Breast Cancer Survivor and Nurse Shares Her Story

For Stephanie Wachtel, receiving a diagnosis of triple-positive breast cancer at the age of 23 was life-changing in a number of ways.

Wachtel, who sat down for an interview with CURE during Breast Cancer Awareness Month’s observation in October, underwent fertility preservation, chemotherapy, seven surgeries, 25 rounds of radiation, antibody infusions and long-term ovarian suppression, as well as areola tattooing, according to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, where she received treatment.

Wachtel, who is now more than six years cancer-free, was formerly a fashion designer, but the care she received at Memorial Sloan Kettering inspired a career change, and she recently graduated from nursing school.

CURE: How did your cancer journey begin?

When I was 23 years old, I was diagnosed with triple-positive, estrogen, progesterone and HER2-positive invasive ductal carcinoma. I was home after a sweaty workout class, itched underneath my armpit and found the lump myself. I went to a doctor that my family used, and they weren't concerned initially when I told them. Originally, they did not want to do a mammogram on me because I was so young, so they did an ultrasound. And when I was getting the ultrasound done, I watched the technician's face and I could immediately tell something was wrong. They did suspect that, and then I got a biopsy, and it confirmed that I had breast cancer.

When I was first diagnosed, they told me that I would need to get genetic testing. So I got genetic testing because none of my family had breast cancer, my dad had lymphoma, but no one else had a history of breast cancer, and all my genetic testing came back negative, so I had no reason for having breast cancer clinically. I then had to speak with my doctor, because they let me know, before starting chemo, that I would need to discuss having fertility preservation if I definitely knew that I wanted a family in the future, so that was something I underwent quickly, right before I started chemotherapy. I then went through chemotherapy, did radiation, and I had multiple surgeries due to complications, due to revisions, changes.

And how are you today?

I am great. I am six years cancer free. I actually was a fashion designer for nine years, and because of all my nurses, doctors, physician assistants, everyone at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and everything I went through, it inspired me to go back to school. I went back to school for nursing. I just graduated a little bit over a month ago, and as of yesterday, I found out that I passed my boards, so now I'm officially a registered nurse.

One aspect of your treatment and recovery process was areola tattooing. Can you tell me about your decision to undergo that and what that entailed?

I definitely wanted to feel as normal as possible after all my surgeries, and I felt like getting those areola tattoos allowed me to have control over my body for once, and allowed me to choose what I wanted to do, and choosing that I wanted to put that on my body was something that I finally had control over. It was probably one of the most empowering moments. The reason why I chose to have it done at MSK rather than somewhere else is because it's with your doctors, and it's a community of teamwork and really everyone talks to each other. But another reason when I initially was getting it done there was cleanliness and safety, because some people go to regular tattoo shops and you honestly don't know their practices. And already having such a immunocompromised system, I knew that I was safe.

The process was unbelievable. I got to choose the color, the size, the detail. We tested colors on my skin to make sure they were the right shades. The nurse, the PAs would draw it on me, we would make sure that it was centered and perfect to what I wanted, and it gave that sense of control that I missed. It also gave me a lot of inspiration, and it brought me back to my roots, being a fashion designer, being able to mix the color and pick out the different sizes, shapes, textures that we wanted it to look like. It was a really cool experience, to feel like. that's what I used to do as a painter, and it just made me feel like myself again. When I look in the mirror now I'm like, if someone looked at me when I was undressed, they would think that It was completely me, and they wouldn't realize, they're so detailed that they wouldn't realize that they were tattoos. And it made me proud and feel more confident in myself.

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