After missing a scheduled mammogram, I found a lump and some tissue changes in my left breast a few months before my 50th birthday. My gynecologist informed me that the mammogram showed I had a golf ball sized tumor and would need more testing. She referred me to Dr. Emily Touloukian, an oncologist at Coastal Cancer Center.

I was tested–things moved quickly after my diagnosis with Stage IIIB HER+ Inflammatory Breast Cancer. Dr. Touloukian treated me with kindness, and urgency, and with the chemotherapy medication I needed to fight this battle!

I worked at a school and wanted to start chemo in the summer, but Dr. T informed me that there was no time to wait!!! Friends asked me why I didn’t go to MUSC and my #1 reason was that I wanted to be close to home to get sick in my own bathroom and sleep on my own bed. Having a doctor nearby was needed during those chemo/radiation days when my immune system was weak.