year-old Courtney’s planning instincts kicked in and she organized a car wash, enlisting donations from local businesses and volunteers. With an overwhelmingly positive response, she raised $8,000 to contribute to relief efforts.

News coverage of her successful event landed Courtney a scholarship at the University of Central Florida’s then-new Rosen College of Hospitality Management. She would go on to earn three degrees there, in lodging, hotel and restaurant management, event management and hospitality management.

In 2007, at just 20 years old, Courtney discovered a lump in her right breast. After a lumpectomy was performed, she was told it was precancerous and could potentially be a concern in the future.

Over a decade later, Courtney was living out her dreams, making people smile through her work in the food and beverage industry, wedding coordination, floral design and many things in between. She loved turning important life occasions into unforgettable memories.

But her fast-paced, fulfilling hospitality career came to a quick halt when she received news no one in their early 30s expects to hear: “You have cancer.”

High-speed chase

Breast cancer runs in Courtney’s family in both of her paternal grandparents, so she decided to have genetic testing done. Relieved to learn she was not at higher risk for breast cancer, she didn’t give it much thought after that — until she was 34 and felt another lump.

She tried scheduling mammograms at multiple offices in Orlando and was repeatedly turned down due to her “young” age. She was frustrated and nervous but figured if the doctors weren’t concerned, maybe she was overreacting.

In August 2021, Courtney was on a trip with friends in Sedona, Arizona, when she realized something was wrong. Her sister walked on her back to crack it, as they often did, when Courtney felt and heard a cyst in her breast rupture.

“It was the most awful noise,” Courtney said. “But no one else seemed to hear it, so I didn’t say anything and went to bed.”

The next morning, her entire breast was bruised, engorged and painful. They returned home that day and when Courtney consulted with family, her father took her straight to the emergency room. She was diagnosed with cellulitis and prescribed antibiotics.

“While taking the antibiotics, I wasn’t recovering as expected, and my breast was extremely inflamed, painful, hot to the touch and started swelling again — to the point of protruding from my breast,” Courtney said. “Luckily, one of my friends knew a breast doctor in Orlando who was able to rush me in for a second opinion.”

The fluid from Courtney’s cyst acted as something similar to a magnifying glass, so when doctors took another ultrasound, they had a much better view. They performed an ultrasound-guided biopsy, which detected a cancerous condition known as DCIS, or ductal carcinoma in situ. Courtney was diagnosed with stage 0 breast cancer and advised to have more tests done.

In December 2021, Courtney moved back to Gainesville, where she entered the UF Health system via an appointment with Dr. Lisa Spiguel, section chief of breast surgery in the department of surgery and clinical director of the UF Health Breast Center. Courtney had a mammogram, an MRI and a PET scan. The diagnosis was worse: stage 3 invasive capillary breast cancer.

“When I got the stage 0 diagnosis, I had no words and felt like I was floating out of body. But when we discovered it was actually stage 3, I remember breaking down in the doctor’s office, crying uncontrollably. I knew my treatment was going to be so much more aggressive and that my chances of survival were lower,” she said. “It was terrifying.”

Knowing that Courtney hoped to have children and that the cancer treatment could make her infertile, the doctors advised Courtney that she could undergo IVF treatment immediately and begin chemotherapy right after.

“We had this conversation on Dec. 19 and I began IVF treatment on Dec. 22,” Courtney said. “I had 20 doctors’ appointments in December alone and had my egg-harvesting surgery on Jan. 5. At this point, everything was happening very quickly and it was a lot to wrap my mind around. I felt like I was in a high-speed chase, but my doctors were helping slow things down in a way I could understand.”

Road to recovery

On Jan. 13, 2022, Courtney started a four-month chemotherapy regimen. Because her type of cancer was fueled by hormones, she began taking hormone blockers, in addition to a monthly shot in the stomach and a nightly pill to induce medical menopause, which she will take for the next 5 to 10 years.

Courtney had allergic reactions to chemotherapy, going into anaphylactic shock twice. After oncologist Dr. Karen Daily tweaked her ‘chemo cocktail,’ they moved forward without further complications.

The chemo worked, although not as well as doctors had hoped. The tumor and the cancer in her lymph nodes had shrunk, but not to the degree expected.

Courtney quickly moved forward with a mastectomy on her right breast on June 8, 2022, a decision she barely had time to process but felt she needed to make.

“The surgery was successful, but recovery was hell, to say the least. In addition to my breast, I had 15 lymph nodes removed, which was a huge chunk of my armpit that is now gone,” Courtney said. “I had multiple drains in place, required around-the-clock care, and I couldn’t take care of myself for three weeks. I couldn’t lift my arm, could barely move and slept in a recliner.”

After her initial recovery, Courtney had 25 rounds of radiation from the end of July to the end of August, going in every day for treatment. During this time, she also began rehabilitation with physical therapist Derly Munoz to regain motion in her arm and prevent lymphedema, which she is still working on today.

A different kind of care

Before coming to UF Health, Courtney described her care as disjointed and extremely difficult.

“It was like pulling teeth to get the information I needed from different doctors in different departments,” Courtney said. “I had to fight to be listened to and advocate for my own body, begging to pay money to have tests run on me.”

She believes her age was a huge barrier to receiving the proper attention and care she needed because she was seen as too young to have breast cancer.

“When I made the switch to UF Health, my experience was immediately different,” Courtney said. “Dr. Spiguel and every member of my team is amazing. I have immense love for them and feel incredibly lucky and blessed to have them in my corner.”

Courtney said she felt a huge weight was lifted off her shoulders when she was in the hands of doctors who knew what they were doing and truly cared about her.

She said her team’s communication was flawless, their plan cohesive. And although her treatment was aggressive, the doctors were tenderhearted.

“It was an overwhelming amount of information to grasp, even for a detailed event planner, but the way they handled everything made a really hard situation easier,” she said.

Courtney never expected to set out on this journey during the prime of her life, but surgery removed all of the cancer and her prognosis is promising. She’s back to making her clients smile.

The girl who always loved a plan still does. In October 2022, Courtney started oral chemotherapy, which she will take for at least two years. This, combined with her medically induced menopause, are treatments aimed at helping to keep cancer from recurring.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better experience, and now I’m the one smiling,” Courtney said. “I owe my life to UF Health.”